Sunday, October 22, 2023

Jennifer

 


Jennifer — a floral lace cowl in 4 sizes, plus formula for customizing your own size, by designer Vicky Chan.

Made in size long, with a minor adaptation of initial chain. Yarn is Handmaiden Casbah in Masala color way.

I ran across this single skein of yarn while looking for something else. Thought it was too attractive to spend another moment in a cedar chest, and Boom — a pretty little accessory cowl!  Note to self: you really should look through the yarn stash more often.

Monday, October 16, 2023

Training

 

It’s always a little nerve racking when you bring a new machine into the fold. You get so used to the ‘old way’ you’ve been doing things that anything slightly different can really be a challenge. 

I really wanted to upgrade my cover stitch capabilities though, and decided to get a newer machine. And then I thought some more. I really want a better cover stitch experience, but do I really want to keep it a stand alone machine? My sewing room is at maximum capacity as far as machines go — could I get rid of one and still have what I need in one combo machine? Would stitch quality be good in both serging and cover stitch operations? Would converting between operations be easy, or would frustration ensue?

It’s early days yet, so I don’t feel qualified to give any sort of in-depth review, but so far I’m quite pleased with the decision I made to get a Bernina L890 machine. I’ve used it for seam finishing garments sewn with a regular sewing machine, constructing a garment entirely with the serger/combo, and converting from serging to cover stitching for neckbands. Not a lot, and nowhere near all it claims to do, but that is a large part of what I want it to do (and do well!)

The on-board instructions/videos are good, and in instances where I’ve needed clearer (I.e. bigger) visuals I’ve been able to find YouTube videos to be a great help. It’s been a real pleasure to use so far, and as I become more familiar with it I hope things will only get better.