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glasses case with serger

rjf | Posted in Photo Gallery on

Here are some pictures of what I was serging (semi-successfully).  I wove a piece of crackle and made eyeglass cases, padded and lined.  The serger put it all together.  Hope you can see the detail in the weaving….it forms interesting patterns.  Changing the treadling sequence and colors makes each one a little (or very!) different.    rjf    

Well, I just opened it and looked and it’s not really all that clear.  Maybe the photographer will try again.  

 


Edited 11/14/2003 1:14:06 PM ET by rjf

Replies

  1. carolfresia | | #1

    Very nice. Now that I have my new bifocals, am I getting a glasses case for Christmas?

    Carol

    1. rjf | | #2

      Well, not unless you really want one.  They were intended for the Christmas bazaar.  If I sell enough, I can buy two new shuttles.  Weaving equipment is really nice but costs a fortune.  It's a good thing Jim-bob is so clever and can make a lot of what I need (want?).  Weaving seems a little like framing....lots of gadgets and inventions and I get attached to the ones that are made out of scraps but work.  Two Coke bottles filled with water and two "S" hooks work perfectly for winding a warp onto the back beam.  Two Pepsi bottles do not work.  Why would that be?      rjf

      1. carolfresia | | #3

        Well, because Coke is better than Pepsi, perhaps (at least some people think so). I guess I can hold off on the glasses cases--I should probably be using hard cases anyway to save my wire rims.

        Santa Claus called me last night and wants to know which shuttles you are coveting...

        Carol

        1. rjf | | #5

          I think I have to see and feel the shuttles before buying them.  Some have pointy, curved ends that are easier to grab when they come flying through the warp and I need them to take  6 inch bobbin.  It probably requires a trip to Web's which also means a trip to the back room where all the sale thread is stored.  I still have room on the thread shelves and I like looking at all the colors and planning the next project.  Almost like painting but more tactile.    But you know all about that.      rjf

      2. Crafty_Manx | | #8

        Plastic Coke and Pepsi bottles have slightly different wall thicknesses.  Just FYI.

        ~Cat

        Yeah, can you tell I'm an engineer??

        1. rjf | | #9

          Really?  Isn't that amazing!  I thought it was something about the feel of the things.  You should see the gadget I have for leaving a space for hemstitching.  The bottom of a tarnished, just slightly bent wire coat hanger.  Sometimes it not quite wide enough so I stick in a plastic yarn darner at the other end.  rjf

          1. Crafty_Manx | | #14

            I love when you can just look around the house and be creative about making these kind of things.  And often it's a lot cheaper!!!  I actually used my cat's old collar to mark quilting lines on a pillow cover: I placed the fabric on a cardboard cutting board, placed the collar on top, stuck pins through the collar holes and all the way down into the fabric, then traced a line on either side.  Much simpler for me than a ruler (my wrists tend to shake enough to make ruled lines uneven).

            ~Cat

          2. rjf | | #15

            You must be one of those people who can't throw things away.  Why else would you have an old kitty collar hanging around?  It's a curse, don't you think, not to be able to throw things away?  I know whereof I speak.     rjf

          3. Crafty_Manx | | #16

            I can't throw anything away, I am such a packrat ("I can't throw that away, I might need it someday!").  And sewing makes it worse, because I don't know a single sewer who doesn't have an ever-growing stash of fabric and notions!

            ~Cat

          4. SewTruTerry | | #17

            Cat and all I too must admit to holding onto small scraps of material left over from clients projects as well as ones for my family.  I have even found some of them useful on occasion. 

            I am looking into getting one of the "crossover" embroidery machines but need to justify it a bit more.  They aren't nearly as expensive as the commercial machines and usually weigh in at a little more than 100 lbs so there is no need to reinforce the flooring or put in a concrete slab like the big kahunnas.  Also they are fairly portable so they can be taken to events like dog shows and such and really do a fair job of it.

            By the Carol I like your sense of humor with the blue streak comment.  I do have one question though.  Yesterday I was trying to post to this discussion and I got a response back after hitting the post button that the page could not be displayed and I was not able to recover my post.  What could have caused this?

          5. carolfresia | | #18

            I'm not sure what was happening with the posting--but if the problems continue, I'll call in the systems operator to check it out.

            Those crossover machines do seem like a great idea for someone interested in a small embroidery business. I never thought about taking them with you to shows and such, but what a good thought. On-the-spot personalization would also be a great advertisement for your work.

            Carol

  2. SewTruTerry | | #4

    Very nice.  With a little modification and perhaps a little more fabric you could make some wonderful check book covers.  Or with a little less some business card holders but then I suspect that you would lose much of the pattern in that wonderful fabric that you so carefully made.  Gosh I think I need to call Santa and put that on my wish list.

    1. rjf | | #6

      Uh-oh.  I think I'm in real trouble now.  Those are good ideas and this morning my husband read an ad in the paper:  someone is selling a serger, barely used.  I'll see how these sell at the Christmas bazaar and think about it.  Weaving small pieces is nice because you get to do lots of different colors and patterns.  I just finished a warp for four dish towels and was really bored by the last one.  Thanks for your kind comments.        rjf

      1. SewTruTerry | | #7

        I know what you mean about being tired of that last dish towel.  I have my own embroidery and sewing business and I just finished 63 shirts for my dsh company and you cannot imagine how happy I was when the last one came off of the machine and was trimmed and packaged up again.  It was the worst job that I have ever done so far not so much because of the number of shirts but because there was a problem in the original shippment of shirts ect...  Currently I am running an order of shirts for the local chapter of the Knights of Columbus.  I feel really good about this one as I did the digitizing on the logo as well and it is one of my best pieces to date. 

        Let me know how the craft show goes.

        1. rjf | | #10

          Good heavens! 63 shirts!  You must have been brain dead by the time you finished but maybe the feeling of relief made up for it.  I have a horror story along the same lines.  I embroidered shirts for a bowling team...free hand since there weren't embroidery machines in those days.  The woman liked them and ordered five more.  Now for the bad part.  She payed me by check and when I went to cash it, she had closed her account!!#@%  Now why did that turn blue?.....oh yeah...it's the "@".      rjf

          1. carolfresia | | #11

            I think it turned blue because it recognized that you were cursing a blue streak.

            Well, that bowling shirt story sounds like enough to burn up an eagle scout. Having an embroidery machine sure makes those jobs a lot easier, although it must be hard to sustain interest through 63 identical shirts. I've been interested in some of the newer crossover embroidery machines, that can hold up to 12 thread colors at once, so you don't' have to change threads every time. They take up more room than a home embroidery machine, but ifyou really do large lots, this could be a great solution to improve efficiency.

            carol

          2. rjf | | #12

            jWhat's a crossover?  Partly home and partly commercial?  rjf

          3. carolfresia | | #13

            In this case, it's an embroidery-only machine (no sewing functions included), that is larger than a standard home sewing/embroidery machine, has multiple heads (so it can stitch out several colors in succession, without you having to change thread spools in between), and usually has a higher stitching speed than a home machine.

            Actually, two new machines of this type are reviewed in the current issue of Threads, one by Babylock and one by Brother. A machine like this wouldn't be as heavy-duty as a true commercial embroidery machine, but would make sense for someone with a small, home embroidery business. These types of machines typically take embroidery designs in formats that are the same as for home machines, so you don't need extra special software or anything, and can purchase designs from companies that cater to home embroiderers. I'd love to have one...but then again, there aren't that many sewing machines I'd say no to!

            Carol 

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