Stuff

I spent some time time rebonding with my 201-2 and it was very nice experience. First, I oiled everything again. This time without the flu. I took off most of the plates, really looked at the gears and put the oil where it needed to be. Tightened up the knee lever, cleaned out the felted 50 year old (not kidding here) lint from the feed dogs. THEN the best ever, I pulled out the box of accessories that I have. They include: foot hemmer, adjustable hemmer, Multiple slotted binder (very cool tool), Edge -stitcher (also way cool), Gatherer, and ruffler. First let me say that I have never touched any of these feet before. Mom never showed me any of them and I don't recall ever seeing her use them. I don't know if she didn't know how (don't think this is it), didn't feel they were necessary (my guess, she knew how to do so much by hand, including smocking) or she used them when I just wasn't around (may-be?). Next, I want to say how impressed I am about how well they work. All are simple attachments, you unscrew one thumb screw and replace it with the desired foot. They are all very precise. The fabric just glides through the created slots and the stitches just line up the fabric and/or binding so nicely. And thirdly, in general term, they are so versatile. I listed 6 feet that attach to a machine that only goes forward and backwards, NO zig-zag, the needle position if fixed. And with these you can - short list - ruffle, hem and ruffle, smock, shirr, pin-tuck (wonderfully!!!), hem, bind, pipe, hem bid & pipe in one step, EASY French seam, attache 2 pieces of lace together at the edge with no overlap, insert lace, roll hem, etc., etc. And it does it flawlessly and effortlessly. I think I may be love.

I played with the "easy" ones, specifically the Multiple Slotted Binder that will allow you feed either folded or open binding to a seam edge - think Hong-Kong finish in a flash, apply piped edging or do both at the same time by feeding the trim into different slots and starting the fabric in the right place. And the edge-stitcher that allows you to sew right at the edge of fabric or by placing 2 trims into the opposite side slots, seam them together. French seams are a breeze: run it thru once with wrong sides together, flip - shift the adjustment over just a bit and finish. Pin tucks are soooo easy. The fabric just feeds evenly and smoothly. Shirring is a breeze, with a little practice, creating gathers is so easy. Evenly spaced and adjusted easily for how tight you want them. Think sleeve heads, princess seams.

I really wonder if these will work on my Pfaff. It's a low shank so they may. I'm thinking about taking them back with me a trying them. Don't know yet.

And in the actual making something venue: I dismantled the "wizard" suit and will have enough fabric to remake the robe to fit and make some PJ bottoms to match. Find some gold knit for a top and I'll have a decent PJ outfit for a change. There's a ton of fabric in this thing and I recall spending about $50 on it 10 or so years ago. That was a lot of money then and I still love the fabric for lounge clothes. I'm going to reword the bathrobe tomorrow and Sunday. The PJ's will have to wait until I get back to DC for the pattern.

K & I went to see 21 this afternoon. It was good, about the MIT students who beat Vegas at Black Jack. I'd give it 1.5 thumbs up. And I'm a tough critic.

I ate popcorn at the movie, though, so dinner was skipped. Now it's 10:30 and I'm hungry and there's no food to be had. Sucks to be me. Thinking coffee and a bagel in the morning. We'll see. I'm 2 pounds away from my goal, so....

Well, I'm off to sleep, looking forward to some more sewing - playing tomorrow. Kevin want to take me shooting and I have dinner with the girls - S must be looking for a twofer - we're meeting at 5. Whatever... Can I make it till 5 without eating?

Good night.