My review of Prym Pressing tools from Jaycotts.co.uk

A Jaycotts.co.uk blog post all about pressing 

What is your most important sewing tool? You might be surprised!

In this post I am going to demonstrate some of the pressing equipment by Prym which you can obtain from Jaycotts and I will show you why they are as necessary as your sewing machine when undertaking any sewing project.

What do you imagine the number one rule of sewing to be? Would you be surprised to learn that THE top rule for any sewing project is to press as you go. That's every seam, every time.
You would be amazed at the difference it makes to your finished garment, it makes all your garments look Handmade (Bespoke) not the dreaded " homemade"
And what is the number one rule in pressing? Its simple, don't rush.
Notice too that I used the word pressing not ironing.When you are ironing your iron is moving back and forth over the fabric constantly, with pressing the iron is set down and then lifted up before moving to the next spot.
Every time you sit down to sew get your pressing equipment set up before you start sewing so that it is easily available.  If you leave pressing until after you have finished sewing you will not produce a quality look to your garment.

So, let's discuss which products you need, and I do mean need. The basics are

• A good quality heavy steam iron
• An ironing board with a padded cover. Avoid the teflon coated covers as they reflect heat into the back of fabrics and can cause shine and problems with interfacings
• A pressing cloth 
• A Tailors ham and/or sleeve roll
• A sleeve board

My collection of pressing tools 

The Brother Adjustable Bias Binding Foot

A mini blog all about this incredibly useful and easy to use foot.

The Brother adjustable Bias Binder Foot

Labeks

Bias binding foot

Hong Kong Seams 

This is my favourite foot at the moment, I love the way it makes adding a binding to an edge so incredibly simple. I have had a binder foot before, but nothing so easy to use as this one, so if you want to treat yourself I really recommend ordering one.  The Brother adjustable Bias Binder Foot   is available from Jaycotts, the current price is £24.99.

If you are making your own bindings as I normally do then ensure that the finished width is between 5 to 20 mm. Any wider and it will not fit into the foot.

Once you have made or purchased your binding simply press it in half.

Feed the tape through the guide with the folded edge to the right. Then turn the screw on the foot and align the edge of the tape with the left side of the guage. You may also want to adjust your needle position so that the stitches are as close to the edge of the binding as possible. Don't forget to tighten the screw.

When you are happy then pull an inch or so of the binding through to the back .

Using the Fringe Foot to embellish almost anything

The Brother Fringe Foot

Label

Fringe foot

I was going to use this foot to embellish a dress but I changed my mind and want to decorate ithe dress another way, but I still thought it worth while demonstrating how to use this foot as I absolutely love it. I fully intend using it to embellish a Chanel type jacket where the fringing will look fabulous.

The foot I used is the Brother FRINGE FOOT  (Ask Jaycotts for other makes)
This foot is not only perfect for embellishing pockets, lapels, table linen etc but also sews tailors tacks in a jiffy. This is fabulous for tailoring projects when I want to sew tailors tacks down all of my seams, it is much quicker than doing them by hand. Ask me if you want to know how to adjust the settings for tailors tacks.
You can see that there is a raised bar down the centre of the foot which you need to  zigzag over to form loops which are then cut into a fringe.

It is so  easy to use. Snap the foot in place, select a wide zig zag stitch and select the settings. You need a very wide stitch but make sure that the needle position is such that it does not hit the metal foot anywhere. Try the stitch very carefully to make sure it is ok.
Then you need to select a very short stitch length because you need the stitches to be very close together so set the stitch length to about 0•6  then loosen your tension to 2 or 3.
Stitch a row of stitches  - or a pattern ( heart, flower, etc) and fasten off.

Then take your normal foot and a short straight stitch and sew the fringe down close to the top.
With your sharpest scissors snip the threads on the reverse and then using your finger nail loosen the threads on the right side
The fringing can be trimmed if necessary

You can make several rows or just one, you can make a frame for an initial or emblem, above all this foot is FUN so treat yourself to one and have a play with it, it is so very easy to create eye-catching and different effects with it.

There is a video on my YouTube channel showing you exactly how to use it, the link is here The Brother fringe foot if you subscribe to my posts by email.

Whilst you are in my page do subscribe. I fully intend making a lot more video's for you to watch as I think it is always much nicer if somebody shows you how to do something.

Don't be afraid to experiment with your sewing, there are a lot of different feet available to fit most sewing machines, doing something a bit different really adds to the fun of sewing and you will be surprised at how quickly you become expert.


For details of sewing machines, feet, or indeed anything sewing related do contact Jaycotts. They are extremely knowledgeable and friendly and enjoy explaining how to use their products.

Please Contact Jaycotts here or just give them a call during opening hours on 01244 394099

Thank you for reading this post

Angela


#sewing #sewingmachine #machinefeet #fringefoot #embellishing