Comparing Sewing Machines: UK Singer 15K80 vs USA Singer 15-91 Which is...

How To Keep The Original Hem When Turning Up Jeans

Hi all, You’ve found the perfect pair of jeans but as always, they are 3 miles too long. I’m going to show you how to fix them so they fit your leg length perfectly. Better still, I’ll show you how this technique will work with any pants or trousers with an original jean-like hem. Like these 511 trousers. You will need : Pair of jeans or trousers that need turning up Sewing machine Zipper foot Thread to match your jeans/trousers Tape measure or ruler Safety pins or plastic clips Iron and ironing board Pressing cloth Step 1 Stand up and try on your jeans. With the shoes you usually wear or the pair you intend to wear with them. This is important as the shoes you wear will make a difference to the size of the turn up you need. Turn up the bottom of each leg so the wrong side of the hem is showing. Then move it up or down until you are happy with how they sit on the tops of your shoes. Fiddle with them, turning them up a bit more o...

The Charity Shop Find & the Headache from Hell!

Hi all I've always been a fan of charity shops. Even before they became a fashionable way to reuse or repurpose other people's unwanted clutter. To me, they have always been a gateway for feeding my addiction to vintage and antique sewing machines. Like this one. Isn't she a beauty? According to the markings, She is a New Home machine made in West Germany so I'm guessing she's a post war... maybe 1950s... electric sewing machine. She has a bolt-on motor and the shortest electric cable I have ever seen on a sewing machine! Look at it! It's tiny! That's never going to reach any of my electrical outlets. I'm thinking that this vintage sewing machine was made to be in a cabinet... or a previous owner cut the cable for some reason. Maybe their outlets were mounted on a desk and they didn't want long cables cluttering the workspace? Who knows? One thing I do know, is this sewing machine is going to give me a little bit of a headache!...

Crocheting My Way Through Free Patterns with Franken-Snoop

Hi all, I haven't done much knitting for years. I think my last completed project was a floppy Brim hat back in 2010. It was a bit of a flop if I remember correctly... Nice shade of lavender though! Anyway, I joined the local Fibre Arts group back in April which has rekindled my interest in both knitting and crochet. One thing that has surprised me is how much you can forget about both skills. So much of this year has been taken up relearning how to do both. It would appear that they are perishable skills. In my eagerness to knit and crochet as much as possible, I've been surfing the internet for patterns. Nice easy patterns to ease me gently back into the world of all things yarn related. One of the first things I made was a Snoopy head. It was supposed to be a whole Snoopy... but I used the wrong size crochet hook. Say 'hi' to Franken-snoop! I thought he came out kinda cute so I entered him in the local fair. He didn't win anything but he...