A new type of foot for my kimono...

Oh what a revelation a walking foot was when trying to stitch this slippery eel of a satin ribbon onto a kimono this week. I have to admit to being the sort of person who ploughs on with a task irrespective of whether I'm in possession of the right tools for the job...but slowly it's dawning on me that sometimes learning how to use something properly is less tedious than I had previously thought. At £28, and with convoluted verbal instructions as to how I might attach the walking foot, I very nearly decided I could live without one...but I'm so pleased I didn't. Attaching the trim to kimonos had previously been a dreaded task that was accompanied by much cursing...but no longer. I have no idea (or indeed any desire to know) what is contained in the little plastic box at the rear of this foot that makes its stomping (for it is loud!) so magical, but gosh, it's amazing and it had me whooping with delight at the joy of stress-free sewing on such a sunny day!

On my previous kimonos I have always used a French seam, which makes for tricky work attaching the arms neatly and, even though the seam is miniscule, bulkier than I think one would like for something as drapey as a kimono. With this in mind and an overlocker a possible birthday present away, I decided to see whether I could do some Florence-brand overlocking. I zig-zagged each seam and then went back and did a line of straight stitch next to it and then trimmed. There were a couple of options on my machine for stitches that combined a straight stitch and a zigzag, but when I sampled on some test material I knew I'd worry that they weren't substantial enough to prevent fraying. Does anyone have any of their own self-created overlocking tips that are tried and tested?

So here is the end result and this one is for me! I'd intended to use making it as an opportunity to actually make a proper pattern, but alas I'm still working off my notes on the back of an envelope as none of my pattern paper was big enough to fit even a single arm onto! Miss Celeste is modelling for me...for despite being a strange fish for making clothes on, she is passable when it comes to displaying loungewear!

And to the weekend: Zebra-girl has plans to commandeer my machine - but what a sterling job I have done in not jumping up and down and doing cartwheels - for fear of dampening her enthusiasm - instead I have played it cool and even threw in some mock-sighs for good measure and am now considering a career in acting! I am really so happy though - it seems to be something she genuinely loves to do and keeps returning to.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend. x

Ps. I hadn't put this in my original post as I always assume that I'm the last to know about anything vaguely useful sewing-related...but it's become apparent from the comments, that there are others out there who plough on regardless too, remaining naive to helpful aides: So, a walking foot is a special device that makes sure your top and bottom layers of fabric feed through the machine at exactly the same rate...I think that means it solves the problem of 'differential feed'. Slippery materials are particularly guilty (although by no means exclusively guilty...for most materials seem to feed through at different rates the way I sew!) of this. I can't recommend one of these lovelies enough...I can imagine sewing everything with my walking foot from now on!

And why oh why is the spellcheck not working on Blogger today??? Please excuse any misspellings! xx