The Beading Foot has faded in popularity over the years, as beading on garments has fallen by the wayside. However, I hope I can inspire you to look at the foot in a different way, and use it for embellishing with cord, rather than beads. This is a great technique for decorating bags, art quilts, and garments.
Machine Requirements
All PFAFF machines - C through to L
Beading Foot, 4mm Part #P8206040-96
Beading Foot 6mm, Part #P820650-96
Requirements
Purchased denim jacket in chosen colour. I purchased mine from a well-known chain store for $24.00
1m of various cords in 4mm and 6mm widths. Choose cords which are shiny, dull, piping cord etc for textural differences.
Water soluble marking pen
Construction threads in matching (or contrasting) colours to jacket.
Tearaway stabiliser
General sewing equipment.
Sewing Instructions
On the back of your jacket, use the marking pen to design a pattern of your choice. I chose to go with an organic flowing design although you may wish to use vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines, waves, circles etc. Your drawing doesn’t have to be your final result, but it gives you a plan to go by.
Insert the 4mm Twin needle into your machine. Thread the machine with two threads with chosen colour- mine was grey. Select stitch length of 2.5
Choosing ‘Settings’, select Twin Needle Safety, 4mm and tighten tension to 5.2. This will keep the machine needle in the centre position, so the needle does not move o the side and cause damage.
Take one of your 4mm pieces of cord and place under the jacket on the inner dotted line, leaving an extension of 1cm of cord above the start line on the yolk of the jacket. With a tie off or reveres stitch, start sewing on the topside of the fabric, at the edge of the yolk, and continue till you reach the band at the bottom. Secure your stitches with reversing or using the tie off and cut thread. The effect here is to create a double line of stitching, with a raised effect in between. Leave an excess 1cm of cord free at the bottom.
Repeat on drawn lines if desired.
Select another 4mm cord. Replace twin needle with single needle. In ‘Settings’ turn off Twin Needle Safety and reset to normal tension. Reduce pressure foot pressure to 5.0 to make the curves easier to sew.
With thread of choice, select a double zig zag, width 6.0, length 5.5. place tearaway under the whole underside of jacket to stabilise fabric. Pin in place. Using your pre drawn lines, sew down two of them. I used white cord and a grey cord and alternated the colour thread on each, for interest. Once again, tie off or reverse at beginning and end, leaving 1 cm of cord, top and bottom.
Attach 6mm Beading Foot to machine. Select zig zag, width 6, length 6.5. Change thread to one that matches cord, so it blends. Using one of the 6mm cords. Place under foot as before, starting at the yolk edge and follow the curved circular pre drawn pattern as closely as you can. You will find that the width of the foot will not allow you to sew too closely to the previous row. Stop before the last tight corner, raise the foot and cut your cord so that it fits neatly into the inner circle. Zig zag over the end several times to secure. Reverse or tie off and cut. Repeat for second circle.
Select another of the 6mm cords and select a large blanket stitch, use a contrasting colour thread to highlight stitch and sew on the remaining markings drawn.
Unpick one seam of the yolk and band, and gently tuck the cord ends into this fold, and restitch to secure. You may need to tie off some threads ends to neaten.
Tearaway the back stabiliser gently, so as not to pull stitching. Spray your marking pen lines and press to finish.
Congratulations on finishing on your project!
We can’t wait to see what you create! Don’t forget to share them with us on Instagram, tagging @pfaff_sewing_australia and using the hashtags #pfaffingaround or our Facebook page Pfaff Australia
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