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I am looking forward to getting back into sewing and crocheting after I
finish school. I used to sew from patterns, just for myself. Is the tracing wheel still being used and anything else new? |
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![]() Haven't sewn in years. ) I am looking forward to getting back into sewing and crocheting after I finish school. I used to sew from patterns, just for myself. Is the tracing wheel still being used and anything else new? --- Welcome back to sewing, and please hang out with us-- we discuss tons of new sewing notions, machines, machine repairs, tools, pattern making methods, fabric sources, etc.--anything vaguely related to sewing is of interest. Don't neglect to check alt.sewing, and you can Google past posts of both groups to play catch-up. I haven't used a sewing wheel, not since the first few years of sewing, and one of these days I'm going to wangle an invitation from Melinda so she can teach me to play with her computerized pattern program. Cea |
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On Mon, 1 Mar 2004, Kate Dicey wrote:
wrote: I am looking forward to getting back into sewing and crocheting after I finish school. I used to sew from patterns, just for myself. Is the tracing wheel still being used and anything else new? Lots of things have changed, lots of new toys out there, crafty stuff seems to be esier to get than garment fabrics! I still find Vogue some of the best general patterns to work with, and butterick come a close second. Simplicity have recently taken over from McCalls as the ones to watch out for: yards of extra in every one i've tried recently! Burda are now more readily available all over, and here in the UK, KwikSew are taking off nicely for a reasonable alternative. I use quite a few historic patterns, and if you google for patterns, lots of these and the smaller private pattern companies turn up, and they are well worth exploring. Take a look round my web site: it may give you some ideas about what's going on and what's available. I do use a tracing wheel - I have a double one, which is great for marking both cutting and seam lines on things. I also use all sorts of other stuff, and have just purchased a Somfles thing for spacing buttonholes and a cone stand so I can use serger cones on my sewing machine. The biggest innovations for me have been the advent of the highly computerized sewing machine (I get 10 different buttonhole styles out of mine!), and the prolifferation of the serger/overlocker. I work at home as a part time dress and costume maker, and these things have proved invaluable for me. On the other hand, for traditional tailoring, I can still get excellent results out of my old treadle and a needle and thread. What you use out of the stuff available depends on your sewing style. Fabrics have changed considerably, and although there are no longer the local shops in every little town that there use to be, once you tap into the resources of the whole world via the internet and that ever-elastic plastic card dodad (one of the greatest sewing inventions ever, that combination!), you can get anything from Malden Mills Polartec for mountain gear to fine silk tulle for bridal veils sent right to your door! If your basic sewing skills are good but rusty, and you know the sort of thing you like to make and wear, invest in a good specialist techniques book, one about fabrics, and get your machine serviced and cleaned! Sharpen up youe scissors, and off you go! There's a book list of short reviews on my web site. I sell nothing through it, so order them from Amazon or your local book shop. URL below. -- Kate XXXXXX Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk Click on Kate's Pages and explore! Thank you Kate for the advice. I still have my old Brother sewing machine that I use for general stitching. |
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On Mon, 1 Mar 2004, cycjec wrote:
wrote: I am looking forward to getting back into sewing and crocheting after I finish school. I used to sew from patterns, just for myself. Is the tracing wheel still being used and anything else new? Well, you probably won't be disoriented wrt crochet. However, I'm reliably informed that sewing patterns aren't as good as they were once. Whether those computer patterns in the ads are any good, I do not know. So caution is advised in this area. Machines of course are always bigger and better, but I still have the some old one I've had since 1985. Thanks for the advice. I am still using my old Brother sewing machine. |
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On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 20:22:52 -0500,
wrote: Is the tracing wheel still being used But of course! *Nothing* ever goes out of style -- I was much amused, mid-twentieth century, to read about a bleeding-edge scientific instrument called a "microtome" that used a cutting edge made from a special piece of glass that was snapped in half just before use: I had recognized the old time chipped-stone knife, made of synthetic obsidian. People are cutting fabric with knives again, but now we use a high-tech "cutting mat" to preserve the edge of a disposable steel blade, instead of cutting in the air to preserve the edge of a resharpenable steel or disposable stone knife. And the knife is a full circle so that you can roll it along the fabric. This "rotary cutter" is indispensable for cutting along a drawn thread, but I have gone back to shears for most of my cutting out. (I should buy a small mat, since I use only a corner of my big mat for drawn threads, and it would be a shame to wear it out on jobs a small mat can handle.) --------------------------------------------------------- I use both a tracing wheel and a roulette -- a roulette is a miniature tracing wheel used primarily for copying patterns, since the tiny teeth won't mark through most fabrics. I also mark with pencils, wash-out markers, permanent markers, needle and basting thread, snips, notches, blackboard chalk (still using a thirty-year-old box; I've no idea where you can buy real chalk nowadays), chalk pencil (artist's-supply store), tailor's chalk (wax for dry-clean-only fabric, clay for abrasive fabric such as polyester), wax-type tracing paper, dust-type tracing paper, typist's carbon paper (pattern-making only), iron-on pencil, stylus, straight pins, safety pins, pressed-in crease, pinched-in crease, leaving the pattern attached, noting a landmark on the printed design, cutting along woven-in lines, and no doubt a few methods I've forgotten to mention. Joy Beeson -- http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/ -- needlework http://home.earthlink.net/~beeson_n3f/ -- Writers' Exchange joy beeson at earthlink dot net |
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