Patent ID: 6843190

Claim:
A method of free form sewing comprising the steps of: (a) providing a sewing machine having a manually driveable and motor driveable sewing needle, a presser foot, and a work surface for operatively supporting a workpiece material to be sewn and sewing thread; (b) and further providing a plastic sheet or panel to serve as a workpiece support and a work surface slider for the workpiece material to be sewn and having at least an upper surface having a low coefficient of friction within the range of 0.02 and higher; (c) providing an opening through the plastic sheet or panel which is axially alignable with the sewing needle and is of a size that will permit the sewing needle to reciprocally move into and out of that opening during the free form sewing operation; (d) placing the plastic sheet or panel under the sewing needle and the presser foot while the sewing needle and the presser foot are in their upward positions so as to cover a portion of the sewing machine work surface with the plastic sheet or panel; (e) manually moving the presser foot downwardly into position-holding engagement with the upper surface of the plastic sheet or panel; (f) securing the plastic sheet or panel to the sewing machine work surface and in doing so preventing the plastic sheet or panel from moving relative to the surface of the sewing machine which it covers; (g) manually moving the sewing needle downwardly and determining that the sewing needle can and does move freely into and out of that opening through the plastic sheet or panel through which the sewing needle then extends; (h) removing the sewing needle out of the opening in the plastic sheet or panel while retaining the sewing needle in alignment with that opening, and retracting the presser foot away from the upper surface of the plastic sheet or panel; (i) placing a workpiece to be sewn by free form sewing under the needle and the presser foot with the workpiece being supported by the low coefficient upper surface of the plastic sheet or panel; (j) and operating the sewing machine to sew the workpiece in any desirable free form pattern or thread painting, moving the workpiece on the upper surface of the plastic sheet or panel by hand.