Mastering Mitering

Well, OK, maybe not "mastering", but at least this one was successful. I've always had trouble when mitering a binding to get it to look right on not only both sides, but either side. There was just an article (last month I think) in either Threads, Vogue magazine, or one of the other sewing magazines. But do you think I could find it when I wanted to do these bindings? Of course not.






So, I reached for my handy, new, yet seldom yet used Readers Digest sewing book. Not only did it tell me how to do the corners, but it also told how to do it several different ways depending on what you are doing. I am loving this book more and more. It seems to always have the information I'm looking for. I'm sure I'll be pulling this one off the shelf again and again.














I did have a little trouble when doing the "stitch in the ditch" in the corner, as you can see in this closeup.
I'm not sure yet whether I'll fix it or leave it. One of the things that has been hard for me to get used to on my Baby lock is that the fixed needle position is on the left rather than center. You can change it to center, but all plate markings and feet are made to work with the left needle position. There are center slot feet, but I am getting used to the left side. Anyway, that's my excuse for the less than perfect stitching here.






Life is not about sewing these days for me. Dad is in the hospital and I have been there pretty much most of the day every day. When I'm not in the hospital it's the medical office, attorneys office, calling insurance, at the bank, up at Dad's, or trying to tie up other loose ends. It's been stressful, and in fact, I'm taking some time off work to try to not only get all of this done, but to prevent a major health meltdown. Fortunately, my brother who lives in town has been a huge support and taken on a lot of the responsibility of caring for Dad while I take care of legal, medical, and financial details. My other brother flew in from Tennessee Sunday night. We meet with the oncologist this morning and I'm hoping we'll get some answers then.

I have been doing a little sewing, and I'm stressing the word little - maybe one or two seams a day, maybe once or twice a week. I'm making this Vogue top to match the pants that I made last week (or was it 2 weeks ago?) Anyway, This is a quick and easy pattern, but I forgot to trim off the seam allowances before I put the binding on, so the flaps will be a little wider than the pattern intends, but I think it will look fine.