Sewing project progress: Jared's black and white checked apron, part II

[breakinglight11]

So the other day I actually got down to using my sewing machine for a project. Yay! It's been years since I actually sewed with one, beyond the crash course my mother gave me before I brought the thing from home, so my skills are in serious need of development. I tried to go very slowly to stay in control, but I found that if I went too slowly the machine wouldn't really keep moving forward through the fabric. There's nothing terribly complicated about the construction of Jared's apron, so I just decided to start with seaming up the bottom and the two sides. I folded the fabric over twice to make a neat edge, then sewed it down. I found the toughest part was keeping my seams straight. I thought if I just followed the edge of one line of the check it would be easy, but that didn't always work as well as I thought. In places I actually did a half-decent job of keeping them reasonably straight...

But sometimes in places they start to wander off their line...

 

And then sometimes they're just a mess all over the place.

 

I guess I need more practice. Maybe I should take more care to keep the fabric edge lined up with the appropriate width indicator line on the throat plate. I've also heard of using seam guides, little magnets that have a hard edge for you to run your fabric up against and keep it in the right place for straight seams. But I think I mostly just need practice. I am considering ripping these out and redoing them, but since I don't think they'd obviously look messy from the distance you'd be if somebody were wearing it, I may just leave them. Still, it's good to learn what stuff I'll need to concentrate on in order to produce good sewing.

Comments

[jh1230.livejournal.com]

As long as I have a hand-crafted apron made with love that looks nice and is functional, the stitches can be a holy mess. I'm just proud of you for making it, and I'll be even prouder to wear it.

[lisefrac.livejournal.com]

When sewing a hem like that, I most often use the edge of the presser foot as a seam guide.

For seams with a set seam allowance, my Featherweight also has a seam guide that screws right into the bed of the machine, and which can be adjusted to various seam allowances. Does yours not have something like that? It might look like a little oblong bar with a hole in the middle, with a screw to attach it.