Thread Tracing in Action

There's a new pile of Misato (Not) by Chanel test pieces on the ironing board. While tracing all these out, I discovered I have lost my thimble. I usually don't spend that much time in a row pushing the needle with my finger, but this time I was feeling it.

I'm not sure if I'm not using smaller stitches for marking than necessary, though on these curved edges I didn't want to lose too much of the shape in the dash-dash-dashing. The magnetic pin holder came in handy for finding a dropped needle in the carpet. Much faster than waiting til I step on it.

Here's a shoulder being basted to a front. It looks a little wavy since you have to match  a curved edge to a straight-ish edge. The visible markings on both sides of both pieces does make matching things up that much faster.

And here it is after a trip to the sewing machine and before pressing. The other benefit to this method is no pins on the sewing machine. You're not supposed to sew over pins, but I may have done that once or twice. I don't think I've ever broken a needle, but I've bent the hell out of some pins. All fun and games until someone puts an eye out though.

Also, on these fiddly matches, I either leave the pins in too long and have to try to get it out from under the presser foot which clamps down pretty hard on it, or I remove it too soon and the sewing lines shift randomly in the middle of a seam. Throw in the time to get up and get the pin holder off the board where I pinned stuff up - after getting set up on the sewing machine - and basting with thread is going on the list of "Things I'm not sure why I've never done before".