Eyelet pliers

I have used 2 mm eyelets in doll shoes, but never the bigger ones. Eyelet pliers are not expensive, so now I've got them for attaching 4 mm eyelets.

Bias Binder

I decided to take a look at what accessories are available for my sewing machine. There is a quite wide selection of presser feet, and the one I decided to get was the bias binder. This is a lot smaller than in the machines we have at school, but it doesn't matter, because this is a good size for doll clothes.

The bias binding needs to be 24 mm in width, which means the end result is 6 mm wide. This picture is from a practice piece I sewed just to see how the thing works. Straight edges are easy once you figure out the right needle placement, but I'm not sure this can be used for curves. At least the first attempt failed, but maybe I just need some practice.

Here is the piece from the picture above. The needle placement was 1.8, which is quite a bit to the left. The default needle placement makes the stitches much too close to the edge.

What to put inside the duvet cover?

Once we had made the bed sheet sets, we were told that a duvet would be the next project. I've never made one before, so that was interesting. The fabric we used was really difficult as it stretched in all directions, but somehow I managed to stitch it. The colored band shown in the picture wasn't in the original plan, but the sewing machine caused some tearing in the fabric due to the presser foot pressing too hard and that had to be fixed somehow.

The result was actually quite nice, considering it was my first ever attempt at something like this. I'm tempted to try making a full size one at some point.

Today, I went to a fabric store as I was going to the shopping mall where it is. Last weekend, they had this offer for a plastic bag full of fabrics for 5 €. You get a bag and you can pick what you want from a big box of fabrics. The photo below shows what I got that time. I especially like the swatches, because it's the same fabric in various colors, so the pieces are easy to combine.

Today they still had that offer, so I picked some more fabrics, because it's nice to get cheap practice materials. And more swatches, a lot more. The set in the middle has 32 different colors of the same fabric. This week, we were making some shopping bags in which you had to use at least three different fabrics. The structure is quite simple, and the hardest work is combining the pieces to form a 40x90 cm piece for making the bag. I'm thinking that those swatches would be perfect for making a couple of bags. The other swatches here are too thin for that purpose, but I'm sure I'll find some use for them. 

Industrial sewing machines

Second week started today. I'm really starting to get the hang of using an industrial sewing machine. The teacher said that once we get used to them, we won't want to use anything else. I think she might be right. 

For comparison, here is first my own sewing machine, Pfaff Passport 3.0, which is quite nice, at least for the stuff I've done so far.

The thing about it is that it has a quite plastic feeling. I mean, the sewing machine I used when I learned sewing for the first time as a kid was a 1970's Singer. All metal and very sturdy. It was one my mother got from her sister who worked in a garment factory for a long time, so she's always had nice machines at home as well.

And then there is this, the machine I'm using at school. It's also a Pfaff, but totally different from the consumer model. During one conversation, the teacher said that in all of her decades of teaching this stuff, she has never seen anyone manage to break one of these.

I've also had a chance to use an overlocker, which I've never used before. Those things are so handy compared to using zigzag for the edges of fabric. At least I had seen an overlocker before, but the third one I've used was totally new for me. It's one you use for sewing bias binding, and I used it for sewing the edges in my second project, the kettle-holder shown in the picture below. The back side is just one big piece of the blue fabric with hearts.

I made this one on Friday, and then made another one today, but didn't remember to take a picture of that. I had a lot of trouble with the bias binding on that one, so I got plenty of practice in removing stitches. I did manage to finish it eventually and start the next project, which is waiting there on my table for tomorrow morning when I will continue sewing zippers.

New hot glue gun

I happened to see this in Lidl a couple of days ago as I was buying groceries. I was so sick and tired of fighting with the cord of my old hot glue gun that I got this. It was 14.99 €, which isn't too bad.

Here is the glue gun out of the package and after a bit of use. What I can already say is that I should have got one of these earlier. I thought hot glue was messy and difficult to use, but it wasn't about the glue, I just had a crappy glue gun. This is just great.

For comparison, below is the old one. I assumed it was good, because of the manufacturer. I mean, I've got a hole puncher manufactured by Kinzo and it's great. However, this one has one basic flaw: it doesn't get hot enough. That's the main reason behind all my problems with hot glue. The cordless one gets to 170°C, and the difference is noticeable. I don't have any papers that may have come with the old one, but I'm sure the temperature is lower, because the glue just stays too thick. I always thought it was supposed to be that way, because this was the first hot glue gun I've ever had. Now I know better.

New headband for the Kindi Kids doll

As I seem to be making an entire outfit for the doll, I thought I might as well make a new headband for her too. I used the original to draw a paper pattern and then cut the piece out of a metal sheet (0.3 mm thick).

Cutting the metal was easy with these shears. I've been wondering about the manufacturer as there are no markings in these. Did a Google search and found a picture of similar shears, but no info on who makes these. However, the picture was from ebay, so I found out that these sell for about 10 €. I don't remember what I paid as it was over 15 years ago.

I bent the metal piece using the original headband as a guide.

Then I covered the upper surface of the metal piece with felt using hot glue.

The next stage was cutting a piece of felt that would cover the inside and gluing it in place.

I glued some ribbon on the upper surface using again hot glue.

The final stage was gluing one of these paper flowers to the headband.

The text in the package sounds really good, but I'm a bit skeptical. I tried finding verification for this, but all searches only found online stores selling this stuff. You'd think that they would make a big deal out of the story, if it's legit, so I still have my doubts.

Here is a picture of the finished headband on the doll. Metal should keep its shape fairly well, and gluing the felt onto it when it has been bent should also add some tension that'll help to keep the shape.