Can Men Master the Art of Knitting and Sewing?

[Evo]

Nothing beats a knitting machine.

 

[sas3]

I can do both but it has been a long time since I knitted anything.

I did crochet a nice plant hanger for a gift about 3 or 4 years ago.

 

[Danger]

Wonder if my husband :!)would want one for his birthday?

You're married?! Oh, great... another sexual fantasy blown to hell...

 

[GeorginaS]

Real men use sergers.

And then you can teach me! I'm seriously enamoured of those machines. They are the best.

OK, this is a very timely "thread" (har-dee-har!).

I don't know squat about sewing, but I do have a sewing machine that has never worked right - or am I doing it wrong? When I push the pedal down it sews for about 1 cm, then the fabric gets pulled down into the lower compartment and bunches up.

Am I doing it wrong or does the machine need to be serviced?

I second what Moonbear said and all of the advice she gave. Usually, though, that particular problem is that the thread tension is set too tight for the fabric. Lighter fabrics need lighter thread tension or they get pulled under to the bobbin, and then you have a mess.

 

[ECStoner]

My bf tried to get me to iron his shirt the other day because he didn't think he could do it! Took him 2 seconds to learn though... and he can't knit or sew (I had to sew his jeans up a while back when the hole got to big for them to be wearable)

 

[drankin]

My sewing machine makes dinner, and even vacuums! Beat that!

 

[Ouabache]

I could still probably rebuild a Rainbow vac or time a sewing machine with my eyes closed. Real men use sergers.

Do you use a strobe to time that? Are their marks are relative to TDC
For guys, this thread, is beginning to feel like Tim Allen's, Tool Time

I've sewn by hand, making minor repairs to worn clothes (tears, loose buttons).
Recently I've tried my hand using a sewing machine.. I ordered the operation manual and followed directions closely. It feels analogous (though an inverse operation) to using a table saw or a fixed-router. (moving material in a horizontal plane, on a more-or-less straight path).

It helps to have mechanical intuition. There are many knobs and buttons, setting tensions and pressures. Without any experience, I tried the 'mending stitch'. When the needle traveled down, it wanted to land, right on top of the metal of the presser-foot. I puzzled over that quite some time, had the machine pulled open, looking for some realignment screws on the shaft that supports the needle. (gotta employ those engineering principles to figure out a sewing machine. ) After experimenting with several knobs, I noticed the type-of-stitch selected, affects the horizontal drift of the needle. I had guessed it would need a wider presser foot and that turned out to be the case. It seems, the mending stitch is similar to a zigzag requiring a wider berth at the presser foot.

I cannot knit, tried it once got bored quickly. I've successfully hooked a few rugs though. The results were nice enough to hang on the wall (textured artwork).