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momanimallover Mar 22, 2009

hello, I would like to know I'm doing wrong: I've made plenty of cats standing and the belly pattern part is lying down [horizontal postition] I have the whole pattern nicely made and then when I go to sew in the belly gusset the 2 sides of the belly don't match up sometimes, not all the time? whatever could i be doing wrong sometimes but not all the time???? I hope someone understands how I worded this question

1 user likes this: manipa

KJ Lyons Mar 22, 2009

Brenda,
Lying down? I'm stumped? I can't figure out how a pattern piece is lying down? My cats have about 22 pieces so I have some tricks. On the pattern I mark certain places where a sewn piece will meet with another piece. Just a black dot. Say where the top of the leg seam will meet the belly, or the front leg seam piece will meet a center piece. Just a slight different in tension of stitches or how deep your darts and gussets are can throw off where pieces meet. Also a very slightly stretchy fur can really throw things off. Having black dot matching points all along a piece, such as the belly, will help keep everything symmetric.
Karen

momanimallover Mar 22, 2009

Karen, you totally understand what I mean  I never even thought of placing black dots along it. The way I draw my pattern the cat is lying down, strange I know but you still understood what I meant. thank you

Michelle Helen Mar 23, 2009

Perhaps with the belly gusset, you need to hand sew it. When I do head gussets I have the same problem. I solved it by tacking down in key points in the head ie: back of head, middle of head and of course the eye area and tip of nose. It keeps it from slipping and having a lopsided body part. I bet it would work for you to tack down at the arms and leg curves and other points along the way to keep it in line as you sew.  That is my two cents...

Little Bear Guy Mar 24, 2009

I do the same thing Karen, I have what I call matching dots or lines.  That way I am able to line pieces up and tack them so they will be equal on both sides.  This does help to ensure the pieces come together nicely.

hugs

Shane

Daphne Mar 24, 2009

I do the same thing... but it never dawned on me to make marks along pattern pieces where they'd line up with eachother until about a year ago.... DUH! Where had I been? :doh:  Life as a bear maker is so much easier now!!

K Pawz GuestMar 24, 2009

Yup, what Karen said! it makes matching any piece together sooooo much easier!

hugs,
Krista

momanimallover Mar 24, 2009

thank you all   I always seem to make things harder than they actually are

KJ Lyons Mar 24, 2009

Brenda,
One more tip. When you have a long seam to sew without any markers or way to match things together, I always start sewing at one end, get just halfway down the seam, then turn it around and sew from the other end to meet in the middle. Long seams are notorious for getting uneven and not meeting at the end!
Karen

matilda Mar 29, 2009

I think your cats pattern would be similar to my ducks. They have a gusset which needs to be positioned exactly. NO ROOM FOR ERROR. can be tricky. I have marked out the positioning on the pattern pieces.  Be careful not to stretch the fabric at any point. ( I think this may be the problem) since it is only 'sometimes'.  Also I found that certain pattern pieces must be sewn in before others otherwise they just DONT seem to FIT. hahaha So I wrote it down while piecing a duck together and drew little diagrams so I would remember for future reference. And I have been using these notes. My duck patterns are really tricky.
Wendy