Updates and Upgrades

I continue to be entertained by sunrises in their infinite variety. Yes, I am still getting up a couple or three times a week and taking a walk before I'm awake. This is from last week. Today it was kind of misting rain, so I kept the camera/phone in it's pocket. I only saw one other person out tramping in the damp today.

There is a new quilt block finished,(Two more to go) for the Austen Family Album Quilt, however the light is really not good at the moment.I haven't found any decent photo editing in the Windows upgrade, so will have to look further afield, I think.  I've played a little with Instagram on my phone, but haven't quite figured that out yet either. I seem to be in a private maelstrom of upgrades/changes/new programs that is taking me a little time to sort out. Maybe a trip or two to You tube or similar. I contacted my cell phone provider the other day concerning a difficulty I was having and the tech I was talking to discovered some upgrades that had never been sent to me. It's all change, I tell you.

I finally finished a Craftsy class that I got a couple years ago; Janet Pray's Jacket Express.  I have wondered about the Islander System for a very long time. I did enjoy myself with the "no pins" approach and the smaller seam allowances that mean less trimming. The jacket is finished except for redoing a button hole on one of the pocket flaps. Another day when the light was bad and I cut too close with my buttonhole chisel.

Are you are making some discernible progress in something in your life these days? I'd love to hear about it. It does help to keep engaged and moving.

Back to basics, and a hint on sewing knits

In my effort to work on my goals for the year, I entered my sewing room this morning, wondering what I should put my hand to.  On top of the "pile" were some mending/slight alteration projects that had been multiplying slowly as these things tend to do.  There is some colder weather predicted in the next week or so and there were several cold weather tops that needed their sleeves shortened.  There was also a new skirt I had gotten on a too-good-to-pass-up-sale, even though a size too big. All it really needed was to have stronger, shorter elastic inserted in the waist. So, now I have two over-
shirt/sweatshirts and a purple knit skirt ready to wear. Sometimes you can get as much satisfaction in taking care of these kinds of projects as you can from something entirely new.

I'd like to pass on one tip to those who would like to sew with knits and especially have difficulty with machine hemming.  I am fortunate to have a sewing machine that has special settings for different types and weights of fabrics. But, even with out this advantage there is one thing many sewists can do to make the process go better.  If your machine will allow it, decrease the pressure on the presser foot. Check your manual or the shop where you purchased your machine if you don't know what I'm talking about. There are also numerous explanations and videos if you type "presser foot pressure" in to your search engine.

This adjustment reduces the machine's tendency to push the top layer of fabric ahead of the bottom layer and causing your hem to skew out of shape. You can see that I used the same stitch on all three projects. It's a triple stitch zig zag -(three stiches up the zig and three more down the zag.) It provides stretch and coverage. There are many other ideas about sewing with knit fabric, but I am always impressed how much this adjustment helps, without adding adhesives or changing feet or needles. I hope you can incorporate it into your bank of sewing knowledge. Maybe you won't have to say, defensively, "I don't hem knits!"