Sewing On Thursday: Sewing Skill Builder Part One

This week also starts our sewing skill builder! Yep, that's right. We have a Block of the Month and a sewing skill builder. I've been pretty busy at the machine. Not to mention, I also have 2 quilts in the works!

Ok, so part one!

This first bit is actually pretty easy, but it will give you a chance to play with your machine's zig zag settings a bit. I think this is a function modern sewists sometimes take for granted, but the zig zag function wasn't available until Helen Augusta Blanchard patented it in 1873, 27 years after the sewing machine's first patent by Elias Howe. It wasn't really common to have a machine that could both zig zag stitch and straight stitch until the early 1900s. Even then it took a special gadget to perform the function. Today's machines are electronically or mechanically equipped with a zig zag function built in.

Therefore, behold the zig zag!

Materials:

One 7x12" piece of fabric
Thread
Stabilizer, freezer paper or piece of copy paper

For my sampler I chose shades of yellow and pink. I'm not big on off-white, but think the fabrics I chose have a vintage flavor to them.

Since I changed out the colors of the fabrics, I also wrote a little sticky note to myself on the book with the colors I'm using in exchange. .

So for our zig zag sampler, you may want to iron on a piece of lightweight removable stabilizer or freezer paper or put a piece of typing paper behind it. This helps to keep the fabric from bunching up. I used freezer paper because it irons on easily and peels right back off.

Keep the long side to the top and sew the zig zags spaced evenly apart, but leave enough room to run a line of straight stitching between them. Vary your zig zag widths, but try to leave the stitching distance about the same. We want a nice close line of satin stitching.

Once you have sewn your stitches, take the fabric over to the cutting mat and cut a 2" strip off of both sides. Your center piece should be about 2.75" wide. Take the center strip and turn it upside down.

cut 2" off sides

turn middle section upside down

Sew your sides back on to the center strip.

You now have the front of your first pocket piece. In later sessions we'll be shaping and sewing them all onto a backing and actually making the pockets.

Next week we'll discuss making an openwork sampler pocket. For this you'll need a piece of loose weave fabric along with your other fabrics. I used a piece of burlap, but you can choose something else, as long as it has a loose weave where you can pull threads from. Until then, happy stitching! 

Want More Information on the Janome MC8900?

My review of the Janome MC8900 has been very popular with my readers. I also saw that a lot of search terms directing people to the post basically added up to, "How do I use the Janome MC8900?" I'm still learning a little more each day, but I also thought that maybe you would all enjoy a series of tutorials on how to use the 8900. And if you do, what would you like to know?

I will post using videos (Yikes! New for me!) and try to answer your questions. You may also discover things you didn't know your Janome could do! I know that often when dealers sell their machines they offer free lessons over the life of the machine. But if you're in any situation like mine, you can't just pack up and go down for lessons.

Problem 1: My dealer is 1.5 hours away in heavy traffic in a city I don't like.

Problem 2: That machine is freakin' heavy!

Problem 3:  I don't have time to run around taking lessons, which is why I use Craftsy.

Problem 4: It's a $4k+ machine. You don't just load it in the back of the van and hope that all the idiots on the road stay away from you and that you don't have to get out and use the restroom or eat or anything, cause there's no way I'm leaving it in the car by itself!!!! Yup, I have serious attachment issues.

So if you're interested in some online lessons/tutorials, please post here and let me know! Thanks.

What are all those pre-loaded stitches for?

In my recent review of the Janome MC8900 I mentioned that it came pre-loaded with over 250 decorative and utility stitches. So what in the world are they good for? Many things, actually. If you're a beginning sewist you'll probably decide you don't really need them and you're good with just a basic machine that has basic utility stitches (ie., straight lines, satin stitches, zigzags, etc.) and you'll be right. However, if you do invest in a machine like the 8900, you'll see that it has all of these fancy stitches and start thinking about putting them on dresses for little girls, shirts for boys, edgings on jeans and shorts, along curtain bottoms and insets in panels, table runners, pillowcases and on and on and on.

If you're a quilter, your mind will probably start to wander toward art quilts. Craftsy has a great class on how to use these stitches for your quilts to create fabulous works of art that are original and beautiful! The class is called Stupendous Stitching and I have recently enrolled in it, as art quilts are on my bucket list. And for the remainder of the day, this class is on sale for $19.99 - $10 off the original price.

I don't get in to hand embroidery much, but I do a lot of machine embroidery using my Brother SE400. The designs for them are fantastic and numerous, but I'm really limited on what I can do with a hoop and a pre-made design. I don't have design software, so I use what I find on the internet - mostly at Embroidery Library or Urban Threads. So the ability to combine stitches and make visual interest in quilts and other items is an attractive option. Janome also has a circular sewing attachment that lets you make these stitches in circular patterns. They even have a video about it. With only a 4" x 4" space available in my hooped embroidery machine, 10" seems like a big deal! Oh, imagine the possibilities: Framing a picture transferred to fabric, designing intricate circular motifs, creating quilted patterns, and probably more than I can think of!

The projects that have shown up through this Craftsy course are fantastic. I wish I had permission to show them, but you'll just have to follow the link to see. These folks let their imaginations run wild and created visually interesting and useful items. So take a look, enroll in a course, try out those stitches, and discover what you can do today!!!!

Janome MC 8900 Review

A couple of months ago I purchased a Janome MC8900 from my local sewing machine store, Moye's in Savannah. I had started out to purchase the 7700, but my dealer bumped me up to the 8900 and gave me a great price on it! They retail for $4400, but I paid about half that. It's a long story, and unusual, so plan on paying at least $4k  for one! I love mine so much that I named it after a lady I truly respect, whose quilting, sewing, and crafty heredity has been passed on to me, my Grandma Bernadine. I just leave out the Grandma part, cause she's still very young. :)

The MC8900 is a real workhorse, geared toward people like me that do A LOT of quilting and sewing. It has over 11" of space to the right of the needle that provides plenty of room to roll up a king size quilt and finish it on a home machine. This machine is loaded with features from its 9mm stitch width and over 250 different types of stitches to its ability to change needle plates with the push of a button, auto tension, knee lift, 1000 stitches per minute, Accufeed flex (for those stubborn thick projects like jeans and 2" batting!), and so much more.

I have used my Janome for more than 4 months and I have had it tangle up on me one time. That's compared to my Brother hybrid (SE400) that I bought a little over a year ago that tangled up so much I became a machine repair expert! The tangle was actually caused from me not pulling the needle thread out to start sewing and I really knew better. I have finished everything from a twin to a queen size quilt on this without any problems. I am no longer afraid to do double sided t-shirt quilts with free motion embroidery. Even my stippling, which uses many different directional changes and can be hard on a machine, has come out beautifully every time with very little effort. This machine is truly made for quilting. I love my Janome and even with 4 months I have not had a chance to use everything that it offers. I am currently working on a log cabin block quilt made from jeans, t-shirts, and dress shirts. I have an order for a KitchenAid cover that will employ many other features of this machine. I'm looking forward to a long and happy relationship!

Full size quilt completed on Janome MC8900

Stippling

Double Sided Full Size Quilt on Janome 8900

So if you're looking for a high quality machine that is worth the money, I recommend the 8900. Janome also makes a hybrid sewing and embroidery machine, the MC9900 for those of you that want the best of both worlds. I do not own nor have I had the pleasure of using one (YET!), but you should check them out at your local dealer. 

Foot Fetish

I have a confession to make. I have a serious foot fetish. It just started recently. About 6 months ago I think. About the time I started working on quilts. The darning foot available for my Singer started it all. I had no idea how to do free motion quilting on a machine. So after multiple You Tube videos, I realized that I needed a different foot to help me on my journey. This discovery led me on another one, in which I realized that I could also change out the feet on my serger and insert elastics, cording, ruffles, and so much more. I was hooked.

Recently I bought a Brother SE400 Embroidery and Sewing machine from Amazon. I wanted to do the embroidery work and thought it would be great to have a computerized sewing machine. Along with my machine came a whole slew of different feet for attaching zippers, zig-zags, buttons, and much more. I immediately bought a 1/4 inch piecing foot and am waiting on my walking foot to arrive. I use these feet all of the time. They make my sewing so much easier.

In fact, for the embroidery portion of the machine it requires a special embroidery foot. I had stitched multiple items in the first few weeks, marveling over the beauty of stitching I didn't have to do. A quilt project came my way that required multiple words embroidered on the background. I wasted a lot of thread and material, learning how to stitch the letters so they would line up and be straight. Anyway, I was ready to work on a portion of it and had all of my stabilizer on, the material hooped up, and my machine threaded. I set up the word and was let it go. To my utter horror the stitching started bunching up under the foot, the stitches were skipping, and the fill in was not filling in. I nearly cried because this had already been a four day project.

So I went down to Hobby Lobby to get my normal stabilizer, thinking that the Sulky iron-on must be the problem. I bought more thread and was walking back up to the register when it hit me like a ton of bricks. I hadn't changed out the foot on my machine. I was using the zig-zag foot instead of the embroidery foot. I couldn't get home fast enough to fix my error.

Foot fetishes are a good thing. I have my eye on a binding foot and a ruffler. I mean, how can I possibly sew my best if I don't have all of the equipment necessary to do so? And I'm sorry if you were disappointed that I don't have a REAL foot fetish. But I think this one is much cleaner and less smelly. :)