perfect edgestitching

I've been on a roll this week! My machinery is agreeing with me, and I no longer have that feeling that I'm sewing with oven mitts on. I'm still on track to open the chirp and bloom shop on January 15th.

I owe this in part to the lovely people at Hayes Sewing Machine Company. When I bought my Babylock "sewing computer" from them, it entitled me to a couple of free sewing lessons. I didn't think I needed any, but they were free, so I thought, what the heck. Whoa, am I glad I went! I was so big for my britches, I didn't even know what I didn't know. Gone are the days of just eyeballing my topstitching and hoping it comes out straight. I told the Hayes people I was really trying to perfect my edge stitching on pockets and hems and they steered me to this special foot called an edge joining foot.

I would never pick this out on my own from the rack of about 1000 different feet they sell. Edge joining? But I guess that applies to sewing on a pocket.

 

It has an ingenious guide that you butt up to the edge of your pocket or hem and keep there to stay on course while you sew. You use the adjustable needle positioning of your machine to set how close to the edge your stitching will be. That's something my old Singer didn't do.

An added bonus is that it makes stitching in the ditch effortless. The guide fits in the groove of the seam and with the needle positioned dead-center, it is easy to keep the stitching right in the crack. My waistbands never looked better. I'm using it constantly.

It even makes sewing trim on easier.

Well, off I go to do more sewing, but here's another sneak peek into my shop: the mood board for early spring.