Hand stitching

[Friday]

I can't seem to use an electric sewing machine, always mucks up - thread snaps, doesn't feed properly, etc., so what stitch should be used to hand stitch a kilt?

As has been said the problem could be adjustment, cleaning, needs oiling, quality of thread or bobbin wound and installed incorrectly or a combination. Did it come with a manual or have you checked online for a manual? Her in the US the cost of a cleaning and adjustment is normally not very much, depending on the issue. Often the basic check is free with an estimate for complete work.

This is not to say that hand stitching is a daunting task.

[Laird_M]

The wife uses the machine with no problems - it just seems to be me and electric machines in general. I used to have a gorgeous vintage Singer handcranked machine that never let me down - until my mother in her wisdom gave it away.

[Pleater]

Ah yes, those old machines were so well made, though such a simple, ingenious mechanism.

I still have my hand powered 'Gamages' machine, a thing of beauty, and the older I get the more I realise there is value in things long after the first blush is off, as long as there was quality there in the first place.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Pinkrose]

The wife uses the machine with no problems - it just seems to be me and electric machines in general.

That sounds like my mother; when ever she sits down at a sewing machine, it just doesn't work. So, she does all the other stuff and my grandmother or I do the machine.