Technique Help Needed

[DrmCa]

So close to hardware will be a challenge with any feet. There are special machines for that. If memory serves, curved needle machines should be able to do that. Otherwise change your L into I and _ or stitch by hand. If you just made 2 _ seams on each side of the hardware then stitched your I you'd be golden.

[TomE]

5 hours ago, austinious said:I have the inline presser, when you make the turn after the short side stich, the presser foot will hit the ring and push everything forward so you get a super long stich. Front to back that foot is longer than the stock foot.

With the in-line presser feet, I back out of the corners for a few stitches then switch to forward stitching. This gives the rear foot a place to set down when moving away from a corner. 

[austinious]

8 hours ago, DrmCa said:

If you just made 2 _ seams on each side of the hardware then stitched your I you'd be golden.

You know, someone else said that, and I had done that early on.  I can see that I could actually make a U and leave enough thread to hand close it.  My next try will be this... Thanks

5 hours ago, TomE said:

I back out of the corners for a few stitches then switch to forward stitching.

I did try this, works just fine.  I should have mentioned that I use LR points to get a saddle stitch look, and doing this ends up with two straight stitches, which spoils the effect.  Good to know I'm not grasping at straws.

[Matt S]

How about adding a welt the same thickness as the D-ring bar underneath that top-piece? Then the top surface of the top piece would be flat and you could sew as close to the D as you like. On longer pieces you could skive the welt down to a feather edge a short distance from the D so it tapers up to the D ring from zero (taper length an dangle depending on how fast your machine can climb).

Or just forget the backtacking and go round in a single course, overlapping your first and last 2-3 stitches. This is something I prefer rather than separate start/end points because it's faster, looks neater and is a bit more reliable tensioning 2x sets of stitches into one set of holes than 3x sets of stitches. If you can't get close enough to the D on one of your short sides due to the bulk of your foot set, try turning the piece the "wrong" way and going in reverse for that side.

[austinious]

12 hours ago, Constabulary said:

Maybe you can shorten the toes a bit if needed

I'm starting to think I should machine my own foot to work with the inline presser foot, the presser has a very small footprint.

[DrmCa]

2 hours ago, austinious said:

My next try will be this...

I am a slow thinker, I confess! There is at least 1 other option that is though not so easy to accomplish. It is to only insert the Ds after the stitching and to close them in place. Of course it only works with pliable metals. Won't work with zinc/pot metal.