Serger Studies

I finished the second BabyLock serger apron, another design by Deb Canham. I don’t often wear a half apron—I am just too messy and need the coverage of a full one—but this would be cute for a special occasion.

The main fabric is from Cathe Holden’s Flea Market Fresh line for Moda. (She has a similar line called Flea Market Mix.) The contrast fabric is something that I pulled out of my stash. I have no idea where it came from. The selvage says E.E. Schenck, which is one of the big fabric distributors. I thought it coordinated nicely.

I would do this differently on the second iteration. Those flatlock ladder stitches on the skirt were made with a turquoise 12wt Wonderfil thread, but I switched to the orange for the edge of the ruffle and I wish I had used the orange in the skirt, too. That’s one of the hazards of working through a pattern for the first time. The photo of the finished design did not show any details, so I had no idea how this was going to look until I finished mine. Oh, well. I think I would also thread some 1/4” ribbon through those flatlock ladders. I can’t really do it after the fact because there would be no good way to secure them. I’ll leave it as is. These are all class samples and sometimes it’s good for students to see what didn’t work just as much as what did.

I am in love with the three-thread narrow edge using 12wt threads in both loopers:

It’s so ridiculously simple but looks so nice—much better than a plain hem, I think.

I am still making friends with that gathering foot. When it’s used to gather a single layer of fabric, it works really well—I gathered the top of the skirt that way and it’s such an improvement over gathering on the sewing machine. The edge is finished and doesn’t fray, and the two needle threads are strong enough for adjusting the fullness of the gathers along the width. Using the gathering foot to gather and attach simultaneously, though, is a bit trickier. Even with the differential all the way up and the stitch length at its longest setting, the ruffle doesn’t gather as much as it does alone. And there is the problem of managing the two layers of fabric as they feed into the machine. The top layer feeds into a separate opening on the foot to keep it from being gathered and it tends to want to slide out. Also, you really only get one chance to do it correctly.

I’ll keep working at it.

The other detail I love about this apron is that piping between the skirt and the waistband. I used the piping foot for that and the whole process was fast and easy.

After I finished the apron, I pulled out another BabyLock pattern—for a wine gift bag. I knew I had wine-themed fabric in the stash, so I pulled that out, too, and some coordinating fabric for the lining. I had just enough of the wine-themed fabric for three bags, which turned out to be a good thing because I didn’t get it right until the third one.

It’s a free pattern, so I don’t expect much, but I do expect some basic information. No seam allowance was given, so I shaved off a knife’s width as I serged. The instructions call for 1/4” wide ribbon or cord for the tie, but don’t say how long the ribbon should be. I used 24”, which seemed about right. The tie is folded in half and inserted into the seam. For the first bag, I tried some decorative cord, but it shredded itself and came out of the seam when I tried to tie it.

Bad words were said.

For the second one, I used black satin ribbon and was careful to shorten the stitch length as I came to that part of the seam to make sure the ribbon was securely anchored. Somehow, though, the ribbon slipped out of the seam before I sewed it and I did not discover that fact until I turned the bag inside out and found the ribbon on the floor.

More bad words were said.

On the third try, the ribbon stayed put. These are super quick to make and I might do some for next year’s co-op sale.

My cutting room looks like a toddler went through it. It’s a mess because I was pulling down bins to get out supplies and changing threads and needles on the serger. I have a few more projects I want to make with other stitches—I played around with blanket stitch edgings on fleece and flannel before I had to stop and make dinner—so it will probably stay messy until later this week.

I’ve got four people signed up for sewing on Saturday thanks to Susan’s publicity efforts. She put up a sign at the apple cider pressing day last weekend. Nicole Sauce’s podcast yesterday was a debrief of the recent Self-Reliance Festival in Camden, Tennessee and she mentioned that people need to see something an average of seven times before it sticks in their brains.