Lost in a black hole

I spent an hour today on what should have been a simple sewing step with no success.  Has this ever happened to you?

I can’t explain it.

I had an hour between returning from work/gym/errands and knitting group.  I thought I could set the sleeves in my periwinkle cardigan with little difficulty.  Although I once considered this a daunting project, that was long ago.  Perhaps I should reconsider. I spent the entire hour trying to set in one sleeve.  I stitched.  It looked good.  I turned the cardigan right side out, there was an area about 3 to 4 inches long where the seam did not exist, a gaping hole, surrounded on either side by firm stitches.  This seam was sewn in one continuous pass.  What happened? 

I tried re-stitching over the gaping area.  As I ran the machine over the seamline everything looked fine, the machine sounded normal, the stitches looked good.  Still the stitches did not adhere in this one area although the rest of the seam was fine.

I ripped and began again.  The same thing happened.  I tried a different kind of seam stitch.  Repeat of the same problem.  It seems that one section of my sleeve eats stitches, dissolves them on contact.  The stitches disappear, as if into a black hole. 

I can’t explain it.

I see one tiny hole in the fabric, this could explain one stitch slipping, but a 4 inch section?  Why is the stitching tight on either side but missing in the middle.

I had to leave to go to knitting group.  I hoped to return to this problem, but dinner and conversation ensued.  It was late.  I was up early. Getting up at 5:30 pretty much kills me for any sewing after 11 PM. I am sure a glass of wine with dinner did not help.

Perhaps tomorrow will shed a little light on the situation.

Comments

[Liana]

That is weird! I think some knits can lift up with the needle, and it keeps the needle thread from making the connection with the bobbin thread. Are there more layers in this area? Or maybe it's a grain change that's causing it? If you hand baste it in that area, maybe that would tame it. Good luck! And yes, I have often gone to do a quick and easy procedure that ends up taking half a day. :)

[babybug]

hi mardel,
thanks for checking out my blog. i'm a little scared that you're my partner for back-tack 3. my goodness, you are such the seamstress! geezzz, i'll practice, i promise. i won't let you down :)

[Lisa Laree]

I have problems like that when I'm trying to serge onionskin; it's worse when I'm serging along the straight of grain. I don't know why. I've run the seam through multiple times and it always skips in the same spot.

Actually, I have some (I think - it's from the dollar table at wally world) nylon/lycra knit that my serger just refuses to make stitches on. Knit needles, needle lube, you name it I tried it. I think some fabrics just don't quite go through the machine right and it throws it off just enough that it won't make a stitch. Frustrating!