Hey Everyone. It’s story time. I want to share an experience I had when I was a new sewer and I didn’t know what I was doing (This was quite a few years ago when I was in my 20s). I went to a fabric store to buy some fabric to make some clothes. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make, but I was really interested in this sewing thing and I wanted make something. My experience up to this point was my experience in Home Ec (as it was called when I was in 8th grade). I learned how to sew a straight seam and my final project was a jump suit (Were those even in style in the early 80?)
All I remember about the entire project is that I was so proud of it that I ran all the way home to show my Mom (Who was also a Home Ec teacher). Apparently she was very distracted the thread tails streaming behind me as I ran up the driveway because when I told her that I received an A she just opened her mouth and then shut it… (I learned later that not clipping threads was my Mom’s biggest pet peeve. I think she was trying to figure out how I could have gotten an A on a sewing project that featured so many long threads it could almost be called fringe.)
Anyway between then and my trip to the fabric store I had dabbled in “remaking” some of my clothes and I was ready to start from scratch. I was so excited about all the choices of fabric, I spent hours browsing until a nice sales lady asked me if I needed help. I told her I wanted to make a dress and I showed her the pattern that I picked out of the McCall’s catalog. It looked like an easy to make knit dress. She asked me what kind of machine I had and I proudly told her I was using my mother’s Viking sewing machine that she got as a wedding present when she married my Dad. She took one look and me and said “Well you know you can’t sew knits on a sewing machine.” I felt so deflated… and I left the store without purchasing any fabric…
Well the good news is, since then I learned that you can sew knit on the sewing machine and get a nice smooth seam that has some give! Let me show you how!