Turning a Corner (Getting To Know Your Featherweight, Part 6)

Let's continue working through the instruction booklet that comes with the Singer Featherweight 221 or 222, learning how to Prepare For Sewing in Part 6 of our Getting To Know Your Featherweight Series.

Follow along with the video tutorial above, or scroll down and read through the text and images below.

Suggested Products:
1) Singer Featherweight Instruction Booklet
2) Crosswound Spool of thread: Aurifil or Presencia
3) Thread Cutterz or Thread Snips
4) Presser Foot or Quarter Inch Foot
5) Thread Stand or Thread Post
6) Fabric
7) Singer Featherweight Instruction Manual 221 or 222

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Last session, in Part 5, Ruthie instructed on how to prepare for sewing with the Singer Featherweight. In this segment, she continues her instruction with how to precisely turn a corner.

TURNING A CORNER:

Using practice fabric pieces, align two edges of fabric together and begin sewing. Remember to lower your needle first and hold your thread tails like you learned in the last session.

Prepare for Singer Featherweight Sewing - Getting To Know Your Featherweight Series

Sew a straight line until you are ready to make a corner turn.
A pivot point is required for corner-turning in order to maintain a uniform and locked stitch. To do this, only lower the needle tip, because lowering the needle too far will cause the stitch to cut or skip the corner altogether.

When the needle is lowered all the way into the fabric as shown in photo above (rather than just the tip of the needle) and the fabric is then turned to sew an adjacent stitching line, the thread invariably turns with the fabric as well. This sometimes causes the hook to miss the thread and the corner stitch is skipped. The stitch will sometimes end up angled across the corner rather than locked at the pivot point.

With the needle tip lowered into the fabric, raise the presser foot, pivot the fabric, lower the presser foot and commence sewing an adjacent stitching line.