serger=fail
I could get used to these 3-day weekends! Since Stu had the day off, I was hoping to get a lot of sewing done. This morning between snacks and diaper changes, I managed to sew some more produce bags (tutorial coming soon, I promise!). This afternoon I had grand plans to sew up some summer shorts for Anya. It's just about the simplest pattern ever and it should have taken half an hour from start to finish but my serger kind of blew up in my face.
Well, not really. "Blew up in my face" just might be a bit of an exaggeration. In truth, it was much less dramatic than that. I turned it on, re-threaded one of the 4 (!) cones of thread (it broke the other day when I was trying to use it, and I am just getting around to rethreading now), closed up the safety plate, got a scrap piece of fabric to do a test run, pressed on the pedal...and nothing happened. NOTHING. Nada.
Sigh. Of course a 30-minute project turned into a couple hours of complaining to anyone who would listen, calling a couple repair places (fruitless, it being a holiday and all), searching for the manual (again, fruitless, because I'm a little disorganized), and turning the serger on and off about a dozen times hoping it would magically start working.
It didn't.
I did finally find the manual, and I think perhaps the safety trigger is ON (from opening up the machine to rethread) and won't turn OFF. The last time I used the machine it didn't have any problems, so I don't see how something could have actually broken or jammed. I'm going to try and figure out how to make that switch work properly and if I can't, I will give the repair shop another try tomorrow. There's only one left in town, so it could be a while before he can get me in, unfortunately.
In the meantime, I just HAD to finish these shorts for Anya, because if they fit, I can make her several more pairs very quickly (in theory, barring more equipment failure and all). I went ahead and finished the side seams by turning under the raw edges and stitching them down. It was one extra step, but didn't take too long, truthfully. The crotch seam still has raw edges but I figure she won't be wearing these for more than one summer anyway, so it's no big deal, really, even with inevitable wear and tear.
The good news is: they fit! And they are adorable! And she seems to like them:
The equipment required for knitting is a lot simpler, you know? At least you don't have to plug anything in.
Well, not really. "Blew up in my face" just might be a bit of an exaggeration. In truth, it was much less dramatic than that. I turned it on, re-threaded one of the 4 (!) cones of thread (it broke the other day when I was trying to use it, and I am just getting around to rethreading now), closed up the safety plate, got a scrap piece of fabric to do a test run, pressed on the pedal...and nothing happened. NOTHING. Nada.
Sigh. Of course a 30-minute project turned into a couple hours of complaining to anyone who would listen, calling a couple repair places (fruitless, it being a holiday and all), searching for the manual (again, fruitless, because I'm a little disorganized), and turning the serger on and off about a dozen times hoping it would magically start working.
It didn't.
I did finally find the manual, and I think perhaps the safety trigger is ON (from opening up the machine to rethread) and won't turn OFF. The last time I used the machine it didn't have any problems, so I don't see how something could have actually broken or jammed. I'm going to try and figure out how to make that switch work properly and if I can't, I will give the repair shop another try tomorrow. There's only one left in town, so it could be a while before he can get me in, unfortunately.
In the meantime, I just HAD to finish these shorts for Anya, because if they fit, I can make her several more pairs very quickly (in theory, barring more equipment failure and all). I went ahead and finished the side seams by turning under the raw edges and stitching them down. It was one extra step, but didn't take too long, truthfully. The crotch seam still has raw edges but I figure she won't be wearing these for more than one summer anyway, so it's no big deal, really, even with inevitable wear and tear.
The good news is: they fit! And they are adorable! And she seems to like them:
The equipment required for knitting is a lot simpler, you know? At least you don't have to plug anything in.
Comments
And the shorts are adorable! Just like the girl.
Oma