I had an old pair of flip top mitts in my closet, and it was snowing today, so I put them on. Turns out, the liner had a hole in the thumb, so when I got home I did a quick repair. It might be the fabric is too degraded and it needs a bigger replacement, but it should keep me going until I finish the second mitt of my stranded colourwork wool mittens. (I should cast that on already)
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I’m planning to make some dish towels for Christmas presents, but I’m also ordering fabric online for pickup. What kind of fabric should I look for?
If I was in-store I’d just feel it and go from there, but other than “linen” or “cotton” or “tea towel fabric”, I have no idea how to determine if a fabric would be appropriate for a dish towel. Any suggestions?
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Any ideas for how to re-attach this hem? I thought the fabric was two layers so I could just sew through the inner layer, but it doesn’t seem to be. It is a fairly thick knit. I doubt I have a thread that matches it well.
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hem tape? then you don’t have to sew.
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A hand sewn hem where you just pick up a thread or two on the side that shows is what I would do. You won’t be able to see it from the outside if you only pick up a thread or two
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Hmm, I think I do have hem tape…
@Ckni27 Like, one leg of the knit stitch, or like one ply of the yarn? (It’s not really yarn, but I’m much more a knitter and that’s how I can make sense of it!)
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Sure, you just want to grab a tiny bit with the needle so that it doesn’t show through to the other side of the fabric
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I guess my question is really, “is picking up a whole leg of the knit stitch enough to keep it from showing, or do I need to try to stab through the yarn?”
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Typically when hand hemming like this you want to try to pick up a single thread of the fabric (maybe 2 if it is really delicate), and you are hemming with thread, not yarn. You also don’t sew it too “tightly” as that will cause puckering that can be seen on the right side. If you do it gently and only pick up a single thread it is more or less invisible. This is assuming it is woven fabric though - is the fabric actually knitted in the way of hand knitting (like with actual loops on the (right) knit side and bars on the (wrong) purl side? (ETA: It looks woven to me from the photo, but maybe it isn’t close enough to tell.)
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I’ll take another look at it. I thought it was a knit, but I really can’t tell from the photo and now I’m confused about whether there was a purl side. If it turns out to be woven, perhaps I will be less confused about what counts as a “single thread.”
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Yay!!!
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I’m asking for advice again! Tragically, my sewing machine is kaput; the repairman replaced the gears that we thought were the problem, only to discover that the computer parts (yes, this machine was state-of-the-art 40 years ago when it was new) are not working and can’t be replaced.
What should I look for in a replacement machine? Is there any value in looking for the same brand (the old one is a Singer and I still have the pedal and a number of bobbins–but I don’t know if there’s any reason to think they would fit a newer machine). (Actually it looks like I could buy the exact same machine on eBay for about $350, but I don’t care that much about the computerized aspects, especially if they’re just going to break.)
My teammate has more sewing machines than she can use, so I may buy one from her. Or there’s eBay and FB Marketplace. I’d really love to get one that folds into its table like @RamonaQ has 
and I found one on FB Marketplace (different brand), but I just don’t know how to tell if it’s good! I suppose I can always google the brand and style to see if there are any reviews, but does anyone have general sewing-machine-shopping advice?
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I am preening that I have an enviable sewing table! 
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It’s sooooo cooooooooooool
And it’s space efficient since I could use the table surface for other things when I’m not machine sewing!
Honestly between your sewing machine table and the standing desk that @iualia mentioned, I’ve been envisioning a radically different layout for my office/craft room!
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If you know your teammate looks after her machines, I’d go for buying one from her over being able to re-use parts of your old Singer (but bonus points if she has a Singer to sell to you!) I imagine the pedal might have changed but bobbins may fit a newer machine.
My mum also has one of those sewing machine desks that lets your sewing machine fold down into it! They are excellent. So far I play a lot of laptop-sewing machine-overlocker tetris in our study…
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I have no advice since I’m still fantasising about a new to me machine as well hahahha but good luck!! Sorry your old one bit the dust :((
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Just be sure to match machine model to bobbin model. Singer bobbins are not all interchangeable, and you can damage your machine using the wrong one, even if they look like they fit (some are slightly different sizes and can jam the bobbin case and that’s an expensive repair).
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I have personal experience with this. Do not recommend.
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