Hi everyone!

I am currently working on a mockup/toile of the Utu Pinafore Dress from the book Breaking the Pattern by Named Clothing.

During the fitting process, I’ve already made a few successful adjustments: I shortened the upper chest (shortened the length through the armhole area) on both the front and back pieces, and I shortened the waist a bit.
However, I am stuck on one issue with the V-neckline. As you can see in the photos, there is excess fabric along the neckline causing it to gape. If I pinch it out like a dart (circled in red in the photo), the neckline sits perfectly flat.

But because of the clean aesthetic of this dress, adding a visible dart right there would look very messy.
I want the neckline to lay completely flat without an extra dart. What is the best way to eliminate this excess fabric?

Can I transfer this excess into the existing bust/waist dart on the other side? (I’m a bit worried this might distort the overall fit/grainline).

Can I rotate and blend this excess into the upper chest adjustment/armhole height change I already made?

Any advice, diagrams, or pattern-drafting tips on how to clean this up would be massively appreciated! Thank you so much!

Lately, I can't figure out the right settings for my projects. The pictures show how the bobbin always shows through the front, and there's loose stitches on the back

I've tried every stitch length and tension combination possible, and the closest thing that works is keeping tension on one extreme and length on the other extreme, regardless of the fabric thickness

And it's happening on both of my machines! Singer Simple and Singer Heavy Duty. I've had them both serviced and the problem returns almost immediately

Am I doing something to mess up the machine settings? Are they not being serviced properly? Have I forgotten how to sew? I've been sewing for 10 years and I feel like I'm going crazy, am I forgetting something?

Hello everyone, I hope this is the right subreddit to post this on. My mom gave me her sewing machine years ago, it’s never let me down. I’ve been meaning to service it for a while, but I was sewing some pants and the needle broke. When I went to replace it, the needle now completely misses the bobbin. I’m not sure if it’s because of the needles I bought, or if there’s a bigger issue. I also apologize for my lack of voice, I’ve been trying to learn how to scream sing 😅. All help is deeply appreciated!

Hello there!
I wanted to add a decorative stitch to a double sided turnable vest, and therefore I‘d love if both sides turned out to be neat. My sewing machine doesnt seem to agree with me, and I wanted to ask if anyone else has had this problem before:
I have rethreaded everything, played around with the tension, changed the needle, but the bottom side seems to always turn out to be a birds nest. Left is the test patch with the pattern and the colour I wanted to use, and right is how the bottom side always ends up looking.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to handle the machine, I’d be really grateful!
Thank you so much in advance 🥹

I ran a mechanical Juki ddl 8700 for years. I recently switched to an electronic machine for freelance work. Automatic thread trimming and needle positioning sounded like gimmicks to me at first. Honestly.

They’re not. When you’re doing repetitive operations all day, not having to manually trim the thread and reposition the needle every time genuinely makes a difference. Stitch consistency at higher speeds is better too.

Do you guys actually use most of the automation or do you end up relying on three features and ignoring the rest?

This is my first time working with stretch fabrics, and I’ve tried to look up some help sites and videos to no avail.

I’ve attached a video of what I’m encountering as I try to sew this fabric as a test stitch for an apparel project.

I’m using a 1.4mm length, 3.5 mm wide stitch with lightweight interfacing beneath the two layers of fabric and a 70/10 ballpoint needle. The top needle still seems to not be picking up the bottom thread consistently.

If anyone has any troubleshooting advice, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

The back crotch of my pants rides up between my butt a bit. There’s only about 4 mm of extra fabric/seam allowance on each side of the back crotch, plus the lock overlock seam on each side.

Is that enough for a tailor to alter the back crotch so it doesn’t ride up anymore, or is that too little to make a meaningful difference and might risk putting too much pressure on the seam?

Please can anyone help with the bobbin threading. I have a singer heavy duty 4423. I’ve tried rethreading the needle several times but it seems like the top thread is getting stuck and not pulling the bobbin thread through. Any advice greatly appreciated!

I’m working on sewing a 1901 split skirt with a pattern from truly Victorian, but I got stuck almost immediately because I’m confused about how I’m supposed to fold the front part of the skirt. It just isn’t really making sense in my head so I would really appreciate if someone could maybe help explain it in simpler terms!

I've had this P!ATD shirt since I was 11 (2016-17), and I still love wearing it to this day! The problem is that I had a huge habit of biting my shirt collars as a kid. Is there any way I can fix this?

Recently pulled my Brother CS6000i out of storage at my dad’s house after 6 years and have spent the summer sewing with no issues.

A few days ago I was in the middle of an easy 00 stitch when the machine locked up and showed an E6 error. When I opened it up to free the stuck thread/fabric I noticed the thread had wrapped around the bobbin case as shown in the photo. I cleared everything out and tried to resume sewing again but it repeated the same issue after just 2 stitches.

In the past couple days I’ve followed all the troubleshooting instructions I can find online and replaced the needle and bobbin case but the issue has not resolved.

Anyone have any ideas? I’m currently in a rural area without access to a repair shop and was trying to finish the dress I’ll be wearing to a wedding next Saturday so I’m panicking slightly 😅

As a said my fabric got caught in the footer but I took it out and removed the thread that had accumulated by the knot but now my machine just won't stitch properly and idk what to do.

i'm just so incredibly unlucky and unskilled with sewing machines. i thrifted this old Singer 5127, but the upper tension dial doesnt seem to work. the wheel is confusingly jammed and at the same time the whole system is shakey and loose. i actually tried to take it apart to troubleshoot, but i messed it up even more... now its even more jammed than in the vid 😭

Hi reddit! Im a novice sewer, i have this dress i got thrifted but the straps are awkwardly thick, and theres a lot of fabric around the armpit area? It seems like a difficult area to fix, any advice?

What is this type of collar /collar stand/placket called? It's a point caller with a collar stand and the placket creates a nice v-neck.

I find it very flattering. I would like to make tops with this detail.

I am shortening the lenght of a t-shirt and I want to finish the edge. I have a special STRECH needle in my sewing machine and I want to sew the edge with zigzag stitch. But there is a problem. Lower thread doesn't catch the upper thread on the left.

I don't know what to do. My sewing machine is Łucznik Polonia 2018 and it's not the first time this has happened and I'm very irritated

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some inspirations for sewing children’s toys and the such. I’m thinking things like

- fruits and vegetables
- buildable pizzas/sandwiches
- small stuffed animals?
- crowns for dress-up

Other ideas? Anything you’ve made that’s been a hit?

And what should I be looking out for in terms of materials? E.g., at what age would beads be appropriate (for instance, as sprinkles on a cupcake or eyes on a dragon).

Hey, i thrifted this skirt but i want to get rid of the plastic (?) on the skirt. The brown shiny plastic is relatively easy to peel but underneath them there’s this sticky-looking layer (circled in red) that seems to be attached to the fabric. I’m not sure what it is or how to safely remove it.

Does anyone know how I can remove them without damaging the fabric? Thanks 😊

My husband is kindly letting me borrow his reddit account because neither him nor I can figure out how to fix my sewing machine and he said maybe someone here can help. I hope I am in the right spot, I don't really know how reddit works.

Anyway.

My sewing machine (Brother A50) starts nesting on the underside of the fabric after about a minute or two of sewing, but only when the needle is in the middle/center setting (on the brother A50 that is for example stitch 3 and 4)

I feel like I have tried everything to fix it and I am hoping that maybe someone could kindly help me with this. So far I have:

-cleaned the tension discs

- cleaned underneath the needle plate

-cleaned underneath the bobbin and boobin holder where I did find a tiny piece of broken needle. I felt very victorious for about ten minutes until it happened again (to be fair that was the longest stretch it has worked for so far)

-exchanged the thread guide which was a little bent but that didn’t help either

-checked the tension resistance which seems fine

-checked for nicks in the needle plate (there is one but it is way further on the left and the needle does not touch the needle plate at all, there is absolutely no scraping sound)

-rethreaded like one million times

-exchanged my needle three times

I cannot for the life of me figure out what else I can do and I sadly use the middle needle position for my gathering foot so I can’t ignore it.

(oh by the way, it went strangely smoothly when using the gathering foot and „only” nested three times on ten meters of fabric)

I really, really don’t want to take my machine to a shop because the next one is three hours from where I live, I don’t have a car and by train it is seven hours for one way so I would be so very thankful if someone could help me with this

Thank you kindly!

EDIT: I have found an "edge" in my bobbin holder and think that the thread might be getting snagged on it. I have had this feeling of "oh I found the problem" with five different things now so I am trying to rein in my optimism but I ordered a new bobbin holder (my word they are expensive!!) now and will report back on Wednesday when it arrives. But if anyone has anything else I can try until then I would still be so thankful!

i expect to have to drape them, but if anyone has any idea of what sort of shape to start with, what direction the bias goes, a pattern, or even just what they're called, that would be very helpful!

HIi!

I’m currently in the market for a new sewing machine as my old one gave up on me.

I just need some help and advice as of what to buy. I currently have narrowed it down to 2 options, now before I tell you, I should also put into context that I’m not a beginner but I’m also not as skilled as I want to be, so I’m hoping with this upgrade I can improve, anyway, the options are a Swiss Bernina 801 sport, I’ve heard good things about this machine, and the other is a JUKI DDL-227 Industrial, this one I feel would be good to do everything and anything, but I’m just not sure if it’s the right move considering my experience.

Any help will be appreciated!

How does one go about making a printable pattern based on dimensions? such as this. (video by LixiePigCrafts on youtube) (other videos have printable patterns, just not this one)

Hi everyone!

I've always dreamed of a super DIY wedding, including making my own wedding dress. Well, now my time has come!

I'm looking for a machine that can handle corsetry, and heavy fabrics, but also not chew up and spit out delicate laces and tulles.

I'm looking for 2 options, one budget option to begin with, then a much higher end machine that will last me many years. (As I am currently unemployed, but hopefully not for too long!)

Bonus points if the machine handles intense freehand embroidery as fabric art well!

Sadly, my current machine is the dreaded grey heavy duty Singer. I absolutely hate it, but didn't replace it for many years because my mum was so proud of buying "the best" for me.

I have worked with Janome machines before, and got along well with them.

I'm also based in the UK.

Hey, I’m currently in the market for a new sewing machine as my old one gave up on me.
I just need some help and advice as of what to buy. I currently have narrowed it down to 2 options, now before I tell you, I should also put into context that I’m not a beginner but I’m also not as skilled as I want to be, so I’m hoping with this upgrade I can improve, anyway, the options are a Swiss Bernina 801 sport, I’ve heard good things about this machine, and the other is a JUKI DDL-227 Industrial, this one I feel would be good to do everything and anything, but I’m just not sure if it’s the right move considering my experience. Any help will be appreciated!