A Successful Nancy Raglan
Before I could sew the pieces of the Nancy Raglan together, I had to adjust the serger settings and run some test seams. As Zede Donohue of the Sewing Out Loud podcast says, “There are those who test and those who wish they had.” I may have skipped the muslin-making portion of this project, but I’m not without some sense.
I had done a bit of reading and research before I started, both about serger settings for sweatshirt knits in general and settings specific to my machine (Juki MO654-DE). These were the first adjustments I made:
Increase the stitch length to the longest setting because this is a bulky fabric.
Ease off the presser foot pressure, again to accommodate the bulkiness of the French terry.
Move the differential feed from the “neutral” setting to 1.5. That causes the front feed dogs to move a bit faster than the back feed dogs and keeps the material from stretching out. Had I left it on “N,” I probably would have ended up with a wavy seam.
The machine was still set up for the three-thread narrow stitch that I used when making the makeup rounds, with Maxi-Lock Stretch in each looper and Maxi-Lock Regular in the needle. I needed to move the needle from the right to the left position to make the seam wider. Unfortunately, it appears that someone was sleeping on the quality control job at the Juki factory when this machine came through. I use Schmetz needles in my other serger (same model) and in all my sewing machines. I tried to insert a Schmetz ball point needle into the left side of the needle bar and it wouldn’t fit. The shank wouldn’t go up into the needle bar all the way. I thought perhaps it was an issue with the needle, so I tried some Schmetz needles from other packages. Same result. I went hunting through my (thankfully vast) needle supply and found a Singer brand ball point needle. That one slid right in. I wrote a note to myself in the manual, and I’ll pick up more Singer brand needles the next time I am at Joanns.
With the needle problem sorted and the machine making a nice chain, it was time to check the stitch settings. I HAVE LEARNED, from working on sewing machines, to resist the temptation to change a bunch of things at once. I change settings incrementally and one at a time and I start with the least complex issue. This serger seam has two loopers and one needle thread. It makes no sense to start messing with the looper tensions until the needle tension is perfect. I checked that by making a seam and opening it up and testing the strength. Sure enough, it was too loose. I had to increase the needle tension. Then I had to evaluate the looper tensions. The loopers are two threads that intertwine and lock together—think of folded hands—on the very edge of the fabric. If one looper is getting pulled to one side of the fabric or the other, then the tension on that looper needs to be increased and/or the tension on the other looper needs to be reduced (or possibly even the needle tension needs to be adjusted, which is why I did that first). It’s a bit of a dance, similar to adjusting the upper and lower thread tensions on a sewing machine.
I made about a dozen practice seams before I was completely happy with the result inside and out:
This is a seriously strong seam. It lies flat. The loopers are perfectly balanced. The fabric feeds easily through the machine.
[This is the thread that was in the machine when I made the makeup rounds. It’s a pale yellow. I ended up leaving it in the machine even though I did have some blue. This is a garment for me. I don’t care what color the seams are, and this seam was close enough to perfect that I was inclined not to change anything else. I definitely will use matching thread when I stitch the hems on the coverstitch machine, but that thread will be visible on the public side.]
It took me a whopping 40 minutes to put the top together (I timed myself):
I held my breath and tried it on. It fits well enough. I was mostly worried about the bust, because that is the area I always have trouble with. The bust is fine, but the upper back and shoulders are a bit tight. I’m surprised and I’m not surprised. I’m surprised because raglans usually are a flattering (and comfortable) style for me. However, I do have broad shoulders, and perhaps this pattern was drafted for/by someone with narrower shoulders.
That cowl was a huge happy accident. I decided I didn’t want two layers of French terry, as called for in the pattern, so I went stash diving and came up with that lovely cotton/spandex print remnant. I used it for the inside layer of the cowl, instead, and it looks phenomenal when I’m wearing the top, almost as if I have a scarf on.
I wore the top around for about half an hour and I decided that I actually like how closely it fits, because it’s winter and it’s cold and wearing something snug keeps the cold drafts from sneaking up underneath. I am going to make another one. I may just use the pattern that I’ve traced—which includes the seam allowance—but add a slightly larger seam allowance when I cut it out. I think going up one entire size would be too much. Also, the bulk of the fabric takes up some space; if I made this exact same size in a lighter fabric, it would have a bit more ease.
I think the length is good, too. We’ll see after I hem it. That’s the first item on the to-do list this morning, while I am bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as I have to get reacquainted with the coverstitch machine.
I’m thrilled with this make because it reflects so many firsts: getting the serger set up properly to sew this kind of fabric, choosing the correct size to make (you’d be surprised how hard that is sometimes), assembling the top, and freelancing that cowl. I’m even more motivated to make my own clothing now, and to be able to make things in colors I like. Yay.