The Hulk and Braiding Foot Bliss

The more I use my Bernina sewing machine the more and more I absolutely love it.  I have so many possibilities at my finger tips between the attachments and presser feet and accessories.  It could have been almost overwhelming if I had tried to learn about all the options at once.  And I admit when I pop into my local Bernina Dealer and ogle their latest machines I do feel a bit overwhelmed still with all the other options out there.  Recently, I sold some of my extra crafting supplies on Ebay and decided that I was going to spend a little bit of those proceeds on some new feet for my sewing machine.  One of the presser feet I purchased was the #21 Braiding Foot.  You can learn more about this presser foot at Bernina’s Website here.  Today, I used it for the very first time and I am in complete braiding foot bliss.

The word “Superheroes” has found a permanent place in our home.  They are some my family’s favorite types of movies.  And now that my kids are getting a little older, they have become so enthralled with them that all four of my older children requested superhero costumes for Halloween this year.  I admit I am a little bit intimidated by this request, and I am worried that I won’t be able to get them all completed in time especially with the upcoming surgery and twelve week recovery I am facing soon.  So I decided that just maybe if I worked on them a bit this summer I would have a better chance of getting them completed by October.

The Hulk is the costume that my husband and I chose for our four year old this year.  Mostly because he is super small for his age and so completely opposite of who The Hulk is in the films and cartoons that we found the idea of it pretty amusing.  So I tried to figure out the best way to make a cute costume and keep it as simple and time saving as possible.  I found an awesome baby/toddler costume on Etsy for Hulk that was my inspiration for this project.  You can check out my inspiration at: KadydidDesigns.  So I bought a pair of purple sweatpants and a white long sleeved t-shirt on Amazon and set to work as soon as they arrived.  First, I tried the pants on my son and had to cut off the extra length that would have been dragging, because of his being so small (makes waist and length sizes a bear to find that fit him well).  Next, I marked his knee where I would be doing the ragged edges.  After cutting the random edges around the knees I zigzagged the edge and proceeded to the waistline.  Because he beefs up when he gets angry The Hulk is always ripping and damaging his clothes and in the cartoons he often has twine or rope around his pants to help hold them up.  So I bought some 1/8 inch white cord to use for my version of rope and I am so glad to be able to say it fits in the braiding foot.

You just slip your cord or ribbon through the front of the foot, which keeps it centered and feeds it beautifully onto the fabric you are sewing.  With a zigzag stitch, I attached it all the way around the waistline of the sweats, after removing the faux purple tie that was attached when I purchased them.  I still can’t believe how slick and easy this cording went on.  The foot was great and kept the seam it was sewing next to in place so it didn’t curl funny. The feed on the machine was so even that the elastic in the waistband didn’t have a chance to shift or move and get sewn into the cord seam on accident.  So a tiny success in my sewing room today and a good start on at least one of my kids costumes.  I am so glad I splurged and invested in my new braiding foot as I now see many sewing possibilities for it in the future.  I highly recommend this foot for anyone who does clothing and costumes and well as home décor.  I am planning on adding green to the legs so I don’t have to use paint for the proper look and skin tone.  But that is a project and an update for another day.