Nicole

For the lace ruffle I simply attached a row of wide, gathered lace to the upper edge of the hem facing. You could also create a separate skirt if you prefer, and attach it to the dress with the outer skirt. I hope that helps!

I only use old sewing machines now. I have about a dozen Necchi sewing machines, all older models made in Italy – not the newer ones made in Asia. The free arm Supernova models are fabulous for clothing, but even the more readily available straight stitch BF or zigzag BU are fabulous. A cheap old Singer is better than any new machine. I have a 99…[Read more]

I could recommend you Brother sewing machine. It is great, I’ve been using it for some time, and had no problems with it, it costs no more than $200.

The local places around me start at $89 and a few weeks for service (or did when I asked a few years ago). I don’t doubt that that’s a fair cost for someone’s labor, but it is a little hard to swallow when it approaches the cost of the machine itself. I paid $50 for my old Janome L108 on Craiglist, so when it stopped working a few years ago I hit…[Read more]

I would recommend calling around to local shops I see what they charge for a servicing and what their turn around time is. I recently did this for my serger and one shop was $50 more than the other and the turnaround was twice as long! In some shops, you’ll be able to talk to the techs who will service your machine, and in others, they’ll send it…[Read more]