Random MomBlog

I’m getting my first sewing machine ready for a new home (yay! I couldn’t throw it out, but I rarely used it), and it makes me think of the checklist I used to select it in fall of 1991.

I wanted

• straight stitch and
• zig-zag stitches in at least 3mm and 5mm stitch widths,
• variable stitch lengths,
• reverse for easy bar tacking,
• and hopefully a free arm for sewing in tight spaces.

What I sew determines what sewing machine features I use. I’ve made clothes, accessories (like purses), and some light household items (napkins and curtains). I’ve added applique accents. Sometimes I mend fabric things, but I usually mend by hand since it seems easier.

For my second and current sewing machine, the main feature I added to that list was a 1-step automatic buttonholer. I was, I confess, also swayed by all of the accessories and specialty stitches on my new one. However, those extras didn’t add to the cost once “one-step buttonhole” made the necessary list. I noticed that I made shirts in one long weekend except for the buttonholes, and those took a couple of months to get around to finishing. Making buttonholes fun, instead of a chore, speeds up the whole project.

Between the first sewing machine and the second, I’ve also added a serger and an embroidery machine to my collection, so I didn’t need or want a combination machine. I expect a combo machine to be jack of those trades, master of none.

Sewing machines can last a long time. When I say a working sewing machine is old, I usually mean that it needs to have its timing adjusted. However that service costs $50 or more, a good portion of the cost of a new not-too-specialized machine. Sewing machines have their timing slip most commonly when sewing heavy fabrics, like layers of denim. After the timing goes, a sewing machine doesn’t stitch thin fabric as well as a new or recently tuned one. So my thought is, use an old machine for the heavy work, and new for light.

I don’t like maintenance-free sewing machines (or anything else). They may go longer without service, but at a high cost. The maintenance-free failure mode is that it breaks, while the maintenance one just needs that tune-up. Hmm, several tune-ups (maybe many!) versus dead. Not a tough choice for me since I don’t mind oiling and cleaning my sewing machine! Other than that, I like good workmanship (it just fits together well) and a good sound (easier to hear when you need maintenance).

Sewing, Tips

Tonight I was able to start and finish an embroidered monogram in one pass! A first!

The major lessons I’ve learned are always use stabilizer (even on heavy material), and always check the thread, both upper and bobbin, for proper tension if the test piece doesn’t pass.

As always, a dull needle, nicks on the throatplate or bobbin, or poor thread (old, or just not even) will also cause problems. But I’m starting to think I can handle this embroidery machine … that I got three years ago at the very end of June. Ah well, at least I learned my way around it eventually!

I’ve been fighting with my embroidery machine (again) in my small scraps of what is laughably called free time. The two things that worked this time were to add stabilizer backing, and to reseat the bobbin.

I thought this heavier mid-weight woven fabric was heavy enough without stabilizer, but the difference in the test results indicate otherwise. So lesson one: use stabilizer. I get the feeling that this lesson is universal to machine embroidery. To make testing easier, I stitched the stabilizer to the fabric. If I were to do this not-for-testing, I think the stabilizer border stitching would be a perfect place to use one of the fancy stitches on my new sewing machine.

Once I added stabilizer, I still had undesirable results. The stabilizer side looked tidy now, but the so-called right side was all wrong. I only saw top thread on the back, while the front showed somewhat loose bobbin thread. That looked to me like there was zero bobbin tension. Pulling on the bobbin thread end felt like zero tension as well. So I switched out the bobbin and was very careful how I seated the new bobbin.

I was so happy to see it work well after those two changes, stabilizer and reseated bobbin, that I kept running more tests, just to watch it work, just to wash away some of the previous frustration of seeing it not work and not having time to diagnose and fix it then. Ahh ,,,

And just in time too. I wanted to embroider a present for a friend, and my mother requested her chop on the jacket that she sometimes leaves at work (and would like to see again thankyou). So I’m ready to help out embroidering now.

Machine Embroidery, Tips

Wow, ideas to use dryer lint including firestarter, paper mache, and clay for sculpture. I thought I knew how to cover my recycling bases, but just look what I was missing. I could see using dryer lint as a layer for potted plants, though.

I don’t have the patience to put “product” in my hair. Getting my hair to behave is a losing battle anyway, so I’m sure it would take too much time if I ever did find something that works. The one product to come around that fits my patience level and has a positive effect on my hair is spray leave-in hair conditioner.

My hair stylist suggested making my own. Kelly, who was very cool even back when we were in high school together, said to fill a spray bottle with water and then to add my favorite conditioner. Well, I don’t have a favorite conditioner. But I do have some conditioning products gathering dust that are thick goop that I don’t use because they go on too thick when I do it. Kelly can make these work well in a jiffy, but I don’t have her touch. And even with a simple recipe like that, I didn’t follow it (no surprise).

I boiled two cups of water, and let two chamomile tea bags steep overnight because I was tired. I filled a 12-ounce spray bottle nearly to the top with this tea, and then I added two Tbs of Sunsilk De-Frizz 24/7 Creme. (I poured the excess chamomile tea on some plants since I’m not a fan of drinking chamomile tea.) I do need to shake it before each use, but it works so much better than the straight goop ever did! It smooths frizzy hair, and it’s easy to apply! It even has a slight bit of holding power! Talk about easy. I like the combination much better than the parts, since I don’t drink chamomile tea and I couldn’t use the thick goop effectively.

DIY, Make Your Own

I don’t know why it took me so long to try this, but I mixed my own. I’ve got a number of moisturizers that aren’t quite right on their own. I like the coverage of Neutrogena Skin Clearing makeup in blushing ivory since I’m pale, but towards the end of the day, my face is shiny. It’s difficult to apply a thin layer, but Neutrogena Pore Refining Mattifier really controls shine. I’ve tried several moisturizers with sunscreen, and so far they all go on greasy. However, if I mix equal parts moisturizer with makeup and add a small dose of mattifier, it works out well! The sum of the parts is better than the parts … and no, I don’t want to take the time to put on three separate layers when I can mix it together in advance.

I had some eye moisturizer that was too thick, so I mixed in a little witch hazel (for your eye skin, make sure the witch hazel isn’t cut with alcohol that would dry your skin out), and it became much fluffier and easier to spread. For daytime eye moisturizer, I added some tint as well, and that adds a nice subtle glint.

I think it’s easier to get exactly the features I want in a moisturizer by mixing several to get sunscreen, tint, matte coverage, and vitamins! So don’t be shy, give it a try!

DIY, Make Your Own

This was a very quick project using found items! I saw bib clips that look really convenient for travel, but it’s not worth $12 plus shipping plus the wait to me. Dishwasher-safe and rounded is probably very good for babies, but Karston seems mostly grown now. So, since we’ll be on the road next week, I thought I’d make one set of bib clips. I cut off the blue cord from a trade show pen that didn’t write, and held a lighter to the ends to seal off where I had cut to keep it from unraveling any more. I put a white cord toggle over a loop in the middle of the cord, and I tied a bulldog clip, also from trade show visits, to each end. I looked through the Klutz Book of Knots, but ended up making up the knot anyway. I pulled a loop through the hole in the bulldog clip, ran the short end through the loop, snugged it up, and tied a half-hitch to finish the deal. It seems very secure. Voilà, one bib clip! Total cost, zilch; and I got to clear away some lingering trade show leftovers.

Since I was on a project roll in the right room, I kept going. I used a leftover piece of embroidery thread, two lanyards (one at either end), and one more bulldog clip to make a secure hat attachment for Karston. Fasten a lanyard on the hat, clip the other end to your collar, and the wind won’t take your hat. The kid’s ready to travel now!

Baby, Child, Crafts, Toddler

Daddy bought an embroidery machine for me as a mom present while we were at the mall the day before my water broke the day before Karston was born. It is a Brother PE-180D, I knew it was well-liked, and it was an incredible price (1/4 the best price on Froogle, and 1/8 the best price I had ever seen in person) because it was the display unit. However, I’ve had to solve a number of open box problems. The first was that I didn’t have the manual. Luckily the on-screen help covers almost everything. Then I found a link to the manual at SewForLess. (I couldn’t find the manual with Google, and Brother’s web find only wanted to sell me a printed copy. The kicker is that the link goes to Brother’s web site!) The second problem was that I had the wrong hoop. Yes, the dangers of open box: not only are some components like the manual missing, others could be just plain wrong! After careful analysis of how the hoop went on the arm (don’t forget, we’re a two-engineer household!), we knew they didn’t go together. There was no way to latch the hoop securely that also held the fabric flush with the bed so that it wasn’t a hazard. (I broke two needles proving this before the careful analysis. The first needle break launched one shard just below my left eye, and now I always wear safety glasses when embroidering. I bet you didn’t think safety glasses belong in a sewing room! but they do in mine.) I ordered the hoop from SewForLess since they supplied the manual link. But I still had a serious problem with a large snarl of thread on the underside of the fabric that eventually would break the upper thread. First I had to discover the name of this problem: birdsnesting. Once I knew that, I could troubleshoot with Google. At the sewing machine fault finder, I learned that birdsnesting is usually caused by improper upper threading. At first I scoffed, since I have a lot of machine threading experience. But I re-threaded it very carefully and slowly, following the on-screen directions, and the bird’s nest disappeared. In this case I think my sewing and serging experience was part of the problem: I was sure I could just whip that upper thread through its path, no need to read the directions or to be careful! Now I know that I need to be very careful, and that following the on-screen directions helps. I still feel that I can thread the needle faster by hand than with the F.A.S.T. system, so I do let my experience over-ride that part of the directions. But slowing down vastly improved the results! Then my final problem, on my second test embroidery, the upper thread broke. When I grabbed the thread end, it was obvious: the large embroidery thread cone, 6 inches tall, wasn’t unwinding freely. I was using my serger’s stand and thread arm and reaching over to the embroidery machine, but it wasn’t a good kluge. So Daddy installed the thread cone stand from my mom, the thread flowed easily, and the embroidery just worked. Ahh… since embroidery was part of our Christmas gift plans, the last two solutions were just in time!

I can now embroider when I want (OK, a year and a half later). The only remaining problem is that sometimes the bobbin thread pulls through to the front for a while. To keep it from showing up, I just wind a bobbin in the same color. Having equal weight upper and lower thread usually helps sewing anyway, and Singer Type 66 bobbins are easy to find. I might solve that problem in time, but for now I’m happy that I can now embroider what I want when I want.

Crafts, Sewing, Tips, Troubleshooting

Between reusing plastic bags for used diapers or stinky whatnot, and crocheting them into other objects, I thought I had recycling plastic bags figured out. Then I ran across The Plastic Bag Pages and saw how wrong I was! Check it out if you’d like a few hundred suggestions to reuse plastic bags.

Crafts, Recycle, Tips

I think the end is in sight for baby food from jars. Karston is much more interested in what we’re eating, and so far he hasn’t refused any food when he’s in the mood to eat. So some day soon, no more baby food jars. That’s nice (much better than when he would barf back anything not from a jar!), but I’ve still got a ton of small jars that might be headed for the recycling bin. Still, reduce and reuse are key components to recycling, so I’ve been looking for other ideas. Here goes!

You can use them to hold beads or buttons. I store the jars upside down for this, so I can see what’s in the jar through the clear bottom instead of the opaque lid. I arrange them by color. You can also store screws or other small parts with similar groups that fit in one jar, and arrange by size. eHow.com has a page on this type of Baby Food Jar Organizer.

My friend Cheryl is good at decoupage (tissue paper and glue on a clear stratum for a nifty stained glass effect), and I think she could make cool votive holders with tea light candles. Turns out that’s not a new idea either, because eHow.com also has a page on How to Use Baby Food Jars for Decorative Votive Candles.

While there, I noticed that eHow.com has a page on How to Use Baby Food Jars to Make Gifts, and another on How to Make Gel Air Freshener that you could put in clean, empty baby food jars.

Next I turned to Google to dredge up ideas. I turned up a list of uses for Excess Baby Food Jars, and some entries under Crafts from Recycled Stuff. And finally there’s Eileen’s Favorite Camp Crafts and Other Fun Things from Baby Food Jars. That covers a whole bunch of uses for these baby food jars. I think my favorite (after convincing my crafty friends to take them! that even worked for the first several months) is to donate the jars to a local school or a Girl Scout troop for their arts and crafts!

Update 11/24/2006: And (duh) there’s always using them as jars in the kitchen! I stored leftover chocolate chips in one recently.

Baby, Child, Crafts, Recycle, Tips, Toddler