I’ve had a couple of sweatshirt-type pullover tops cut out for Thom since before I started the Peacoat Project back in February. Both that coat and the sorting/cleaning for the craft supply sale last weekend kind of got in the way of any other sewing projects since then. Which reminds me. If you don’t follow my Instagram (where I’m @damselfly.ca) you might not have seen the photo I managed to take at the sale.
It was more fun than I anticipated and I did alright but there’s still too many beads, books and magazines left! More on that later when I finalize what I plan to do with the excess. Anyway, I had a few days of a rest after all that socializing – if you can call it rest when it includes repotting seedlings and getting baby plants in the ground – and finally got back to the studio yesterday.
Having something already cut out made it a lot easier to get started. Having made this Thread Theory Finlayson before I expected an easy sew. Not! The fabric, a heavier cotton french terry, gave me a much harder time than similar fabrics I’ve used before. It curled. It slipped. Pins didn’t hold it. Clips didn’t hold it. The sewing machine went through all the layers ok except that it was hard to get such thick seams under the presser foot. The serger wouldn’t cut through the seam areas so I had to pre-trim them. The top layer kept curling over the cutting knife instead of going under it which messed up the seam.
Struggling to keep everything doing what it was supposed to distracted my attention. Luckily the blade only sliced into my nail and not me! Anyway the final results look reasonably good from the outside. Just don’t look too carefully at it because none of the seams line up properly and the inside serging looks like it was nibbled by rats! Thom doesn’t care nearly as much as I do. Besides he’s likely to wear it out mowing the lawn or pruning the shrubs anyway.
I was just happy to finish and thought that hanger shot would be the end but Thom immediately put on his new pullover so there’s a modelled photo.
So now I still have a modified Love Notions North Star pullover cut out and ready to go. It’s a fleece-backed sweatshirt fabric so it might been even more problematic to sew! I hope not. I only have just so many fingernails.
Meanwhile I think I’ll go spin for awhile It’s raining again.
Damselfly's Delights 
Looks like another successful job created for a man!! It ain’t easy to knit & sew for them so two in a row is pretty darned special!! And look at how much he loves it – couldn’t even wait until tomorrow – just takes it out of your hands & puts it on!!!!
IMO, Sewing with French Terry is like giving birth, it might be worth it in the end but it’s extremely painful when you’re doing it – I think. I prefer to stay with regular fleece, sooooooo easy to work with. Looks very good on him.
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I’ve had much better luck with French terry in the past. This one was trés difficile!
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I had the exact same serger issue the last time I made my daughter a pair of joggers. I thought perhaps it had something to with the rib knit I was using for the waistband…maybe too much elasticity? Pulling the serger threads apart before they could “latch”? I’m interested to see how the machine handles your next one – I agree with you, I want my makes to turn out as nice on the inside as the outside!! 😊 (But clearly, your recipient – and mine – 😉 didn’t care!)
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Welcome, Erin! In this case it was basically the thick fabric curling badly and not feeding under the serger knife correctly. The bits that didn’t get cut got lumped in with the stitching. Happens occasionally but don’t think I’ve ever had it this bad before!
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