Using a sewing machine is an useful skill nowadays. You will never know if a friend will need you to make an apron, a dress, a cool flight suit or even a doctor could ask for your help as a prototyping engineer.
This time in BIOE555, we needed to learn how to use a sewing machine and make an apron. This assignment took me 6 hours in the OEDK which was longer than expected because it was my first time touching a sewing machine and I wanted to familiarize myself with the use of it. I want to thank the TAs and Dr. Matthew Wettergreen who helped in this process.
My journey began by getting the following materials:
– Sewing machine -Bobbin
– Thread -Pins
– 1 yard of fabric -Pen or chalk
– Strap material
– Scissors
– Tape measure
Once I got all the material, I started selecting the apron measures according to my body.
Then, I marked with a chalk or pen where I needed to cut.
After marking, I cut the fabric and straps with scissors.
Once the fabric and straps were ready, I checked that everything was in order with the sewing machine because the sewing machines at the OEDK were experiencing issues. In my case, one of the problems that I experienced was that the sewing machine needle broke, but then I replaced it. I think the cause of this problem could have been the use of a thick fabric and the applied speed, so in the future, I will take into account the type of needle that I will use and not going too fast.
After making sure that everything is okay, I started sewing the body of the apron. For sewing the diagonal forms from the apron, I decided to use pins in order to avoid unnecessary fabric movements.
The next step was to add the straps to the apron. For this step I had to sew a box stitch for each strap in order to prevent them from fraying. I think this was one of the hardest steps because I had to move the apron multiple times and the thread that I was using was the same color as the straps.
The final result:
Finally, I calculated the cost model of this project.
