My husband had some long sleeved t-shirts that he took back to the store to trade for short-sleeved versions.  However, there was one long-sleeved t-shirt left in a beautiful shade of blue that he couldn’t find in a short-sleeve version.  You know what’s coming next right?

“Honey, can you make this a short-sleeved t-shirt?” hubby asked.  Sure, I thought, I’ll just whip out my cover stitch machine – NOT!  I do not own a cover stitch machine and iI’s been AGES since last sewed on knit fabrics…but not with my 3160QDC.  Unlike my 6600, this sweet little machine will tackle knit fabrics without puckering – provided you set the machine correctly.

Here’s what I did:

Stretch (blue tip) needle in size 75/11 or 80/12
Straight stitch with stitch length of 3.5, center needle position
Walking foot

Mettler Metrosene thread
Foot pressure adjusted to 4 (or 2 if you only have 3 settings)

Turned up a 1″ hem on the sleeve.  I didn’t have a twin stretch needle handy, so I sewed the right side first using the “10” mark on my needle plate as the guide.  To sew, the second row of stitching, I let the previous row of stitching ride just on the inside edge of the right toe of the walking foot.  I trimmed any excess fabric with my applique scissors. Worked like a charm!

Here you see the newly hemmed sleeve on the left compared with the factory sewn bottom of the t-shirt.  Not too shabby, huh?  I think my stitching looks much neater than the factory sewn hem.  Don’t you?  To make the distance between the lines of stitching truly mimic the RTW hem, I could have moved the needle to the left just a little bit to make the distance wider between the rows of stitching.   Something to keep in mind for the future…but I’m pleased with how it turned out. 

As a ticket out the door activity at a recent club session, I asked students to anonymously write down what they thought about the Crafty STEM club.   Here are their comments:

• “Crafty STEM is really fun and it’s great to come to.”
•  “I love Crafty STEM because you always have something fun and I love the teachers.”
•  “It is really fun and cool!”
•  “Crafty STEM is a fun club that teaches us to sew.”
•  “Crafty STEM is awesome!”
•  “I love Crafty STEM because we learn and have fun.”
•  “I think Crafty STEM is a fun process for us kids to learn how to craft. I love learning how to craft using the STEM process.”
• “I think that Crafty STEM is the most fun thing to do when I’m bored or just have nothing to do.”
•  “This club is awesome!”
•  “It is the coolest thing!”
•  “I love Crafty STEM because there is always something new planned for us to do every time we come, it’s always the best part of some of my Fridays besides going home.”

And to the student who wrote the last comment – you are a mind reader because sometimes Crafty STEM is what keeps me motivated on Friday afternoons.