tales from the stash: yellow woven tee

My first project on the newly revamped Viking 6460 was a woven tee from a vintage 80s pattern and a scant yard of lightweight cotton (sort of a voille/lawn weight) that I thrifted.  I'd already cut it out a couple weeks ago and I wanted to try a few things just for fun, so I thought it would be a good practice project - quick and simple, with room to experiment.

Before the machines were fixed, I intended to use it as a test for my first batch of homemade bias tape.  Yes - I know they don't match... but I find their print-on-print garishness rather charming.

The tape was a little more challenging to work with than store-bought.  This was probably due to the lack of starch, but also to the thinnes of the folded over parts - It seems to defy math, but I think adding an extra eighth of an inch or so of fabric for the actual fold part would make folded over parts meet in the middle and give just a teensy bit extra needed to conveniently stitch on and stay tucked under .

The bias neckline finish turned out fine, though, in the end.  I also did French seams at the shoulders, and turned under each of the side seams for a smooth finish that carried into the hem of the sleeve.

Once the sides were completed, I used the tacking part of the buttonhole stitch (2 & 4) to strengthen the underarm.

We had a bit of trouble getting the properly adjusted on the 6460 - the sewing machine whisperer shared a couple of pages of the repair manual with me and I puzzled over it to learn about the small adjustment that can be done by turning the knob of the button that you press to backstitch.  Turning left tightened up the #1 step so the stitching was closer together.  Twisting in the other direction would have tightened up the #3 step, which already looked good.

I've noticed this same problem to a much lesser degree on my Viking 5610, so I am excited to see if I can make the same adjustment on that machine too.

Another thing I learned - the bobbin case is a gear shift too! Pull it out and it pops the machine into a super low gear great for extra control with full power or for sewing through thick fabrics.  (Hello Morgan Jeans... I am day-dreaming about you now!)

I took a moment extra to make a nominal effort at matching the stripes... but then I realized the stripe pattern itself was not symetrical and the way I had cut the pattern to use every last bit of fabric actually had the stripes meeting in opposite ways.  Ooops!

It's still cute and breezy to wear for summer and I thoroughly enjoyed testing out my machine.