Toys! Wonderful toys!
On Anna's recommendation, I bought a copy of The Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook, which turns out to have been the book I've been looking for all my sewing life. Did your sewing machine come with a box of tiny, weirdly-shaped feet? Then you need this book. There are clear instructions for guides, hemmers, rufflers, binding and cording feet, sequin feet, walking feet ... and on and on. If you can screw, bolt, strap or clip it to your sewing machine, I think this book covers it.
My favorite guideline for judging sewing books is by whether or not they make you want to sew -- and this book makes me really, really want to sew. I think the hemming foot instructions alone are going to make my sewing life better.
It's also kindled in me a deep and painful longing for something called a "bias cutting guide" -- a doodad that clips to the end of your scissors so that you can cut bias tape without all that painful marking. I wants one, I do. Couldn't turn one up on eBay, though; does anyone have any leads?
(Also, if you buy it from the link above, the author, Charlene Phillips, will sign your copy. That's always nice!)
Labels: books, reviews, sewing_machines, sewing_tools
posted by Erin @ 6:00 AM
18 Comments:
At Mar 17, 2010 8:33:00 AM,
Nikki said…
Pssst. I think you're looking for this: Bias Gauge
At Mar 17, 2010 8:42:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
And this blog post has a link for a bias gauge and also how to make one, if you are the spit-and- baling-wire type: http://www.random-charm.com/?p=747
Amy
At Mar 17, 2010 8:52:00 AM,
dulcet said…
"Bias cutting guide" made me groan!
At Mar 17, 2010 10:05:00 AM,
Sheila said…
Looks like a great book! Thanks for the review.
At Mar 17, 2010 10:26:00 AM,
Sarah @ ColorKitten said…
That book looks like a must have! Thanks!
I have one of those bias gauges, I like it but it has two problems - first, it doesn't fit well on a lot of scissors, and second, at the widest setting it still only makes narrow strips (1" is the max on mine, I think, so 1/4" after double folding).
I love the DIY one at that link - it would be great to have a set in all your favorite widths!!
At Mar 17, 2010 11:01:00 AM,
Karen Minturn Brown said…
They show up fairly often in sets of vintage sewing machine attachments. You would not only get the gauge, but other feet you can use as well!
At Mar 17, 2010 11:14:00 AM,
Hillary said…
For strip cutting, try a slotted ruler like http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?CATID=cat3546&PRODID=prd2856 and a rotary cutter. A while ago I cut a jelly roll of strips (light contrast against a jelly roll for a flying geese quilt) in about 15 minutes.
At Mar 17, 2010 5:51:00 PM,
Dawn said…
So THAT's what that thing is! I'd better read this book so I can identify all this sewing stuff that I've inherited from different people in my life. There might be things I need and already have.
At Mar 17, 2010 6:29:00 PM,
Beth said…
I have a (plastic) cutting pad with bias marking on it. Line up a ruler with the width I want & run a rotary cutter along it -- works like a charm.
Beth
At Mar 17, 2010 7:19:00 PM,
MrsPost said…
Actually I think I have 2 of these. They work well on older styles of scissors but don't fit well on my Fiskars.
I do better cutting bias tape using my rotary cutter but it's a nifty doo-dad to have.
At Mar 17, 2010 8:42:00 PM,
Cel Petro said…
The title of the book gave me the willies--I could only think of my mom's 1947 Singer with the giy-normous buttonhole attachment and how many frustrating hours she spent trying to get it to work, not to mention the "ruffler" . But when you say it gives instructions--now you're talkin'.
At Mar 18, 2010 1:35:00 AM,
Solo said…
My sister have been in sewing training. So i think i'm quite familiar with these. ;D
Solo
Travel and Living
Job Hunter
At Mar 18, 2010 12:56:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
Re: Bias Tape. The best instructions I've found for making continuous bias tape are the Dread Pirate Rodgers Continuous Bias web page:
http://pir8.freeservers.com/quilting/CBT/
Shelly Rodgers explains it all and even provides the math formulas to figure out how much bias tape you can get from a given sized piece of fabric; I used her formulas in a spreadsheet.
CMC
At Mar 18, 2010 1:36:00 PM,
evalyn said…
Hemming foot. My mother had a portable sewing machine with a hemming foot when I was in high school. I loved it so much I didn't want to leave home for college until Mom said I could take the sewing machine with me. Imagine my disappointment when I bought my first machine and it did not have a hemming foot! I've never quite go over it.
At Mar 18, 2010 3:51:00 PM,
Patty said…
Great book recommendation, sewing machines have always confused me ;) I think this book will help, thanks for posting!
At Mar 21, 2010 10:57:00 AM,
Rebecca said…
i borrowed the book from the library. I wish the description stated how it was centered on old machine feet instead of modern machines.
At Mar 27, 2010 9:37:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
If you like your rotary cutter over your scissors, Olfa makes a rotary cutter guide arm that does the same thing
(it's the last thing on the page)
http://www.olfadeals.com/rotary-cutters.html
At Apr 2, 2010 9:41:00 PM,
Karl & Kristi said…
http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2869679
One for sale
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