pleating to the sett & the elements of the sett - Do I have this right?

[Barb T]

Advice that is not in the book - use lots of pins. That little piece of advice is not in the book, because my co-author is absolutely rabid about not pinning. But I find that, if I pin, I make better pleats and don't wind up taking out half of them. And I can stitch 5-6 pleats an hour even with pinning, so I don't buy Elsie's argument that pinning slows you down.

[jhockin]

Barb (& thanks again) yes, I DO use more pins! I also found some of those 'extra hands", I was wishing for ( we'll haveta see how well it turns out):


the idea occurred to me, and I thought I'd give it a try! Using a 16"diameter embroidery hoop


By the way, Barb, I keep forgetting to ask: why do we wax the thread, for stitching the pleats? The book doesn't say; to reduce snarls?

[jhockin]

well ... using an embroidery hoop was NOT a good idea! Had to ripp out all those stitched (grrrrr!)

[vorpallemur]

Advice that is not in the book - use lots of pins. That little piece of advice is not in the book, because my co-author is absolutely rabid about not pinning. But I find that, if I pin, I make better pleats and don't wind up taking out half of them. And I can stitch 5-6 pleats an hour even with pinning, so I don't buy Elsie's argument that pinning slows you down.

Pins certainly slow me down when sewing anything else. I've not yet done a kilt to the methods in the book, but I'd expect they'd slow me down there, too. I use them when I want to look at how something will look and for hemming and the like, but not during actual sewing.

One thing I'm surprised the book doesn't suggest is using pre-waxed thread. You can get it in a skein, instead a spool. cut it at one end, and you've got a bunch of thread all the same length, of the right length. Saves a heck of lot of time.