I meant to write this post a bit earlier but the last Wednesday was my Dad's funeral and I just couldn't get motivated.
I sewed this a little while ago and it was too warm for Mick to wear it so its just been there "waiting".
Anyway its great to have this to post about, because I cannot make anything right now. I already had one overlocker not working - the older one that was damaged a long time ago. I use it in emergency but the seams are pretty loose. Its fine for edges on wovens to make them neat and not fray but really not good enough to sew up stretch clothing so I sometimes wonder why do I keep it? I suppose I hope to eventually strip it down and learn about the overlockers and maybe repair that one. Right now the blades are out of line completely so its totally unusable.
So anyway besides the backup one not being useable now I broke my good overlocker as well. Its also gone out of line again so I need to go back to Youtube to see how do I line the blades back up. I did achieve that once before so best do it again I suppose. nyway I also now need a new blade - I think!. For the top cutter.
At least, I am hoping all it needs is a new blade but really, I changed the top and bottom cutters not that long ago so it should be ok. Having said that I have never forked out for proper Janome blades and always bought the cheap chinese copies. This time I paid the £23 for a new Janome blade for the top cutter. Hopefully it will be worth the money. Update - when the blade arrived today, its just a blade so not even in Janome packaging so is it actually a genuine part? Or have I just paid double for a blade of unknown manufacturer the same as I bought previously?
I have also been saving for a couple of years to buy a new overlocker that can hopefully handle the amount of sewing I do. I would love an industrial grade overlocker, but thats just too expensive, so I bought a different type. I read a review online about the different brands and models and decided to go with the Brother 4234D. You can read the review here:
https://threadsmonthly.com/best-overlockers-uk/
It basically says both my old overlockers are rubbish so best try another one I think. So now I am stuck with no possible overlocking sewing and a pile of cut out stretch fabric that never really sews as well on a normal machine despite I did manage for years doing just that. But really I prefer to wait and get a professional finish.
I might have actually wrecked a pair of childs trousers when I found out the old one would not work without jamming. Certainly they will be at least a size smaller than I cut due to my chopping off the sides several times in my efforts to get them sewn. I should have stopped sooner when they got jammed but there, I never learn!
So this top then - its the same fabric as my trousers - haha we will need to not wear at the same time and is a french terry which is £8.95/m from Pound Fabrics UK. If you do look for this because they do ship internationally I would just warn be careful not to go to Pound-a-Metre because they are rip off merchants. I got caught out 3 times with them and just steer well clear now. They do have amazing offers but too often they send you ripped, damaged and substandard fabrics with tears and holes or even when its OK fabric its very often much smaller than it should be - as in you buy 3m and get 2.5m. Well you have bee warned if you decide to buy from them. At least use Paypal if you do so you are covered. Paypal were amazing when I got ripped off.
This is the fabric close up.
This is an identical top to my Mermaid/ Dragon scales hoody. But I never made the sleeves narrower for Mick's top. Otherwise its the same pattern.
The sleeves are too long on this. Once I get my new overlocker I will sort that out. I do want them to have a nice neat finished edge though so worth a few days wait I think to make it right.
I do add onto the pattern usually, because we don't so far at least add ribbed cuffs so I take that into account when I cut out the sleeve, but this time I did make the sleeves a bit too long, so will have to shorten them. Otherwise it all worked out as expected.
Its the same red camo I used for some trousers for me so we will have to
make sure we do not wear them at the same time. Mick said he liked my
fabric so I bought the extra 2m just to make this for him. Mick already has several
tops made from the same pattern which he wears a lot hence I just made
this same design again. Not very adventurous, but the fabric is much
better quality than all the previous versions, with the possible
exception of the blue one. I never really blogged about this top. Its made from a upmarket wicking fabric. I made me a similar top and they were worn when we went to Scotland - well they've been worn a lot since actually but they were made for that holiday. This is Mick's blue top:
The new red camo top is a very similar top to one
he was mad on in the 90s and has continued to wear for all those years
since, and which he finally disposed of recently due to it being totally
worn out, so I hope he will enjoy this as much as he did that old top.
Anyway at some day soon I am getting a new toy so I am very excited despite not really being about to afford the one I paid out for. But its meant to be so much better than my Janomes which are the 9300dx and 8002dx both of which get slated in the reveiew. This new Brother is meant to be much faster to thread too which has to be good because threading the lower looper on either of mine is a complete nightmare to the extent if I break a thread I generally stop sewing and thread it another day because it takes so much time and patience to just thread it so I just take a break for sometimes a full week. Iwill let you know how I get on with my new toy when I get it. I of course also have to learn how to use it!
Have a great weekend
Bracken
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