by Serena Smith
The deadline is tomorrow. I have it planned
so I will be finished just in time. I turn the stitch length knob, hear
something drop and can't change my stitch length! What do I do now? The
thought crossed my mind, "There is always more than one way to accomplish a
project." And that is just what I did!
A couple weeks ago I was sewing a costume that had yards and yards of sheer
fabric that needed to be ruffled and attached to a jacket. My fabric was
serged and hemmed, just waiting for the basting thread to gather it up. I
lifted my presser foot, inserted my fabric, started to turn my stitch length
knob to the basting length of 5 and heard a clunk. All of a sudden my stitch
knob turned freely, but my length did not change! The part holding the knob
inside the machine fell off.
There was no way I was getting inside my computerized machine to repair the
problem. Switching to another machine was out of the question since my other
two machines were being cleaned for their annual tune-up. This project had
to be finished by tomorrow, so what was I going to do? Basting with a stitch
length of 2.5 would not work to gather up the fabric!
First, stop and think! How can I work around the fact that I can't change my
stitch length? I started scrolling through my stitches, thinking that I
could stitch a zigzag over string and pull the string to gather the fabric.
But then a function popped up on my screen that was just what I needed - the
long stitch function!
When the long stitch function is engaged, it sews every other stitch. This
creates a longer stitch or a basting stitch when using a straight stitch -
just what I needed! I flipped back to a straight stitch, engaged the long
stitch function and basted the fabric. Perfect!
Things will happen, especially when you are in a hurry or have a deadline to
meet. Don't despair and panic! Think of a solution around the problem. Holes
appear, fabric gets accidentally clipped, you run out of thread or stitch
the wrong pieces together. Just remember, "There is always more than one way
to accomplish a project!"
