How to Sew at SILab

How to Sew at SILab Glossary Thread: No matter how or what you are sewing, you will likely need thread. There are 2 main shapes of thread, the best fit varying on where in the sewing machine they are being used. There are spools: taller, able to hold more thread, and bobbins: shorter, usually with a clear body. When using a sewing machine, the spool gets loaded into the top of the machine and through the needle so that it can be seen on the top of the fabric (yellow in graphic). The bobbin gets loaded into the underside of the machine (green in graphic) and helps catch the top thread, locking the fabric between the two threads. Needle: The needle is the tool that brings the thread through the fabric. The main parts of the needle are the eye, or the hole the thread goes through, and the point, the part that pierces the fabric. On hand sewing needles (left image), the point and the eye are at opposite ends of the needle. Needles for the sewing machine (right image) have the eye and point at the same end. Fabric Scissors: The fabric scissors in SILab are the black and purple, and the teal scissors. They are just like regular scissors but sharper so they can cleanly cut through fabrics on the first try. Using them to cut things like paper or cardboard dulls them rapidly. Rotary Cutter and Cutting Mat: In the same drawer as the fabric scissors are the rotary cutter (left image) and the cutting mat (right image). Any time you are using the rotary cutter, you should be using the cutting mat. The rotary cutter is a handheld wheel blade which is useful for making large cuts or for cutting through multiple layers of fabric at the same time. This is because you are pushing the blade into the fabric and cutting mat, rather than having to pick it up like you would have to when using scissors. Fabric Marking Tools: Fabric marking tools are anything that you can use to make markings on fabric. It can be helpful to draw out where you plan to cut or sew something before you do it to cut down on wasted materials. Fabric Chalk: The chalk triangles in different colors are perfect for marking fabric: they are flat so the line is sharp, different colors so the marks show up on a variety of fabrics, and washable so no marks will be left on the final project. Sharpie or other markers: Markers work well on mesh and other synthetic fabrics, but the ink can spread in cottons leading to an unclear line. They also will not wash out of the final project and can sometimes bleed through the fabric to show on the other side. Pencils: Pencils work well for flat, light colored fabric but can be harder to see on darker colored fabrics. Sometimes the pencil washes out, but other times it will leave a semi-permanent stain on the fabric, though it generally doesn’t bleed through to the other side of the fabric. Flexible Tape Measure: We have 2 styles of flexible tape measure, one that is retractable (black circle) and one that isn’t (pink). These are great for measuring body parts or other curved objects. Pins and Pin Cushion: Pins are great for holding fabric in place before you either hand or machine sew it. The glass ball on the end makes it easy to pull them out of the fabric quickly. The pins get stored in the pin cushion (green tomato) so it is easy to grab one without them getting tangled. The small pepper shaped object attached to the pin cushion also acts as a sharpener, so if the pins or sewing needles are having a hard time piercing the fabric, stab the pepper a few times to sharpen them. Thimbles: Thimbles are small metal (or sometimes plastic) fingertip covers used occasionally when sewing. They can be used either on the finger at the underside of the fabric to keep from getting stabbed by the needle when it pierces through, or can be used on the finger at the topside of the fabric to help push the needle through. At SILab, we have 3 different thimble sizes, so find the one that best fits the finger you’re hoping to protect. Seam Ripper: Sometimes when you are sewing, you will make mistakes and sew where you didn’t mean to. You can use a seam ripper to pull out stitches easily. The sharp tip at the end (not the tip covered in red) slides under stitches and then cuts the thread, making it easier to pull the thread out of the fabric to undo the stitch. Fabric Glue: If you are doing decorative work or trying to seal the edges of fabric so it doesn’t fray, fabric glue is perfect. It is specifically designed to stick fabric/thread to other fabric/thread. If you have used fabric glue, you need to let it dry completely before sewing on top of it, otherwise the glue can gum up the needles and thread, damaging them and making it harder to sew. Embroidery Hoops: We have a variety of sizes of hand embroidery hoops. These are great for either hand embroidery, finishing off machine embroidery, or for holding fabric in place as you add things to it. You loosen the bolt on the outer ring, then sandwich your fabric between the two rings, and tighten the bolt again to hold your fabric together and in place. Sewing Cabinet: All of the things you need to be able to sew something can be found in the blue cabinet to the left of the sewing table. The top drawer has the sewing machine manuals and accessory parts. The second drawer has fabric marking and cutting tools as well as the pin cushion. (The third drawer does not have any sewing supplies) The fourth drawer has thread, buttons, snaps, hand needles, and thimbles. The fifth drawer has fabric glue and embroidery hoops. The sixth (bottom) drawer has some fabric and stuffing material. Preparing Fabric: Measuring and Marking, Cutting, Pinning Measuring and Marking Fabric: Pick a corner of the fabric to start from and line that corner up with the 0 mark on the fabric cutting mat. Make sure that either the top or left edge of the fabric is lined up with the line on the cutting mat all along the side so that any marks drawn are square. If laying out multiple pieces of fabric to be sewn together, carefully place the top layer(s) on top of the first piece. In this example, the top piece is 10mm to the right of the edge of the bottom piece so that it is easier to see both pieces at once. Once the fabric is laid out, you can use the visible cutting mat grid to help line up the ruler to get straight lines. In this example, the ruler edge is lined up with the 20 mark at both the top and the bottom of the cutting mat. If the bottom edge of the cutting mat isn’t visible, you can use one of the speed squares to help keep things straight by hooking it along the top edge of the cutting mat. Once the fabric and the ruler are in place, use one hand to hold the ruler steady while you mark the fabric with the other hand. In this case, because the fabric is already cut to size, I will be using a solid straight line (as opposed to a dashed line) to mark where I want the stitch to be. Cutting: When you are cutting fabric, you can use fabric scissors or the rotary cutter tool. To use the rotary cutter, you first have to push in the top pin to unlock the blade; if the blade is unlocked the pin will be pushed in so the handle is smooth along the blade side. Once the blade is unlocked, just squeeze the handle to get the blade to stick out. With the blade sticking out, you can now use it to cut the fabric. It can be easier to get clean cuts and maintain control by pushing the blade away from yourself. This will also keep your hands safe if the blade slips. Only use the rotary cutter with a cutting mat underneath. Once you’re done cutting, don’t forget to push the top pin back in to lock the blade. Pinning: Once the line is drawn, you can pin your fabrics together to keep them from shifting while you sew. I recommend placing the pins at the start and end points of the stitch first to help prevent the fabrics from moving around too much while you place the other pins. Stick the pins in so that they are perpendicular to the stitch line with the glass head of the pin facing your dominant hand. This will let you quickly pull the pins out as you sew, which is important as you don’t want the sewing machine needle to make contact with the pins, as this could damage the sewing machine needle. Sewing Machine: Before Turning on the Machine: Before you turn on the machine, decide if you want to use the foot controller or the start/stop button on the front of the machine for the bulk of your sewing. This is because you will need to either plug or unplug the foot controller from the machine before you turn it on. If you are just doing straight lines, using the embroidery attachment, or doing decorative stitches (like lettering), then I recommend using the start/stop button. In this example, I used the start/stop button for all the sewing. If you are familiar with other sewing machines, know how to drive, or are planning on sewing something that will have you stopping and starting a lot, then I recommend using the foot controller. Once you know how you will be controlling the machine and have it set up, turn on the machine using the power switch on the right hand side of the machine near the back, circled in blue in the image. As the machine turns on, the light will turn on and the touch screen will display a welcome screen. Once you tap the touch screen to fully wake the sewing machine up, the needle will shift left/right until it is in position to sew the first stitch in its menu. Once the machine is on, if there is not already fully loaded thread (that matches your needs) in the machine, you will need to put in a spool and bobbin yourself before you can begin sewing. Putting in a Spool: To put in a spool, first you will need to open the top cover of the machine by lifting up on the lip just above the touch screen. This makes all of the spool thread loading areas accessible. The main part we care about right now is the long plastic pin with a disc on one end that is mounted on a hinge (circled in blue on the image). This is where the spool will go. Just to the right of the pin, there is this image, which shows the direction the thread is supposed to unwind. For the machine to work properly, the thread needs to come from the bottom of the spool and out to the left. This means that there are 2 ways of loading the spool, and the one you use will depend on how the spool unwinds. You can check which way your spool unwinds by putting it on the spool pin and pulling on the end of the thread. Some spools (yellow example) unwind from Other spools (pink example) unwind from the bottom (wider) end of the spool to the top the top to the bottom and so will need to be (narrower) end. flipped over to have the thread traveling in the correct direction. If your spool unloads like the yellow example: Push the spool as far down on the pin as possible. Then take one of the gray or blue thread spool inserts (in the same drawer as the thread) and push it onto the spool pin. Put it on so that the 3 pronged end is facing the spool and push it all the way down until only the lip of it is showing at the top of the spool. This helps keep the spool spinning evenly and is only needed if the diameter of the spool hole is too wide for it to spin evenly on the pin on its own. Once the spool and spool insert are on the pin, the last step in loading the spool is to put a spool cap on the end of the pin. This helps hold everything in place and helps make sure the thread unspools at an even pace and without getting tangled. The spool cap needs to be at least as large as the end of the spool, in this case the smallest of the spool caps is large enough. The spool cap should go on so that the concave part is facing the spool. It should be pushed as far down as possible so that there isn’t room for the thread to get between it and the spool insert when it is unwinding. If your spool unloads like the pink example spool: Then take one of the grey or blue thread spool inserts (in the same drawer as the thread) and push it onto the spool pin. Put it on so that the 3 pronged end is facing the open end of the spool pin and push it as far down the pin as it will go. This helps keep the spool spinning evenly and is only needed if the diameter of the spool hole is too wide for it to spin evenly on the pin on its own. Once the spool insert is on the pin as far down as it will go, put the spool on the pin, again pushing it down as far as it will go, until only the top lip of the spool insert is showing. Once the spool insert and spool are on the pin, the last step in loading the spool is to put a spool cap on the end of the pin. This helps hold everything in place and helps make sure the thread unspools at an even pace and without getting tangled. The spool cap needs to be at least as large as the end of the spool, in this case the largest spool cap is the best fit. The spool cap should go on so that the concave part is facing the spool. It should be pushed as far down as possible so that there isn’t room for the thread to get between it and the spool insert when it is unwinding. If you plan to do a lot of sewing or if the spool is a little wobbly on the pin, you can use one of the spool nets to help the thread unwind smoothly. Slip the net over the spool pin and slide it down until it is covering the spool. Then pull the loose spool thread out the left side of the net and give it a pull to make sure it didn’t get tangled in the net.