I hand hemmed a second pair of pants, this time one woven with stripes. They are straight leg pants, so I could line up the stripes, and they already had a small hem, which I used to hide the stitches completely with a slip stitch.
I love how the slip stitch is nearly entirely invisible!
The whip stitch is very useful for putting hems on finely knit items like t-shirts or soft pants. Because fine knits are difficult to unravel, you don’t need to fold over the edge twice, you can stitch over the cut edge, which also gives the hem a lower profile. If you are hemming a ribbed knit, lining up the ribs helps keep the fabric even and gives a nice gauge for stitch size!
I started at a seam, and hid the thread knot in the seam fold. Then I put the needle through the pearl side (indent) stripe on the inner layer, and just picked up a couple loops on the next rib of the outer layer. To keep the stitches at the right tension, after stitching a few I pulled open the ribbing to draw in the thread. This leaves the stitches loose so they won’t show and are less likely to snap when the fabric stretches. Pulling the stitches tight would result in a visible stitch line that would break the first time the fabric stretched.
The pocket on the back of the wheelchair can only hold a pamphlet, anything thicker pokes the rider in the back. So I made a separate organizer type for long zoo trips where we need spaces for water bottles. My youngest requested space fabric, so we selected a print-on-demand pattern from Spoonflower on cotton denim fabric. I made three pouches by sewing a sleeve so none of the white backing shows.
I put three sleeves on the backing fabric, and sewed down the center to make six pouches. I then made loops for the top corners to go over the handles and straps for the bottom to attach to the wheelchair frame. All of this sandwiched between another rectangle of denim. My Singer model 66 treadle handled the denim up to six layers, but eight was a struggle (a little extra oomph with the handwheel sometimes works, but you risk a bent needle). When I turned the entire assembly right side out I had to move the edge stitches in so I wasn’t sewing through 12 layers of denim (this organizer is hefty!)
I’m pleased with the flat construction, it doesn’t interfere knees when pushing and it folds up with the chair well.
I’m also trying to track my time on projects. This one took me 2.5 hours of active time.
After removing the rotting wood top and wire brushing the rust and wasp nests from the Singer Treadle machine base, it was time to refinish the cast iron.
I chose to treat the cast iron with black stove polish to keep the rust away and keep it close to the original color.
I used squares of cotton and a small brush to get the polish in the cracks and crevices. It was satisfying to see the paste melt into the iron.
The wheels all rolled well, so I cleaned them with a brass wire brush on my rotary tool and treated them with sewing machine oil.
The plan is to put on a table top, but keep the treadle functional by putting holes in the top so the drive band can come up through and run a device on the surface. I may experiment with some scrap wood first.
In June 2017 I combined a couple ideas for an egg/harvest apron. I put small pockets on the apron face and put buttons and button holes so the apron could be configured to hold larger things than eggs.
I made three of the aprons in preparation for visiting my folks so my kids could gather eggs.
Critters and Craft 