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One of the first things I did, as a kid learning to sew, is figure out how the lock stitch worked on a sewing machine. You had a bobbin of thread in the bottom and the machine wrapped the top thread around it without getting tangled up (for the most part.)

This image is the best explanation I have found for the process. Very cool to see how it works. The bobbin is feeding out the blue thread and the main green thread comes from the top. Compare this image to your sewing machine and you will be able to identify the portion around the bobbin that fills the role of the red section in that animation.

Here is the most ambitious thing I’ve made with a sewing machine.

I have been unable to find a pannier set that works exactly as I would like for the under-seat rack on my RANS Rocket. I like the panniers made by Arkel of all the panniers I have looked at and used.

I decided to make my own set tailored (quite literally) exactly to my needs and I borrowed quite a bit from Arkel’s design work. Below is a description of the process for those who would like to do the same.
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I really wish I had ran into this book before I purchased my “utility” sewing machine. I got a no frills home machine with a few stitches. It was a floor model, but I would have been better to spend the money on a light weight industrial sewing machine with only a straight stitch. Louise was talking about me when she mentioned those who buy a machine with all of these cool stitches. They play with these stitches for a month and then only sew straight seams. I now wish I had a machine that just sews straight seams like a champ. I’m glad I got my machine pretty cheap, as I’ll most likely upgrade now that I am having fun making stuff. (I’ll eventually be loading on the page describing my bicycle panniers that I sewed using this book.)
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