One of the biggest pains of pad-making, is all of the cutting you do. Piece after piece after piece. But as I've reviewed and tried different patterns and techniques, and tried some new things, I've stumbled onto a way to eliminate most of the cutting. That's a lifesaver on the hands! Today I'll show you the speed method for cutting and sewing cores.
You'll want to start by using a water soluble marker to trace your core pattern onto just one layer of your core material- the layer that you'll have on top or bottom of your core sandwich. I'm using a crayola washable marker, and my top layer here is just some white, double napped diaper flannel. I'm tracing my pattern piece near the edge of the fabric, right on the roll of flannel.
Next, using a rotary cutter, roughly cut out around the piece you just traced, in a rectangle shape.
Now, place that rectangle on your next layer or two of core fabric. Again with your rotary cutter, cut out your next layers of core material (as many as you'll need), in pretty much the same shape as the first piece you cut.
There's no need to be precise for the cutting part. Just make sure each layer of core is big enough to accommodate the shape you've traced on that top piece. And sandwich the pieces all together, making sure the traced part fits inside each piece in the stack. (My sandwich is that layer of diaper flannel and a layer of Zorb 2 with dimples, which is nice and floppy. You can do as many layers as you want, of whatever you'd like, but I wanted a thinner, moderate absorbency pad core.)
Pin or clip your stack, just to make sure things don't shift around on you as you sew.
Since I'm working with a combination of woven and knit fabrics, and cores can be thick, I'm using a walking foot. I highly recommend using a walking foot for any part of the pad assembly process. It will make a huge difference in ease of sewing, and the quality of your finished product.
Next, set your machine to a zigzag stitch. The stitch can be as tight or open as you'd like. This part will be hidden in the pad, and we are just trying to secure it and keep it clean. Place your sandwich under the presser foot, with the traced line on the fabric facing up. Make sure that your stitching will fall just inside the line that you traced on the fabric. Find a spot on your presser foot, and just make sure that the line travels along at that spot consistently.
And now stitch around the core, keeping your stitching just inside that traced line. Make sure you lift and lower your presser foot as much as you need when you're coming around the curves, instead of pushing and pulling your fabric around. That will keep your sandwich from bunching and puckering. And if you tug and push the fabric, it will fight with your walking foot and warp the fabric.
*Just remember too, that when using a walking foot, you don't want to back stitch. A walking foot isn't made for that, and can cause mechanical problems in your machine if you do it.
Once you've stitched the core, it's time to cut it out. Since you're cutting through several layers, use a pair of good, sharp scissors. Cut just outside your stitches, along the traced line. Don't cut your stitches!
Cut all the way around your core until it's free of its rectangular prison.
And you're done! One nice, flat, even core that you only had to cut once.
This has been a huge time and energy saver for me, and especially when working with stretchier core materials like Zorb 2, which tend to stretch and warp, it really helps produce a nice flat core that's easy to center with every layer exactly the same shape, and this core won't interfere with your pad stitching and distort the shape of your finished pad.
No comments:
Post a Comment