. . . please forgive me. I have slandered you wrongly. Or maybe I’ve libeled you. In any case, I was wrong, dreadfully wrong. Sigh.
Archive for the 'Tools' Category
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The arrival of my new serger has occasioned a few changes around here: I’ve been motivated to get a bit better organized, at least as far as my new machine and its ancillary bits are concerned.
I’ve previously ranted about the poor quality of the tool storage case that came with the serger (plastic like cardboard! and it won’t stay shut without a rubberband!):
I’ve replaced it with a plastic box meant for photo storage:
This won’t last forever, either, as it doesn’t have real hinges, but no matter, it will serve for a long time, and probably be easily replaced when the need arises. It was under two dollars in the junk craft section at JoAnn’s; it’s meant for 4×6 photos, and is transparent, flat and slim, making it easy to keep handy, as well as to view everything inside.
PS – Don’t EVER store your photos in plastic boxes! Worst idea ever! But I digress.
Carrying on with the photo theme, though, I store my serger project cards in 4×6 photo sleeves so that I can see them easily:
These, in turn, are stored in a three-ring binder with an elastic closure, so that nothing pops out unexpectedly:
The serger manuals are in the back of the binder
and so is the instruction disc that came with it
I added plastic dividers for the various sections; they give some needed support to the floppy pages.
Last on my list was thread storage. I’ve been keeping my serger cones in the bottom drawer of my rolling storage bin, which has always been a bad idea. It’s open, so conditions are a bit dusty (or fuzzy) at times in those drawers, particularly those closest to the floor.
JoAnn’s sells a plastic box specifically for storing over-sized serger thread cones. Lucky for me someone had torn the cellophane off one of these, so I trotted over to the serger thread bins to try it out before buying. This turned out to be a very good thing.
Not one of the serger cones sold by JoAnn’s fit into the specialty storage box. Not one! Could anything better illustrate the JoAnn attitude toward its sewing customers? I’m so glad I didn’t haul that “custom” box home; I hope the clerk who was spared the horror of running it (and me) through the returns process is grateful, too.
This box was just right and half the price as well as being sturdier and possessed of a better, locking, lid and handle. Of course it wasn’t designed for cone storage.
I can live with that. It’s perfect! As well as dust (and fuzz) free.
(Other than the fact that what’s wrong is not too obvious from my less-than perfect photo?)
12/29/10 — UPDATE: OH, SO MUCH LESS IS WRONG THAN I THOUGHT!!!! Friends, I have wallowed in ignorance, and I have whined and puled about this screwdriver unfairly. MEA CULPA! And, to Baby Lock, my sincere apology.
This screwdriver is NOT supposed to fit into the rear screw on my serger. The rear screw is a stabilizing device, used solely to hold the plate in place. When changing the plate, one unscrews only the front screw, and lifts the plate upward without disturbing the rear screw. Somehow I missed this.
Learn from my mistake — take the free class offered by your sewing store. And don’t write any blog posts until you have.
This is the screwdriver that came with my Baby Lock Lauren serger. It’s a little difficult to see here, but you can’t actually fit the supplied screwdriver into the rear screw. That’s because the screwdriver is too long, and can’t reach the screw without banging into the serger. (12/29/10 — AND, DUH, IT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO REACH THE SCREW! Sigh. I’d really rather be infallible, but hey . . . )
You can completely forget about fitting the screwdriver blade into the screw; that’s not going to happen — and if you jam it in partway, at an angle, to make it fit, and try to use it like that, you’re risking stripping the screw head, which is not good.
My screwdriver is probably just like the one supplied with your serger, and just about as useful. Nicely done, Baby Lock; this is truly idiotic. Is there some law that requires manufacturers to just throw any old screwdriver into accessory kits? I’m quite sure that Baby Lock is not alone in committing this particular transgression.
Here’s what you need instead. It’s called a “thumb screwdriver”, and it’s perfect for tight spaces just like this:
You can get them at any hardware store, and they aren’t even expensive. Just really, really useful. Mine takes drill bits, so I can slap in whatever screwdriver size or type point I want to use. I’m propping it up for the photo, but, of course, you’d normally hold it between thumb and index finger and just turn it.
This one is made of metal and has a nicer-than-most gripping surface; it’s a little harder to find than the ones with plastic handles, but a generally better tool. Worth the search, in my book.
An alternative is the “angle screwdriver” which usually comes with a slot head on one end and a Phillips head on the other:
It’s not quite as easy to use in a space like the one on my serger, but it will work in that kind of small space, and it’s very handy around the house in general, as well as in the sewing room. Also available everywhere, except, of course, in your mfg-supplied sewing machine accessory box!
Related:
I vowed that I’d really get to know my new serger this go-round, and have been devouring various resources. Much to my surprise, my low-bump Baby Lock Lauren serger came with an excellent DVD, which I’ve watched, and found very helpful. But the best resource has been Nancy Zieman’s Serge with Confidence which has languished, unread, in my library for several years.
In Serge, Zieman suggests using “Serger Reference Cards” to track projects. She shows commercial cards in the book, but I can’t find them on her site, and have never seen them in a store. I thought these were a good idea, though, so I whipped up my own, tailored to my specific preferences: That’s my card in the photo above, hot off the printer.
My word processor has a template for index cards, three to a standard (US) 8.5 by 11 inch page, so that’s what I used, filling in the fields as I liked, and leaving a space at the bottom for samples of the work in question. Once they were printed, I cut them with a guillotine-style paper cutter; scissors would have worked, too.
My template wastes paper, but did allow me to avoid creating my own index-card-table-template, which would have been a pain, especially in my somewhat kludgey software. I might do that later on — in the meantime, let’s just say that I’m not going to be running out of bookmarks in the near future.
I use a Linux computer, which isn’t particularly user-friendly for these kinds of features (but wonderful for the important stuff!). If you use a more common OS, you might have a more sensible index card layout in your word processor software. Or not . . . but it might be worth checking to see.
Just for fun, I used font colors corresponding to the colors on the tension dials for the needles and the loopers on my serger in the place on the cards where I’ll record the tension settings.
I printed the cards on cardstock (a heavier weight paper with a very slightly slick surface on one side). Cardstock is available at any office supply store and makes for a heavier, more durable “index” card. That might matter if you’re attaching samples to the cards.
To finish them off, I used a “decorative corner punch” to round the corners. That’s a “fun” thing, too, but also sensible, as squared-off corners are likely to fray and get sloppy over time. Eliminating them means that I’ll be able to handle these cards without making a mess of them. I’ve left enough room at the bottom for stitching/fabric samples. Here’s the first one I used, with sample attached:
Many people find sergers to be overwhelmingly frustrating, and having this kind of tool to refer to is just the ticket to reduce some of that frustration. I’ve never found my serger to be particularly frustrating, but I have found it a pain to have to re-invent settings for new projects when I can’t remember settings that were second nature say, last year. Now I’ll have documentation: Perfect!
If you’re eager to develop the best possible relationship with your own serger, I highly recommend Serge with Confidence. The projects might not send you — they’re not particularly to my taste — but you’ll be amazed at what you can do with a serger, and Zieman will walk you through every thing you could conceivably need to know about using one. If you’re thinking about buying a higher-bump serger than I did, you might want to take a look at Serge before you shop; it would be a great tool for evaluating your needs and desires before you and your wallet step out.
. . . courtesy of IKEA:
It’s their inexpensive, lightweight dolly; handy for everything, and just right for this job, too. Cheaper and more versatile than the purpose-built carts. Bungee cords recommended. I couldn’t find mine, but I didn’t really need them for this run.
Miss Bedelia was originally shipped with an instruction booklet, which I was lucky to find on eBay. It’s got very complete directions for fitting the dress form, and is, all in all, a marvel of clear English. Which is more than I can say for any other instruction manual I’ve seen in, say, the last 30 years or so.
Here’s the cover:
Page One, emphasizing the wide variation of suitable sizes (including the suggestion that “Aunt Jane” may be “a size or two, or even three, larger than you”:
Page Two, fitting the halves to Aunt Jane (the implication here is that you’ll need a helper to fit “My Double”, and that is correct. Very correct:
Page Three, a description of the two distinct types of meshes, and how to adjust each properly:
Page Four, molding the form to the body in question:
Page Five, fitting the bust, upper back, waist, lower body, and collar
Page Six, double checking and removing the form:
Page Seven, assembling and adjusting the stand:
Page Eight, using the adjustable sliding rods to make the form rigid on the stand:
Page Nine (to be done before the steps on page eight), checking Aunt Jane’s posture to ensure it’s duplicated correctly:
Back Page, attaching tapes for pinning dress material to the form:
Miss Bedelia was unfortunately parted from her internal rods at some point in her life. I am still debating how, and if, I need/want to replace them, since I suspect there is little or no chance of finding anything like them at this point. Unless, of course, a miracle occurs, and I run across them in someone’s old donated sewing supplies at a thrift shop. Here’s what they look like, in a bit more detail:
You can understand, I’m sure, the longing with which I read this note on page ten:
If you want extra sliding rods for “My Double” they are available at 20 [whoa -- there's no cent sign on my keyboard! talk about extinction! -- ok, read that as 'twenty cents'] each.
That’s the kind of time machine I’m interested in — the one that lets me order from the past!
Related:
Miss Bedelia: My New Dress Form
Miss Bedelia is my “new” dress form: she is a gift from my dear aunt, who was kind enough to name her, too, thus sparing her the ignominy of an anonymous existence. I’ve always wanted one of these, partly because they are such an artifact, but also because I simply wanted to know how they work — and if they are effective as other types. Not that it matters — is there anything more iconic than this?
Mr. Noile recently helped me fit Miss Bedelia. This was a non-trivial operation. There are snaps down the center front and back, but, if you’re trying to put this carapace on by yourself, wriggling into it is, well, interesting. Or, in my own case, nearly immobilizing. Mr. Noile was preoccupied downstairs at the time, playing “Birdie” with our little cat Aldebaran, so rescue was not immediately at hand. Aldebaran is our very bright, hyper-active young cat, and the entire household’s well-being depends on Aldebaran getting a daily workout playing Birdie.
There are no photos of me encased in Miss Bedelia. This is at least partly because once Mr. Noile found his way upstairs, he took one look at me, wrapped as I was in a steel cage, and said “so it’s not just kilts, is it, now?” which was a reference to my affection for men in kilts. Which I assure you is merely in the interest of their (or, in this case, Mr. Noile’s) well-being, not some random perversion. Who wouldn’t want to wear a Utili-Kilt? Particularly the one with all the (snap-able! removable! adjustable!) cargo pockets?
But I digress. Mr. Noile agreeably pushed and pulled and generally mauled Miss Bedelia into (my) shape, and then unsnapped both sides. That was, itself, a bit of a weird moment, as I shed two halves of myself, and watched them split off, all hollow and, well, empty of what makes me, me.
I quickly reassembled Miss Bedelia, and tried my nearly-finished red dress on her new shape. Perfect! Or as near as can be expected — the dress actually fits me a bit better, but Miss Bedelia’s form is plenty close enough to work with. Miss Bedelia will be best with woven fabrics, though, I can see. The lumps and bumps made by her hardware might be a bit distracting, and perhaps cause some distortion, when working with knits.
She originally came with a set of adjustable rods which thread through loops attached to her center support, and with twill-tape-like ties to hold her shell to the shoulder support. I was able to replicate the ties, of course, but haven’t quite decided what to do about the internal supports, though I’m kicking around a couple of ideas. If I’m careful, they may not be necessary.
Because Miss Bedelia’s pedestal spelled disaster for my oak floors, I picked up a rolling plant stand from IKEA, guessing that it would work well. As you can see, it couldn’t have been a better solution. Miss Bedelia is very light, so moving her around the room is a breeze now, and no floors are harmed in the process.
“My Double” Instruction Booklet
Replacement Rods for “My Double” Dress Form
Read the post about the dress here: Vogue 1088 and Burda 7658
The US Park Service maintains a printing office and bindery at 320 Market Street in Philadelphia. Using replica presses, Park Service employees demonstrate 18th century printing presses and discuss printing in the era of Benjamin Franklin. It’s a fascinating look at the process, but something that especially caught my eye were these devices:
Look familiar? Exactly: Early Olfas. These rotary cutters were used to cut paper, though. It was another 300 years or so before smaller versions made it into our sewing rooms.
It’s been almost six months since I last posted, and it will be another month before I’m back posting regularly, but I just had to acknowledge the arrival of a tool I expect to be using for the rest of my sewing life. It’s KAM snap press, model DK-98:
I’ve waffled about getting this for years now, torn because I wasn’t sure I’d use it enough, and because I just didn’t know enough about the people selling them. Dawn’s experience convinced me that I could order one and expect it to arrive, and I finally had a list of projects-around-the-house that was long enough that I figured it was time.
Mostly, though, I’ve wanted (for decades!) to be able to set decorative cap snaps without smashing the caps,something I’ve never been able to do with pliers.
This thing is a monster: It’s almost 18 inches tall, and heavy! See that “bubble” in front, on the base? That’s where you put a bolt if you’re going to anchor it to a work bench. There are two other similar holes around the base. The good news is that you don’t have to bolt it down to use it; in fact, although it requires some body language, setting snaps is really easy.
Most people seem to use these in home-based diaper making businesses, and at least one family uses it to make hospital gowns for charity. (They have a clever foot-pedal rigged up, which you can see here, since they are apparently setting snaps non-stop.) Diapers and hospital gowns both are well-suited to ue the resin (plastic-like) snaps. They’re softer against the body, and don’t retain heat when taken out of the dryer, the way metal snaps can (if only briefly). I’ll be using my own snap press mostly for metal snaps; I got the resin ones mostly to experiment with adult apparel.
Here’s what I ordered along with the press:
No the greatest picture, I’m afraid: The dots are, of course, snaps. The white ones on the left are resin, and the ones in the upper row are metal, spring-type (more on that later). The things that look like little tubes or columns are dies. The snap press is useless without them. You set the dies in place in the press, then put the appropriate snap part into the die, sandwich the fabric or material, and clamp the parts together to set a snap.
The allen wrenches at the lower right come with the press. They’re used to turn the screws that hold the dies in place. And that strap at the top? It’s the first snap I set with my new press: A size 28 (large!) bronze snap. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to set!
I got my snap press from The Snap Store. The service was very good, but ordering was a bit of a frustrating experience. The web site’s kind of a mess, and unless you already know exactly what you want, it’s a bit tricky determining how, much less what, to order. I completely gave up on trying to figure out if any of the special combination offers would work for me because I couldn’t figure out whether they were a good deal for my purposes or not. I’ll have some tips about figuring out what to order in my next snap press post.
Also, the website doesn’t state what KAM model this press it, which is a bit of a pain if you’re trying to figure out if the Snap Store dies will work with a press you already own, or with snaps you might get elsewhere. I’m quite sure it’s a KAM DK-98, though. There is at least one other KAM press out there, which is lighter weight (and a bit smaller), but I don’t know if it takes the same dies or not.
Dies are not necessarily interchangeable between types of presses, and getting any particular vendor to tell you what size shaft your press has (or what size shaft any particular die has) isn’t necessarily easy, so knowing your model is helpful when shopping around.
On the plus side, Wendy S., the Snap Store proprietor, was great about emailing me when one of my items was out of stock, so I was impressed with her responsiveness. And my order arrived exactly as requested, which is always wonderful! The Snap Store has by far the largest selection of snaps and dies compared to any other source I could find, and yes, I’ve already placed an order for another die set.
More about die sets, figuring out what you need, etc. in a future post.
When I made my duct tape dressmaker dummy, I built a stand for it from PVC pipe:
The pipe is four inches in diameter, and the foot it’s standing on is a toilet flange. (Not elegant, true, but efficacious.)
The ’skeleton’ of my duct tape dummy is made of two-inch PVC pipe. The vertical piece comes out the bottom of the dummy and slides into the lower part of the stand. Here’s an image of just the body and the smaller diameter pipe:
Inside the large pipe are two PVC connectors: One is at the bottom, inside the pipe, and one is set into the top of the pipe. You can just see a a bit of duct tape around the top connector; it was a little loose, so I added the duct tape as padding to keep it firmly in place.
I hacked off the top of the upper connector piece to allow the narrower skeleton pipe to fit inside. I put the second connector into the four-inch pipe at the bottom, so that the two-inch pipe wouldn’t flop around inside. Then I set the four-inch pipe into the toilet flange. The flange gives the pipe enough support so that the dummy stands on its own.
That worked out fine, but a dummy is a whole lot more useful if it can be easily moved, so when one of our desk chairs broke, I put the internal connector onto the stem of the chair’s chassis, like this:
Then I just slipped the four-inch pipe assembly and the toilet flange over the connector, which gave me a rolling dummy.
So that’s the old version.
Last month, while scouting out home repair stuff, I noticed that Lowe’s still had some black PVC pipe in stock. Sleek, elegant black pipe! I bought it, and unexpectedly realized that my first stand (the white one above) was a lot more complicated than it needed to be.
At the hardware store, I assembled this kit:
The black pipe across the top isn’t as heavy as my original white pipe: It’s just three inches in diameter. The salvaged office chair base (whoops, not from the hardware store; it’s the one I already had) is on the left, and to the right of it are a PVC ring connector, and a PVC pipe cap (all from the plumbing supplies department).
After removing the old white two-inch pipe from inside the dummy, I slipped the new black pipe into the internal skeleton. Then I placed the black PVC ring on the stem of the chair base. The vertical black pipe fit into the ring, and voilà! my stand rolled again.
As a finishing touch, I removed the neck pipe, cut a new piece in black, attached the PVC cap (just so that it would match the rest of the stand), and that was it:
I can’t remember why my first version was so much more complicated. Serious overkill! My dummy is just lightweight duct tape and fiberfill, and doesn’t need the additional support of the larger pipe and inserts, although they would certainly be excellent for a heavier or larger dummy than mine.
I’m quite pleased with my new stand. It took only minutes to put together, and the black pipe is so much more attractive. Next up? A new dummy. I think I’ll make it of white duct tape, just so I can enjoy the contrast with the stand.