Sewing Machine Pattern

New sewing machine, new sewer

John brought Jane's sewing machine to my house. I went through the owner's manual page by page, learned how to wind a bobbin and how to load it, how to thread the upper end, how to select one of twenty cams for a specific job, adjust thread tension, change length and width of stitching, how the needle threader works, and how to clear a rats-nest from the bobbin case assembly when, not if, the thread snarled. Once I knew how Jane's machine operated, I took it back to their house.

I bought two meters of light gray cloth from a super-bargain table, then cut some practice ten-by-thirty centimeter pieces from it. I also bought a spool of Neon Orange thread for practice sewing with the unused machine. "We can easily see this orange-on-gray better than if it was gray-on-gray. We can see how adjustments affect the finished sewing," I pointed out.

"Here is my pair of pants, you can sew them now," John said.

I looked at John with incredulity. "You don't want to attempt to do a complex sewing job for your first attempt to operate this machine. Now, this cam, number one, will make a straight line stitch, which you'll most likely use most of the time. It will make regular seams, depending on the stitch length, as you set it in with this knob." I demonstrated straight stitching on one of the gray pieces.

"Here is my pair of pants, you can sew them now," John said.

Jane and I both gave John a scorching glare.

"This is cam three, which does zig-zags. These are good for sewing things down so the edges won't jump up into a zipper, for example; or to hold the inside of a seam flat, or to make satin stitching." We experimented with a few lengths and widths, we learned that setting the width to zero makes a straight stitch, or setting to five will make a bar tack if length is set to one-eighth at the same time. We also experimented with cams four and five.

We then set the cam to six, which is the blind stitch setting. This requires the length and width to be set exactly for the hem you're trying to make, so we spent a lot of time making some terrible examples, and now and then a good one. The orange thread contrasted well against the gray, we could easily see the error of our settings and mis-guiding the folds under the presser foot.

I Sharpied my Sewing Machine! : DiY crafts, free sewing patterns ...

I’ve always wanted to paint my Singer 301, because it’s beige and beige is… well, beige. So when Sharpie asked me to be part of the Sharpie Takeover, and I started thinking, “What will I Sharpie?” the first thing that popped into my head was: SEWING MACHINE.

I chose my other Singer to Sharpie, because it’s white and would show color better. The beige will have to stay beige until another day.

Here it is.

Boring. White. Plastic.

Hardcore Nightmare Before Christmas fans will probably recognize that I used Sally’s dress as the inspiration for my pattern. What better pattern for a sewing machine than one inspired by a rag doll who sews herself up when her arm gets ripped off?

I used regular Sharpie permanent markers. Depending on what you draw on, you might want to seal your artwork, or it might eventually start to rub off with a lot of use. Also, if you make a mistake, rubbing alcohol will take off MOST of the ink.

Now before you start running around trying to amass all of your Sharpies (I swear they grow feet, like scissors. I know I have 20 Sharpie in the house but I can never find them when I need them!) so you can doodle on your appliances, don’t forget to submit your Sharpie creation to the Sharpie gallery at Sharpie.com , so you can get featured in the Sharpie Takeover Youtube video!

Plus, I have 2 fantastic words for you, my friends. SHARPIE GIVEAWAY . Sharpie has generously offered to provide one lucky WhatTheCraft reader with a Sharpie grab bag! You get a set of Sharpie minis, fabric brush markers, Fine Point pens, highlighters, and Liquid Graphite pencils (these are mind bogglingly awesome).

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