Tuesday, November 14, 2017

My first project! on my Babylock Triumph

Sorry about the length in between posts.  Who would have thought looking for dead people would be so much fun?!!  I'm taking two family history classes - one on research methodology and one on computers and genealogy.  It's like being a detective trying to find a dead person - I'm looking through censuses, online books, maps, and biographies to find my ancestors - or more about my ancestors, anyway.  It is fun!

Anyway, for my first project I made the baby blanket.  I make baby blankets and burp cloths for the soon-to-be mamas in our church congregation and close friends.  I have had some of these mamas come back to me a few years later and say this blanket is the child's favorite.   It's a very simple project - two squares of flannel sewn together, wrong sides together, with a wide 3 thread overlock of serger thread and wooly nylon.

 Instructions:
- Cut two pieces of flannel the same size.  I actually tear my fabric unless there is definite off grain printed design.  I prefer to work with 45" x 45" (but sometimes the flannel isn't that accommodating, so I cut (tear) it to the size of the flannel.
- Place wrong sides together, matching your sides as evenly possible.  IF, you need help keeping your sides together, I recommend placing pins about 2" in from the sides.
- Thread your serger for a wide 3 thread overlock.  I put regular serger thread in the needle and wooly nylon in the loopers.*
- Serge around the edges, trimming a scant bit off as you go.  I chose to round off the corners as I serged. (I should of marked the rounding of the corners.)  I did a simple serge on/serge off rather than a fancy or more complex tie off.


I was very happy with the results.  I didn't change the differential to accommodate the rounding of the corners which I thought I might have to do.  This blanket is 35" x 35".  I received a bunch of flannel from my mom's fabric stash and she had all sorts of sizes, thus the smaller size.

*One reason this project has taken a little while to do (other than my class schedule) is wooly nylon is a pain to thread through loopers on any other serger.  I was not looking forward to threading the serger even though I knew I had the RevolutionAir threading system at my disposal.  (Some experiences just traumatize you for life, don't they?)

To thread the wooly nylon through the loopers, I used the thread cradle technique.  It's super easy to do.  (Ask me how I know!  One of my wooly nylon thread spools must have had some cuts because I think I had to re-thread my lower looper 4-5 times before I figure out the thread had cuts in it, grrrr!)

Instructions for threading wooly nylon (or other unco-operative thread) through Babylock jet tubes.  (This will work on other sergers as well, just thread the loopers as you normally would with the thread cradle.)

Instructions for Thread Cradle Technique:
Cut a piece of serger thread about 30" and fold in half.  Match the cut ends and create a loop in the folded end.  DO NOT lick the ends if you have a Babylock with jet air loopers.  You don't want to gum up those portals.

Thread the upper portion of the machine with the wooly nylon, per usual - the length of the thread to the knee.  Place the wooly nylon through the loop end of the thread cradle.  Place the cut ends of the thread cradle in the looper port, per usual.  Push the button to air thread the looper.

You can almost see that the serger thread cradle has come through the eye of the lower looper.  Look real close.  

Pull the thread cradle GENTLY and the wooly nylon SHOULD come through the looper eye.  (I did have one instance where I pulled too fast and I almost lost the wooly nylon because it's so springy.)
See!  Isn't that simple?  I will say, it's not quite that easy without the jet air loopers, but it's not that difficult either if you're comfortable threading your loopers.

What was your first project with your serger?

Saturday, November 4, 2017

Love of Knowledge / Sew at Home

Can you believe that schoolwork might take precedence to sewing?!!!  I had one of those weeks with my schoolwork.  I’m a student through BYU-Idaho online.  Currently, I’m enrolled to have a degree in University Studies with an emphasis in Family History, sewing and entrepreneurship.  If you want to learn more about BYU-Idaho Online, check this out www.byui.edu/online.  It’s a great program and fairly inexpensive.  (I could get on a soapbox about how wonderful the program is, but that will have to be from another blog.)

So, for breaks in between doing my schoolwork, I watched videos from Love of Knowledge (AKA Sew at Home) babylockknowledge.com.  
A 2 year membership came with the purchase of my Triumph serger.  For me, signing up was a little tricky, but it’s because I don’t read (or follow) instructions well.  A nice lady, April, from Tacony helped me (twice!) to get it right.  

This is where you sign in:
Once you've logged in, this page will appear.  Click on MY CLASSES to the left of the screen.


IF you have a Love of Knowledge membership, you DON’T put anything in the cart or it really screws things up (trust me, I know).  Then click on "Click here to see your classes".  A lot of classes will appear like this.  The video that appears on this page is helpful to watch about finding the classes you want and the class notes.  (Not all classes have class notes.)

Ugh!  I thought I had included the url that appears in the address box.  After you click on the Members Sign in, the URL (sometimes) changes to sewathomeclasses.com.  That really confused me.  If this happens to you, don't be alarmed.  Just keep finding and watching classes.


There is a 102 page catalog (as of October 2017) of all the video classes offered for at Sew at Home.  They are Babylock machine specific, but a lot of these classes can be used on other brand machines.  The catalog gives a class title, the product (machine) featured, which other (Babylock) products the class applies to, and a class description which includes the length of the video and the instructor’s name.  A nice feature about these classes is there are several Specific Model Feature videos (no cost).  If you’re interested in a specific Babylock machine then you can watch a video about what makes it so special.  (The Triumph is at the top of the serger list and is 83 minutes long!)  Not all of the Babylock machines are featured.  I’m assuming it’s their current offering of machines.

There aren’t a lot of serger specific classes, but enough to keep you busy for a little while There are currently 5 serger projects to do.  After watching a number of the videos, I’m even ready to get back into heirloom sewing (there is a Serger Heirloom quilt project.) 

You can also purchase the classes separately and without a membership.  That's what the cart is for and the Sew At Home URL.

I chose to focus on the classes for sergers.  I highly recommend the Serger Techniques and Tricks class taught by Sara Gallegos.  There are no class notes for this class (just an FYI).  This class is $14.99.  She explains how to do corners, both inside and outside.  The outside corners are a little trickier (I think) than the inside corners, but with some practice I’m sure I’ll get it.  She explains how differential feed works.  (I know if you’ve been serging for awhile you may all ready know these techniques and tricks and information, but it was a good refresher for me.)  With the differential feed you can control the rippling of the fabric as you go around the outside of curves.  She even demonstrates this on polar fleece.


Since knits are the fabric that usually gets people interested in sergers, they have a four part series on knit sewing with Joi Mahon.  She specifically demonstrates how to sew a pair of yoga pants on a sewing machine (see Part 3) as well as the serger.  I love how she makes an elastic waistband for knit clothing.  She even shows you how to take a pattern meant for woven fabric and convert it to knits (see Part 4).  She explains the best stitches for knit fabrics (see Part 2).  These classes are priced at $19.99 each except Part 4 which is $14.99.

Have you taken any classes with Love of Knowledge/Sew at Home?  Which are your favorites?  The other nice aspect of having the membership or purchasing the classes is you can watch them over (and over and over) again if you need to brush up on a technique or your forgot a certain part.

UPDATE:  I just received an email from Susan at the The Stitchery in Rome, GA.  The MSRP on the 2 year membership for Love of Knowledge is $749 and the 4 year membership is $1499.  She said they are GREATLY REDUCED!  They cannot take internet orders but you can call them Tuesday through Friday, 10am to 5:30 pm (eastern time) and Saturday, 10am to 2pm.  706-622-2345.  They will be closed the days before Thanksgiving, but will be open for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.  (I don't know if that GREATLY REDUCED is just for the holidays or their normal price.)  BTW, I'm not getting any kick back from The Stitchery, they are just a great place to do business with.