I’m finally back and adding a new entry to this blog. In the past year and a half I started a new business so my sewing took a back seat, unfortunately. I have done some projects but never found the time to post them up. I know that a lot of people refer to this blog for sewing ballroom dresses. I am not sure if sewing more of those is in my future, but I am excited to work on some regular sewing.
Early last year I got a new sewing machine, a Project Runway Brother LB6770PRW:
It definitely has a lot more stitch choices than my 25 stitch Kenmore plus it does embroidery which I have just started playing around with. Getting new sewing machine takes some getting used to. I felt like I was driving someone else’s car for the first couple of months. I was used to old reliable (Bessie), the feel of it, I knew the exact way to hold things, loop things and there were no computerized thingies. I must admit I was frustrated at first and a few times I went back to trusty Bessie. But over time, I began to get more comfortable and now I think it is a good machine. I have named my new machine Scarlett, after Austin Scarlett on PR. I have only come across one issue just now. I have been sewing some riding breeches for myself. They have a full seat of microsuede. I was excited to see Scarlett has a blanket stitch, several variations of it. I wanted my breeches to look like the expensive ones and I especially liked the look of the stitching on this retail pair:
Knowing that I might have trouble on a home sewing machine with thicker thread AND thicker fabric I experimented on scraps of microsuede. I determined that the topstitching thread they sell in the fabric stores is impossible to use on Scarlett. It jams. Upholstery thread is a safer bet or in my case I could not use the color I wanted so I went with quilting thread. A regular sewing needle will not work on the microsuede so I went and bought jeans and leather needles to try. My dilemma: they would not fit in my sewing machine! The shank seems to be too large, for some reason. I have never had this happen before on Bessie, they are just Schmetz needles. All the other Schmetz needles I have fit fine.
I took a closer look at the jeans needle package. I went to the Schmetz website to investigate further. The Jean needle package says 130/705H-J and the size is 100/16. Apparently 130/705H is a household sewing needle. I’m assuming the ‘J’ is for jeans. I’ve looked in my sewing machine manual and nowhere does it list restrictions on needle size. It references 100/16 needle size a few times. Right now I am at a loss. In comparing the shank size to my other Schmetz needles, they look the same. What gives?
Update: I have determined there was one bad needle in the packet as the others fit. Go figure. However, the leather needles – 110/18 – do not fit in my machine.
