What's New in the Studio

Reliable Maven 100IS Home Steam Ironing System with Lightweight Iron
My friend JB has one, I used it the first time a couple of years ago. I have been lusting for one. I finally decided to invest! What a treat!!!

    Ultra-light, professional-quality home ironing station smoothens out wrinkles with pressurized steam
    Delivers consistent volume of high-pressure steam (3.5 bar, 50 PSI) for a crisp, clean finish
    Easy-to-clean aluminum soleplate with holes at the tip for maximum steam penetration
    Heat-resistant cork handle; 3-1/2 cup water capacity; heats up in 7 to 8 minutes
    Backed by a one-year limited warranty and a lifetime boiler tank warranty; measures 12 x 8 x 10-1/2 inches

It's Summer, I'm Dyeing (Fabric)

I've playing around in the dye pots again. It's lots of fun. Get a friend or two and spend the day.  Check out the Dharma Trading Company's web site for help.

 

Road Trip - Mt Vernon

You can tell it is summer in Seattle, lots of road trips. This time we went north to Calico Creations. Great selection, rotates her fabric so it is current all the time.....great sale section.  Very helpful staff with great ideas.  Huge selection of reasonably priced patterns as well as a lot of great store samples.  Nice and bright! Be sure to visit if you are in the area.

Calico Creations
(360) 336-3241
400 S 1st St
Mount Vernon, Washington, WA 98273

Road Trip - Elma Variety

They sell a large variety of merchandise in a 10,000 sq. ft. building, packed with great products! Helium Balloons and Party Supplies. Toys and Gifts. Houseware and Gardening. One of the largest Craft selections in SW Washington! You have to see our selection of Fabrics to believe it! Over 6500 bolts of fabric with new selections arriving weekly. Don't forget our Beads and Notions and Yarns. In all, twenty departments and great customer service! I admit we never looked at anything but the fabric! I figured it is a very good excuse to go back!!!

Elma Variety
325 W Main St
Elma, Washington, WA 98541

(360) 482-2411

Summer Sewing

I need an easy project for summer. One that I could pick up with out any trouble. I decided to make a disappearing 4 patch. Of course I had to tweak it just a little.

I started with 5 1/2" squares

Sewed on light to one dark

Made the 4 patch, and cut both directions 1" from the center in four places.

By moving the parts around you get a nicely pieced block that looks hard to sew but is sew easy.

The Tweak? I decided to take all the bits and sew them together in a very random way

I love the extra scrappy look!

Metallic Threads

Metallic threads require some special handling but are frequently well worth the effort. Here are some helpful

hints.

When using Metallic threads an Embroidery 40wt. polyester or nylon bobbin thread is absolutely necessary. Run your fingers along the thread, it will feel like fish scales. Every time a cotton thread catches on a scale it will break. A polyester bobbin thread is very smooth and will not get caught. Please use a Metallic needle. I recommend a size 90/14 to start. As you get better try a 80/12  or 70/11neelle.

For Flat film polyester thread use a nylon or polyester bobbin thread. The smooth finish of this thread helps the thread glide easily. Use a Metallic or a top stitch needle size 90/14. The large eye helps prevent shredding. This thread MUST feed from the side of the spool. Think about a spool of ribbon, is pulled from the top it will twist. So will this thread and every twist is a potential breaking point.

 Tension

Don’t be afraid of the tension knob, but it’s actually your best friend when you are machine sewing. Be bold about experimenting with different settings. How does the stitching on the top look? On the bottom? Adjust the tension as needed.

For best results, make a test sample and remember the tension should be balanced top and bottom.

·        Loops on the top means the bottom tension needs adjustment

·        Loops on the bottom indicates the top tension requires adjustment.

Troubleshooting

The more you machine sew, the easier you will find it to be, so have patience with yourself. There are a few general troubleshooting techniques that seem to solve most problems:

·        Change the needle

·        Use the right needle for the thread and the job

·        Rethread the sewing machine, both needle and bobbin

·        Clean your machine

·        Sew slower

If the top thread breaks or shreds:

·        The needle may be too small. It needs to be large enough to make a sufficient hole in the fabric to prevent wear on the thread.

·        The needle tension may be too tight. Loosen the tension a little at a time until the thread stops breaking.

·        Check to make sure the needle is properly installed.

·        Some decorative threads become worn as they go through the thread guide on the machine closest to the needle. Skip this thread guide.

·        Clean and oil (check the manual) your machine.

·        If your metallic thread breaks, check to make sure you are using the correct needle. The bobbin thread type is also important. When you run your fingers down metallic thread, it feels a bit like fish scales. If you have a cotton thread in the bobbin, the metallic thread will constantly grab it and break. Switch to a polyester or nylon bobbin thread.

·        Rayon and metallic threads tend to be slippery and slip off the spool. They may wind around the spool pin holder or catch on the spool itself. There are two possible solutions -- a horizontal holder or a mesh or nylon sleeve for the thread.

·        Adding a monofiliment thread into the needle with very delicate metallic threads may add enough strength to the decorative thread to make sewing much easier.

·        If all else fails, ask your sewing machine dealer to check for burrs.

Adding Decorative Stitches to the Quilting Design

Lets face it, I love the Quilting. I am always looking for a way to change it up. I found a very simple way...Decorative Stitches. We all have them, let's use them!

The first thing most notice here is the 'rough' satin stitch. That's a good thing, but look closer and you will see the TRIPLE stitch (sometimes the lingerie or stretch stitch). Most machines have one. Three times the thread! It's great. No extra trouble, no changing the thread, needle or tension.

This is one of my favorite and I use the walking foot! Straight lines interrupted with a satin stitch.

It can easily be changed up a bit by simply making the satin stitch longer.

 

What other ideas can you come up with?

Practical Tips for Quilting Designs, continued

I talked about individual quilting motifs. If a picture is worth a thousand words, here are five thousand of them!

Spirals, echos, lines, Greek keys, flowers

Plaids, echos, feathers, lines, Greek keys, flowers, pebbles

Lines, flowers, swirls, boxes, flowers

Spirals, boxes, feathers, pebbles, lines, feathers, lines, flowers, boxes

Blue Bayou

Practical Tips For Quilting Designs

Some of you were wondering how I decide which free motion quilting patterns to use, so I thought I would share a few ideas.

The first step is having a repertoire of great filler patterns that work well together. These filler patterns will be your go-tos in a pinch. You should practice them a lot so that you can fit them into strange spaces. After lots of experience, you’ll be able to look at an area and instinctively know what designs will fit there easily. I don’t have a large number of patterns that I cycle through, but the ones that I do know, I’m very comfortable with. I’m also very willing to try out new patterns – in the grand scheme of things, if you struggle with one small area, onlookers will never notice. They’ll look at the overall picture of your project. One tip I would give you is that matching thread hides a multitude of sins. However, I love to change the colors a lot!

They need to be able to fit in a variety of areas AND you need to be comfortable stitching them!

Flowers - my favorite

Circles

Linear lines - note the dark yellow stitch - it's the triple stitch (more on that later)

Spirals, Greek Key, Paisleys

Hopefully that gives you a good start! If you are wanting to try blended quilting, make a list of some of the designs that 1) you are confident with and 2) work well together. Of course, it’s never too late to learn some new patterns!

What are some of your favorite free motion quilting fillers? Any that you would add to this list?

Quilting Design Ideas

Seems like I'm always working on a new project. Probably because I am. I take lots of pictures all the time. The sanding joke in my family is "film is cheap". (Yes I take digital pics).  Any way I love this idea. I just need to figure out a way to make it work for me.

I must figure out a was to quit these spines with this wonderful back light.

I'd like to add the lines too.