Sewing again

When we were looking fora new house, my husband's main factor was finding a place where he could have an office/studio. After we started looking at house after house, I realized that I wanted a place for myself, too, since I was pulling out my laptop anywhere I could and sewing on the dining table. I rejected one option that would involved my sewing room being in a closet (albeit the largest closet I'd ever seen in a 2500 sq. ft. house) So he got an office and I got a sewing room. However, his office is now also a media room and my sewing room as turned into more of an office but at least we both have out own spaces that we can close off from prying little hands.

After nine months I finally created a little sewing set-up. I've made several things since we moved, but only with my regular sewing machine. I also have a coverstitch machine and a serger, both for working with knits. I hadn't used either of them since the move, for a couple of reasons. I changed a plate in the serger and have to change the plate back and rethread it to work on something different. And I remember having some issues with the coverstitch machine the last time I used it, before the move. That's been more than nine months, and it's not going to fix itself, so I pulled it out.

So here is my little set-up.



The coverstitch is the white machine on the right, a Janome 1000CP. My regular sewing machine is the silver one on the left, a really simple but heavy-duty Singer CG500.

The Janome is having some tension issues, mainly due to user error since I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. Here's an example.



Those are skipped stitches, which are dropped on the back side and will eventually unravel. Ask me how I know this.



I'm not a fiddler. I don't particularly like fiddling with machines to get them to work. My computer is a mac, and I live with my own personal IT guy, although I rarely solicit him for technical help. My sewing machines are the same way. If they don't work, I really don't want to mess with them to get them to work. But letting a machine sit there for months without use is just ridiculous.

I messed with the tension, played around with the fabric, adjusted the differential feed (which is how fast the fabric is moved under the needle) and I think I got something to work. Even so, I really don't like pulling out a bunch of coverstitching. Regular stitching is much easier to pull out. So I did a little hand sewing and caught the loose loops on the underside, since those slipped stitches were actually on the new project I'm working on. Seems pretty solid now.

I'll let you see the project soon, all I have to do now is sew up one more seam. I'm making Butterick 5185, with my own surprise twist. See you soon!