Monday, January 27, 2014

Jalie 2568

15 pair I believe.  I kept turning one leg inside out, and tossed that pair.  I used some tricot from JA's I purchased way back, and some soft picot lace I had on hand.  I just piece sewed them in stages over a few days.  I made view A, like the red pair in the far left side.  Not exciting, but I'm glad I did it.  I got rid of some basics in my wardrobe and I want to replace them.  This is a bad allergy year for me, and I've got 3 kids in 3 different schools this year.  I can't wait for summer.  My oldest moved back home this October and it seems easier to drive him with his younger brother to the same college campus.  He seems to like not having to drive over at the school too.

On the 960Q Viking the low bobbin light will come on and the machine will slow to a stop.  I push the green light on the screen and the machine will start to sew again for a bit then slow down and  beep again. It will post the low bobbin picture on the screen.   I can  hold my finger on the green button and it will continue to sew without a hitch. I don't have to leave my finger there long, just a brief possible second.   It seems to overide the low bobbin notice.  I can see  the warning and the stopping  if I was doing rows of large embroidery designs.  This machine can hold in it's memory some elaborate designs and some are large and stitch out in a larger size and I would want the machine to slow and stop and let me know before I damaged it.


Monday, January 20, 2014

Butterick 3848

 I made a yellow check version of the blue tucked blouse.  I'm not sure where this fabric came from.  It's one of my oldest pieces.  I bought it at a very inexpensive precut fabric table in a  family owned covered everything store that's long gone out of business.  I loved that place though.
 This is the new machine.  I'm very excited to show you when the needle is in the fabric, the machine seems to know I want to smooth out the fabric under the presser foot.  This is a great feature because it helps me watch out for little pleats and tiny tucks forming.
 The front of the top.  I lengthened the top an inch in the waist.  The front.
 A closeup.  I may have a small amount left to add into some lightweight white linen and make a tank top to go under this.  A block type tank.
 The back.
 The sleeves have a vent.
 The hem has a vent.
The new machine.  A Viking 960Q.  (I was cleaning out my closet and piled everything on the window seat.  You can see it's been cleaned off since Christmas.)
I was not planning on getting a machine, but we were out during December and I saw this machine.  I went online to do some research and really liked it.  I've not been bonding well at all with a serger I bought and had attempted to trade it in a number of times, but the dealer who sold it to us kept putting us off and my husband kept listening to her and telling me to work with it a little longer.  This December I attempted to trade it in again and she told me it was a boat anchor and they would no longer take it as a trade in.  She told us about the fire and the warehouse and all we could think of was why she didn't mention this before, why she kept telling us to try the serger a little longer.  She did offer to sell the 960Q to us for $2999.00 without a trade in.
In the car on the way home between sobs and thinking to try again since I had it for good now, my husband told me to get a list and we would go to every Viking dealer listed beginning in our area and see what they said.  One of the dealers was lovely and I brought in my serger and traded  up.  My total with tax was around $2000.00.  That seems like a lot, but the serger was a top of the line serger in excellent condition.  I had the box and after they tested it, it could be packed up in all of the wrappings that came with the machine.  And I am very happy with the new machine.