HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
Date: Mon,  5 Oct 1992 02:52:02 -0400 
From: "Karen L. Frisa" <kf1j+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Height of sewing table and sewing room design
	<1992Oct2.223803.15887@StarConn.com>

I get backaches, too, when I sew for too long.  It used to be much
worse, but I now put a phone book underneath my machine (which sits on
the dining room table).  I also now work on the other side of the table,
so that light comes from in front of me instead of from behind.  (I was
working in my shadow.)  I think I just spend too much time bent over
the machine trying to see what I'm doing.

Good luck to you!  I know how annoying it is to want to sew, and twenty
minutes later have to stop because it hurts so much.

Karen
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
From: eas@technet.macom.com (Eric Soshea)
Subject: Surger info/recommendations
Summary: Surger info/recommendations requested
Reply-To: eas@technet.macom.com
Organization: M/A-COM, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 17:20:42 GMT

This information may be in a FAQ, but...

My wife's B-day is rapidly approaching and I'd like to get her something
she'd never expect (I've considered and rejected new shocks for her car).
Anyway, she has really gotten into sewing/quilting lately and has mentioned
wanting/needing a "surger". I have a few questions for you all out there in
alt.sewing land. I _don't_ want to ask my wife; she might get a clue as to
what I plan on getting her.  ;->

I'm totally ignorant about this stuff so please take it easy on me. 

What is a surger and what is it used for?
About how much would it cost?
What are the important features or qualities I should look for? 
Any other advice Re:surgers?

Please reply by email unless you think others in this newsgroup would like
to discuss this subject.

Thanks for your help.
Eric Soshea (eas@technet.macom.com)
Xref: sparky alt.sewing:2909 rec.crafts.textiles:1760
From: hbenwood@axion.bt.co.uk (Heather Benwood)
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
Subject: Re: neckline gaping open
Date: 30 Sep 92 12:32:37 GMT
Reply-To: hbenwood@axion.bt.co.uk (Heather Benwood)
Organization: British Telecom Research Labs


Hi Karen,
	There are several good books which tell you how to adjust patterns, someone on the network is bound to recommend one. In the meantime, these are the instructions on how we would solve your problem at the Dress Design class that I attend.

Put the muslin on and take a pinch of the excess fabric on one side of the neckline so that the material lies flat against your skin. Put a pin in to hold this excess material in place. Repeat this on the other side of the neckline (NB unless you're symetrical, the amount of excess fabric on either side of the neckline will be different).
Take the muslin off and mark the fabric on either side of the "pinch". When you take the pin out you should have two marks showing you how much fabric to take out of each side of the neckline. Transfer these marks to the pattern, then draw a line on the pattern from one of the marks across the pattern to the sleeve-seam. Then draw another line from the second mark to the same point on the sleeve-seam (this is effectively a dart right across the pattern). Cut the pattern along one of the lines and place the



 cut edge against the other line, removing the excess at the neck edge. Sellotape in place and repeat with the other side of the neckline.
After this, you need to smooth-out the angles in the sleeve-seam and the neck edge (remove a bit of paper from the first and add a bit of paper to the second).

Hope this helps,

Heather
From: selina@hpscit.sc.hp.com (Selina Fong)
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1992 17:38:02 GMT
Subject: Re: one of a kind silk... I'm afraid
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Santa Clara, CA
Newsgroups: alt.sewing


> I have some very special silk that I brought home from a trip, and
> I want to make a special dress...  Here are my questions.

> The silk is from a part of the world where dry cleaning is not available, and
> the women there where it for everyday wear--**is it conceivable that the
> silk is hand-washable?**  It has many different colors going through it, and
> a white background--I've dipped a little in water, and it doesn't seem
> to run, but it's hard to believe...

Silk has been around for thousands of years and dry cleaning, maybe 
the last 60 years.  I personal believe dry cleaning silk is a conspiracy
put together by dry cleaning stores and clothing mfg :-).

You can hand wash your silks in cold water and depending on the silk; 
either iron it dry; twist it up and hang up to dry; hand press and hang 
up to dry; roll the silk in a dry towel, and either iron it or rack 
it to size to dry.  For the sturdy silks, I have put it in the wash 
on gentle.  Most ladies are usually shock to learn this, but silk 
is very strong and I have seen silk washed in rivers with rocks in India.

The only advantages to dry cleaning are:
 -  the time you will save in washing and ironing
 -  no shrinkage, but if you wash before hand you avoid this problem,
    mfg don't prewash.
 -  color fade.  Color fade and bleeding occur over many washing.  
    I like the the changes most of the time.

> Is it possible that drycleaning will damage the silk? (If the dies were
> formulated with water washing in mind, say...)  Might it shrink during
> drycleaning?  Should I dry clean it before I work with it?  (I know that
> if I am going to water-wash it I should do that before I start, but
> what about drycleaning?)

It sounds like you have a painted or piece dyed silk, as long
as you don't let it sit in the cold water, the colors should not fade.
I had a beautiful multi-color printed silk dress that I sent 
to the dry cleaners to prevent color fade and bleeding and 
some of the colors mixed anyway...  so dry cleaning does not 
always prevent color bleeding, it depends on how the fabric 
was made and dyed.


> It's fairly heavy and drapy.  I want to make a 2 piece dress--blouse and
> skirt.  Is there anything in particular I should look out for when I'm
> sewing?  My machine is about 50 years old (still works well, though) and
> only goes forward and back, nothing fancy.  Should I borrow something
> with azigzag?

You should not use silk thread, it is too strong compared to the fabric, 
use the smallest sharp machine needle, size 7 or 9 should be ok.
DON'T use a zigzag stitch, a stright is best.
Depending on the weave, pin holes stay forever, so use silk pins and
pin within the seam margins.  If you have a thin thread weaved silk,  
avoid ripping out seams or be very very careful when you do, it is easy 
cut through the fabric and the machine stitchs holes are there to stay.

Selina Fong

> -- 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ruth Radetsky                              vpmath1@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
From: GINA@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU
Subject: gathering
Organization: Rice University  
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 16:27:28 GMT

I have a gathering foot for my Viking and it seems to work pretty well.
The gathers aren't supposed to be movable, but they are, although they're
a good deal stiffer than the gathers you get doing the two-parallel-rows-
of-stitching method.  I've found it easier to work with the stiffer
gathers because I have fewer problems with them shifting slightly when
I sew the gathered fabric to something else.
 
Another technique that I haven't tried yet (but my sister has, and she
was very happy with the results) is to use clear elastic.  It's much
thinner than regular elastic, so it doesn't add an appreciable amount
of bulk, and you can stitch into it without damaging the elastic.  Just
cut the elastic to fit your bodice and then stretch it to fit the skirt.
When you're done, you'll have nice even gathers (as long as you're a nice
even stretcher).
 
Gina
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
From: euafri@eua.ericsson.se (Fredrik stman)
Subject: Re: neckline gaping open
Reply-To: euafri@eua.ericsson.se
Organization: Ellemtel Telecom Systems Labs, Stockholm, Sweden
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 15:25:23 GMT

Heather Benwood writes:

>draw a line on the pattern from one of the
>marks across the pattern to the sleeve-seam. Then draw another line
>from the second mark to the same point on the sleeve-seam (this is
>effectively a dart right across the pattern)

This solution might give you a problem with the front length, which is
decreased by the darts across the pattern. To put it another way: a
dart moves width in the direction i points, in this case from the
neckline to the sleeveline; it might be better to put it at the bust
point, at least for bigger cup sizes.

---
         ______                     _~
        (_/_ _  _  _/) _  . /)     / ) , _/)     _
       __/ _/(_(/_(/__/(_/_/Z_    (_/_/)_/__/))_(I_/)_

Newsgroups: alt.sewing
From: GEN5075@Husky1.StMarys.Ca (CLAIRE MOXON)
Subject: tapestry/brocade
Organization: St. Mary's University, Halifax, N.S., Canada
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 21:41:28 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.13.SMU

Hello:

I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.  In our fabric stores (all 2 of them)
the tapestry fabric that is in the upholstery section is $35 to $40 a metre.
This is rather out of my budget.  I would like to know if anyone has heard
of somewhere that sells it cheaper (or by mail-order).  I plan on making
a vest and/or blazer and don't want to go bankrupt in the process!  

The tapestry I am looking for is the sort that usually has a floral pattern
on it and it is a very heavy weight fabric.  A lot of handbags and some
luggage seems to be made from it lately.  

Also, any hints for using this kind of heavy fabric once I do get it?

Thanks

Claire Moxon

p.s.  I have friends who go to Maine quite frequently, so anywhere that
sells cheaper fabric in Maine would be particularly useful.
From: mary@uicsl.csl.uiuc.edu (Mary E. Allison)
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
Subject: Re: Large envelopes for patterns, expensive tastes
Date: 28 Sep 1992 19:05:09 GMT
Organization: Center for Reliable and High-Performance Computing, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
NNTP-Posting-Host: uicsl.csl.uiuc.edu

rrah@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Runa Rahman) writes:

>In article <TIGGER.92Sep19105749@satyr.Sylvan.COM> tigger@satyr.Sylvan.COM (Grace Sylvan) writes:
>>    I would just take a large envelope, 9x12? and put the pattern into it,
>>    and just label the outside. Easier than trying to refold and stuff the
>>    pieces all back into the tiny envelope.
>> 

>Yes, I have seen this tip before - Rusty Bensussen uses this method to store
>ALL her patterns.  She says she mostly buys designer patterns which comes in
>larger envelopes anyways - they must be Vogue patterns.  That's what I've
>been doing lately, too.

     I use 9x12 envelopes, cut the picture from the front of the
pattern envelope and tape it to the 9x12 envelope.  It's the perfect
size for a file drawer and you can flip through the envelopes and look
at the pretty pictures.  I put the back of the envelope INSIDE the
9x12.  

--
If you saw a heat wave, would you wave back?
  -- Steven Wright

    Mary Allison (mary@uicsl.csl.uiuc.edu) Urbana, Illinois
Catx2 Owned, Square Dancer, Leaper, Ballroom Dancer in training 
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
From: nmrdb@vms.macc.wisc.edu (BEVERLY SEAVEY)
Subject: Re: neckline gaping open
Organization:  University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center
Date:  5 OCT 92 09:11:00    

In article <1992Oct3.030819.21082@StarConn.com>, sallyh@StarConn.com (Sally Holmes) writes...

>In Clothilde's catalogue, I saw some stuff called `It Stays!': `Super 
>roll-on body adhesive that washes off with water.' It claims to hold 
>fabric to skin.
> 
>Not a long-term solution, but might be useful to preserve one's modesty
>in an emergency, such as a ready-made bridesmaid dress that's cut a little
>low.  Remember the photo of the then-Diana Spencer getting out of a limo, 
>clutching unsuccessfully at the neckline of her very low-cut dress? 
>Poor girl, she didn't have a bouquet to help cover her up: she needed 
>`It Stays!' :-).
> 
>Sally

I personally use toupee tape (designed for men's hairpieces) to help
keep my strapless Javanese dance
costumes not only close to my body, but also *on*.
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
From: hunt@uadp1.larc.nasa.gov (Linda Hunt)
Subject: Re: costuming jobs
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA  USA
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 20:22:45 GMT

Sorry to post to the group, but my e-mail to Sarah was returned.

The Virginia Shakespeare Festivel is held in Williamsburg Virginia over the summer.  I'm not sure exactly what to tell you for an address, but since it is held at the College of William and Mary and one of the W&M theater professors heads it up, you'd probably be ok writing to:

		Virginia Shakespeare Festival
		College of William and Mary
		Williamsburg, VA  23185

Hope this helps.

Linda Hunt
hunt@uadp1.larc.nasa.gov
From: Marina.Salume@Corp.Sun.COM (Marina Salume)
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
Subject: Re: old projects never die
Date: 28 Sep 92 20:11:36 GMT

> Do half-finished
>quilt tops get out-of-square due to neglect?

I learned to knit as a teenager, and was always depressed when I
finally finished a sweater only to find I'd outgrown it. When I
discovered quilting, I was thrilled because  
"quilts always wait for you."

It's possible that your taste in colors can change, but your quilt
tops will still make nice warm quilts. I've made lovely quilts out
of tops that I bought at flea markets, they were 50 or 60 years old!

--marina
From: charleen@presto.ig.com (Charleen Bunjiovianna)
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
Subject: Re: Fabriholism cure & cause
Date: 29 Sep 92 14:10:40 GMT
Organization: IntelliGenetics, Inc., Mountain View, California USA

In article <1992Sep27.042717.28370@techbook.com> carolp@techbook.com (Carolyn Peterson) writes:
>
>"Anything you make out of fabric that you have had for more than 6 
>months is FREE!  (Some husbands have trouble grasping this simple concept.)"
>
>and
>
>"Fabric really should be aged before it is used."

I agree in principle, but you can get carried away with this.

You know the boxes that copier paper comes in, a dozen reams to a box?
I went to a garage sale last weekend where they had fifty or so of
these boxes out, all full of cut lengths of "aged" fabric, mostly
polyester double-knits, jerseys, not terribly appealing stuff but
fashionable 20 years ago.  Smelled pretty strongly of mothballs.

Remember how prevalent polyester double knit was then and how it makes
you cringe to see it now?  Remember the leisure suit for men? :-)

I wonder if the lady in question figured out at some point that for
her the excitement was in the thrill of acquisition, rather than
the satisfaction of clothing construction, and just decided to go with
the flow.

Charleen
From: earprl@vtcc1.cc.vt.edu (Ron Earp)
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
Subject: Hints on sewing vinyl
Date: 27 Sep 92 20:35:00 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41


Hi All,
   I was wondering if anyone had any tips on sewing vinyl that they could
give me. I'm wanting to make a set of saddlebags and would like them
to be as durable as possible. If anyone could help I'd be most grateful!

Thanks,
-Ron

Organization: Network Development, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 00:57:25 -0400 
From: "Karen L. Frisa" <kf1j+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: neckline gaping open

Hi everyone,

After your overwhelming response to my gathering question, I'm game to
try again.

I've been working on the muslin for the bodice of my bridesmaid's
dress, and I'm finding that the neckline is gaping open.  It's kind of
a smooth sweetheart neckline, so it's fairly low-cut.  I've tried
different things with the muslin, such as taking in the side seam
(that didn't help at all), and taking it in at the shoulder seam (that
helped, but not enough).  Does anyone have any ideas?  It probably
doesn't help that I'm small breasted (A cup), so am not exactly
filling it out.

The extra fabric seems to be at the center of the neckline.  A friend
suggested trying horizontal darts at the bust, but I think they would
take in fabric below the armhole, and I think the problem is above the
armhole.  (I mean that if you drew a horizontal line from the bottom
of one armhole to the bottom of the other, I think the dart would fall
below it and the extra fabric would fall above it.)

If anyone has any suggestions for correcting this problem, I'd love to
hear them!  It's only a month until the wedding... (but that's my own
fault).

Thanks,
Karen
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
From: cowpatti@netcom.com (Patricia Mae Anthony)
Subject: Re: old projects never die
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 01:20:14 GMT

In article <9209282011.AA21495@marny.Corp.Sun.COM> Marina.Salume@Corp.Sun.COM (Marina Salume) writes:
>> Do half-finished
>>quilt tops get out-of-square due to neglect?
>
>I learned to knit as a teenager, and was always depressed when I
>finally finished a sweater only to find I'd outgrown it. When I
>discovered quilting, I was thrilled because  
>"quilts always wait for you."

Is this question meant to ask about fabric shifting around once it has
been cut into pieces and stored?  My experience has been that the edges
tend to "release" and get bigger once cut, so I tend to use 1" seam
allownaces much of the time, and at least 1-1/2" seam allowances on the
bias edges, so that I am sewing where the fabric is still as tightly 
woven as before I cut it.  Cut edges of fabric do stretch with handling,
so my guess about the quilt pieces would be that the out-of-square
thing would have more to do with the amount of handling once cut than
with the time it was stored.

CowPatti
-- 

@>-`,-->  @>-`,-->  @>-`,-->  @>-`,-->  @>-`,-->  @>-`,-->  @>-`,--> @>-`,-->
          (__)        (__)        (__)      ^
          (oo)        (oo)        (oo)     /
      _____\/__________\/__________\/_____/        D A N C E S 
     /  /\ / /      /\ / /      /\ / /
    ^  /  * /      /  * /      /  * /                W I T H
      / ___/      / ___/      / ___/     
 *----/W     *----/W     *----/W                   H O O V E S
     /  \        /  \        /  \
    /   /       /   /       /   /
   ^    ^      ^    ^      ^    ^
<--`,-<@  <--`,-<@  <--`,-<@  <--`,-<@  <--`, <@  <--`,-<@  <--`,-<@  <--`,-<@

Newsgroups: alt.sewing
From: arien@milton.u.washington.edu (in*con*sistent kat)
Subject: Re: neckline gaping open
Summary: weight it!
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 20:50:57 GMT

A hint that might be helpful, not a solution to the main problem:

One thing that the friend of my family who sewed my sweetheart-neckline
wedding dress did, was to self-cover a light weight and attach a button-weight
thread.  The string end was then secured to the lining of the dress a little
below the point of the neckline; the weight was tucked into my brassiere.

This was not intended to fix a major problem -- the dress fit really well
and was quite comfortable -- but just so that it didn't gape when I leaned
over (I have a small bust, too.).

|> "Anyone can have the harmony, if they would leave us the counterpoint." <|
|>  --Dorothy Sayers' _Gaudy Night_  //  arien@u.washington.edu            <|
|>                                  //  arien@blegga.cac.washington.edu    <|
From: charleen@presto.ig.com (Charleen Bunjiovianna)
Newsgroups: alt.sewing
Subject: Re: interfacing question
Date: 29 Sep 92 14:16:38 GMT
Organization: IntelliGenetics, Inc., Mountain View, California USA

In article <1992Sep27.194204.27398@csus.edu> vpmath1@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu (Ruth Radetsky) writes:
>Is there any reason not to use plain white cotton as interfacing fabric
>on a silk blouse that is going to be drycleaned?

I don't see why not...

>Also, does anyone know of a pattern for a peasant type blouse:
>(square yoke front and back, very loose fitting, big sleeves, cuffs
>or chemise dress with top fitting that description)
>in a size 20 or there abouts?  or one I can alter to that description?

Try a square dance store; they almost always carry patterns for peasant
blouses.  You're at San Francisco State; hmmm...aren't really any WSD
stores up in the City.  Write if you don't actually live in the City
and I'll tell you where the Bay Area stores are.

There are at least a couple peasant blouse patterns in the Kwik-Sew
line, so if you can find a fabric store that carries those...

Charleen
Xref: sparky alt.gopher:1294 comp.infosystems.gopher:581 comp.infosystems.wais:510
From: barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin)
Newsgroups: alt.gopher,comp.infosystems.gopher,comp.infosystems.wais
Subject: Re: Comparison between Gopher, WAIS and WWW
Date: 1 Oct 1992 16:26:36 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: telecaster.think.com

In article <92275.122410HANK@BARILVM.BITNET> Hank Nussbacher <HANK@BARILVM.BITNET> writes:
>We could set all the data into a WAIS index and the user could
>search of the word "McDoogal Street" and find which buses run there,
>which restaurants are there as well as apartments to be rented.  But
>if the restaurant is located on a side street off of McDoogal Street
>it will not come up in the search.  How is a student to know where
>is a good place to live near the campus? What words would he/she use
>to search with? Clearly WAIS is not the solution.

I agree.  WAIS was designed for searching large text databases; it derived
from our work done for Dow Jones News/Retrieval on searching their news,
magazine, and journal library.  It was intended to be a replacement for
error-prone boolean searches and keyword lookups, and relevance feedback is
an important aspect of this.  It doesn't work well, in my opinion, for
structured databases with terse "documents".  I can't imagine using WAIS
for a geographic database as in your example.

>Lets try WWW.  ... You can even buy data that
>has already been hypertexted - as long as there is enough of a
>demand from a commercial source.  But to sit and hypertext the QX-1
>bus line is an extreme waste of resources.

I think the hope is that as such databases become more common, more
databases will be available from 3rd parties, rather than requiring the
database maintainer to hypertext it themselves.  Thus, the local transit
authority would hypertext the bus schedule as a service to the community.
If they do things right, they could use the same hypertext database to
generate the printed maps and schedules that you pick up at stations.

>This is where Gopher comes in.  A user is given a menu with 3
>submenus: Bus lines, restaurants, apartment rentals.  The user goes
>to the document, brings it up, scans it, perhaps prints it to show
>to a friend.  A secretary can be in charge of updating the file.  It
>is a straight ASCII file with no special codes or pointers.  In
>other words, it is easy to maintain and easy to retrieve.

I don't see how this solves the "side street" problem you mentioned in the
WAIS paragraph quoted above.  If the restaurant list is sorted by street
names, you're not going to find restaurants on side streets.

Some related issues are raised in the latest CACM (I don't recall the
month, but the cover article is about expert system shells), in the
Practical Programmer article about "Hat Racks of Data".

-- 
Barry Margolin
System Manager, Thinking Machines Corp.

barmar@think.com          {uunet,harvard}!think!barmar
From: dave@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (David A Rasmussen)
Newsgroups: alt.gopher
Subject: long client startup
Date: 30 Sep 1992 21:12:37 GMT
Organization: UW-Milwaukee Computing Services Division
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4
Originator: dave@csd4.csd.uwm.edu


I've been dinking around with a server here on csd4.csd.uwm.edu, but notice
lately that it takes *forever* (minutes) for the top menu to appear. I am
running the 1.02 versions of the unix software.

Does anyone have any idea what is going on perhaps? 

Thanks.

-- 
Dave Rasmussen - SysAdm/Hacker/Consulting Manager, UWM Computing Svcs Div.
Internet:dave@uwm.edu, Uucp:uwm!dave, Bitnet:dave%uwm.edu@INTERBIT
AT&T:414-229-5133 USmail:Box 413 EMS380,Milwaukee,WI 53201