Adventures with a Slippery Jersey Knit

[cgmemphis]

Jury is still out on the stretch thread. Tried it in my sewing machine once and it worked for a little bit and then got hung up in the bobbin. Will try again and see if I just need to practice to get the hang of it. If all I am going to do is hem knits, my twin needle works fine and the zigzag looks fine on the wrong side. I use the twin stretch needle, my tension dial is set at 6 or 7, and my stitch length is 4. To keep it from tunneling, I don't stitch over the edge of the material, but just up to it. If I get out of line a little and leave too much material to curl up, I just cut the excess close to the zigzag stitching line with my applique scissors. ( I am just too lazy to change out the needle, adjust the tension, adjust the stitch, etc., on my sewing machine each time I need to hem and am trying to justify the cost of a coverstitch machine.) Had a brain storm last night and realized all I needed was a second sewing machine (inexpensive or used) to keep set up for the twin needle sewing all the time! Will try this and see how it works. If it doesn't work, then I can better justify spending the money for a coverstitch machine. Thanks for your info about the Stay Tape and the bias binding attachment. That's exactly what I wanted to know about the binding attachment. You are so good, and have a great day!

[cgmemphis]

Jury is still out on the stretch thread. Tried it in my sewing machine once and it worked for a little bit and then got hung up in the bobbin. Will try again and see if I just need to practice to get the hang of it. If all I am going to do is hem knits, my twin needle works fine and the zigzag looks fine on the wrong side. I use the twin stretch needle, my tension dial is set at 6 or 7, and my stitch length is 4. To keep it from tunneling, I don't stitch over the edge of the material, but just up to it. If I get out of line a little and leave too much material to curl up, I just cut the excess close to the zigzag stitching line with my applique scissors. ( I am just too lazy to change out the needle, adjust the tension, adjust the stitch, etc., on my sewing machine each time I need to hem and am trying to justify the cost of a coverstitch machine.) Had a brain storm last night and realized all I needed was a second sewing machine (inexpensive or used) to keep set up for the twin needle sewing all the time! Will try this and see how it works. If it doesn't work, then I can better justify spending the money for a coverstitch machine. Thanks for your info about the Stay Tape and the bias binding attachment. That's exactly what I wanted to know about the binding attachment. You are so good, and have a great day!

P.S. What type of coverstitch machine do you use? Also, do you sew knit T-shirts with a 4-thread overlock, or a 3-thread narrow or wide overlock? Sorry for all the questions, but I do appreciate your help!

[MartySews2]

CG, my Pfaff 4874 serger has built in coverhem stitches. It has a lot of decorative features and I've had it since 2003. I paid close to $1600.00 at the time with a trade in of $650.00. Some members use the Janome coverstitch 900cpx or the 1000cpx machine and others use the Brother 2340cv. The Janome 900cpx coverstitch machine is around $400. I'm not sure how much is the retail price of the 1000cpx. The Brother is about $360 on Amazon. Hope that this helps.
Marty

[LeapFrog Libby]

I make tons of tees and I use 4 thread overlock all the time. I have the Janome 900 coverstitch machine, because my serger is the basic kind and I had to have the coverstitch because my Janome Memory Craft 4000 sewing machine does not like knits. I sew shoulder seams and I aalso use the 1/4 inch satin ribbon in thise seams to keep the shape nice for the life of the shirt. then I sew the ribbing in the neckline, then sew the sleeves in while it is still flat. After that i hem the sleeves on the coverstitch, machine, then sew side seams from sleeve tip and down to bottom of shirt on one side, then I coverstitch shite hem and then sew the other side seam. and the shirt is finished. This does not even take 1/2 hour if you have the serger and the coverstitch machines on the same table like I do.

[sewingrandma]

I have a White serger that is very basic and yes, I do sew my tees on it basically from start to finish except for hems now that I have my cover stitch. My cover stitch is a brother that DH decided I needed for a gift. If you do decide to get a cover stitch and are doing research don't let the very common complaint of what you have to do to release the tensions steer you away from a Brother. It isn't hard and becomes second nature with use. I also use my cover stitch machine for putting decorative stitching down the sides of baby and toddlers clothing and I know others use it on adult clothing either using the chain stitch feature or 2-3 needles and playing with the tensions and using decorative threads/ribbons. If you go to the forum on Pattern review they have a lot to say about cover stitch machines. BTW if it had been my decision to buy or not buy a cover stitch I wouldn't have bought it because of the expense. I'm glad DH decided for me because I do enjoy using it and do use it most every day when I sew.

[cgmemphis]

Ladies, thank you so much for your insight and info! I figure once I get the basic T-shirt down, I can do so much with it. I did make a child's tee and did the lettuce edge on the sleeves and hem. Only thing I think I would do differently is to hem the sleeves and bottom first, so when I do the lettuce edge the underside of the knit does not show--in this case it was a cute print on top and just plain white on wrong side. I go back and forth with the neckband--sometimes I put it in flat (leaving one shoulder seam open), and sometimes I put it in the round with both shoulder seams sewn first. Flat is easy until you try to match up the seams when sewing the shoulder. I am still practicing those 2 techniques to see which one I like best. Libby, on my next one, I will try your method/sequence for the tees.

I appreciate so much the info on your machines. I tried to go see a Brother this past weekend, but the sewing center did not have one in the store to demo, but did show me the Elna 444. Unfortunately, the fellow did not have a lot of answers for me concerning the ins and outs of the machine, nor did he know how to demo it... With further research online, I found out that it is the same as the Janome 10000 CPX (I think). Yes, Brockie, I had heard about the tension release issue with Brother coverstitch and you were right, it had steered me away from really considering it. It's good to know that it is not really an issue, just something to get used to doing.

So cool, Marty, that your machine has the coverstitch included in with the serger. My old serger is one of the Juki/Janome 3434D I got at Hancocks about 4-5 years ago and hardly used it. I have asked my sister-in-law if she wants it since I have the new serger, but have not heard back from her. If she does not want it, would you want it for your students? I saw your post from February about a serger kicking the bucket, and thought it might come in handy.

Ladies, thanks again for taking time out of your busy days to answer my questions. Have a great day! Hugs, Cheryl (CG)