Another Serger Experiment

The other project I made on Saturday was a very simple placemat, also featuring the flatlock stitch. The pillow used flatlocking to seam two pieces of fabric together. The placemat has flatlocking as a decorative accent. I also wanted to try out this method of binding. I want to use a similar binding on the MCC comforters that we tied last month.

This is nothing fancy, but then again, it’s a placemat. They are supposed to be functional, too.

Coming up with class projects is not easy. I’d prefer that students simply learn the techniques and practice on pieces of fabric, but stores want projects so the students can leave class feeling like they accomplished something. It’s a fine line to walk. I have to design—or find a pattern for—a project that illustrates the technique being taught, is do-able within the limits of class time, and isn’t so complicated that it frustrates the students. Gail Yellen’s placemat project on the Bernina website is hugely complicated, because she’s trying to illustrate three or four different techniques in the same project.

This placemat is a good start, although it has the added issue of having to be made using both a serger and a sewing machine. We can get around that in class in a couple of different ways: students can bring both machines; the store can set up a machine for students to use; or students can do the serging parts in class and finish the project at home.

I am going to play around with additional placemat designs. I suspect, too, that I will have a few more ideas after I take the two-day Bernina Overlocker workshop at the end of next week. I’m really looking forward to that class as it will be nice to be a student instead of the teacher.

I like this placemat binding technique. It’s very similar to the method I use on self-binding minky baby blankets. This YouTube tutorial from Cindy Bee was helpful. Basically, you cut the backing larger than the front, trim the corners, and sew a seam on each one. That miters the corners and causes the binding to flip neatly to the front side. Cindy fuses fleece batting to her placemats (as did I) and quilts them before binding them. I tried quilting the first iteration and did not like it, although I was quilting on my Janome because I didn’t want to take apart and rethread the Q20. The binding gets sewn down in the final step. The second placemat—the one that I didn’t quilt—seems plenty solid to me without it, although I suspect the quilting might help it to hold together better in the wash.

I also have a couple of apron patterns that feature decorative flatlock stiches. Those could be adapted for a class, too.

***********************************************

Happy spring—this was our view yesterday morning:

We had about 8” on the ground by the time I got home from church. Temps are supposed to warm up into the 40s and 50s this week, so hopefully we have seen the last of the snow. I appreciate the precipitation, but I think I’d rather have it as rain now. So would the chickens. They will happily stand outside in a downpour, but they won’t go out if there is snow on the ground.

The chicks are starting to get their big chicken feathers. We’ll probably move them to the coop, in a separate section, by this time next month.

This is a busy week. The husband and I both have appointments at the eye doctor this afternoon, I’m teaching the serger class on baby items tomorrow morning, and my next round of T-shirt classes starts Wednesday.