Just Sew It

THIS is my baby. She’s my favorite machine. She is a smooth ride and doesn’t skip a stitch. She has plenty of stitches at my finger tips and she is German Engineered and made in the Czech Republic.

Choosing a sewing machine is very much like choosing a car. Test driving a bunch of machines is your best bet when choosing a machine. Pfaff, Bernina, Janome, Husqvarna-Viking, Brother, Singer, etc. I highly recommend going with a dealer as they do offer on-going support. Yes, you can go to Wal-Mart and buy a Singer or Brother but if you have problems or questions don’t count on Betsy-Jo the walmart employee to help you.

If you are not sure if you like sewing, maybe pick up a second hand machine for the beginning. If you decide you love it, go out and buy the best machine you can afford. Sewing on a quality machine can make a world of difference as to how well you sew. My first sewing machine was a Singer. I loved it because it was my first but it was so hard to control the speed. That was the only reason I sold it and bought my Pfaff Hobby 1042 model. I still have my Hobby but my Quilt Expression is my main machine. When this one dies (and I hope it doesn’t for a loooong time) I will probably invest in a commercial machine.

If you have any questions about this particular machine or about any machine you are interested in, just ask away.

This is cute but informative:

How to Measure Curtains for Poles

Video by Natural Curtain Company

1. Use a zipper 2″ (5 cm) shorter than length of finished pillow. Pin pillow front to back with ride sides together. Position zipper along pinned seam, leaving equal distance at each edge. Mark ends of zipper coil on seam.

2. Stitch 3/4″ (2 cm) seam at each end of zipper opening; backstitch at marks. I basted the rest of the seam to help make it easier to press. Press under 3/4″ (2 cm) seam allowances.

3. Open zipper. Place one side face down on seam allowance of pillow front with zipper coil on seamline. Secure with pins, glue stick or basting tape. Using zipper foot, stitch tape to seam allowance only.

4. Close zipper. Spread pillow flat with right side up. Pin the zipper in place from right side catching the zipper tape underneath.

5. Place 1/2″ (1.3 cm) transparent tape (I only had 3/4″ tape so I moved the tape over a bit) along seamline as stitching guide. Starting at seamline, stitch across bottom of zipper. Pivot and continue stitching. At top of zipper, pivot and stitch to seamline. Pull threads to wrong side and tie.

6. Open zipper. With a seam ripper, take the basting out. Turn pillow wrong side out and pin front to back on remaining three sides. Stitch 1/2″ (1.3 cm) seam. Turn pillow right side out and insert pillow form or liner.

I hear so many people say “I don’t know how to sew but I wish I did”. Why do people not sew these days? Time. Let’s face it we just don’t have the time these days. Also, we can find nice clothes at good prices. So, why sew? Besides being fun, you can create something unique and custom made to suit you or your needs. I love to sew home decor the most as there is something special when I make something one-of-a-kind for my home. You can’t buy pleated bed-skirts without paying an arm and a leg. You can’t buy window treatments with details such as cording, etc. in the store. I like sewing dresses for special occasions as the fit is like no other. I hope my daughter will ask me to make her Grad/prom dress when she finishes high school.

Anyways, sewing is a very valuable skill and people don’t realize how valuable it is until these want something unique. You CAN have that skill. It is very easy to operate a sewing machine. If you can drive a car, you can operate a sewing machine. Join me on a weekly basis to learn how to sew. I will teach you the basics. Learn to sew it’s a lot of fun plus fabric is addicting too.

I picked a book (Mastering Machine Applique) up from the library to help me learn how to do raw-edge applique. Out of all the books that I’ve borrowed from the library on this topic, this book is the best. It is very thorough. Out of all the techniques I like the raw-edge application using paper-backed fusible web. Fast and easy. I don’t like the other fussy methods.

Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Fabricland always has sales on various items. So yesterday I went to look for quilting fabric. I just wanted a little to practice making appliques. They had shit. Fabricland is theee worst fabric store around. Unfortunately, it is the only one that offers memberships. Fanny’s Fabric closed down last year. I was so disappointed when that happened. Of course, there are some quilting stores in the city and they do have a lot of cottons to choose from but they are on the south side of the city. So when I pick up fabric for my quilts I will be making the hike. Fabricland sucks! I can’t stand them. They have incompetent staff with terrible sales skills. Choices of fabrics suck and their lack of notions is pathetic. Even Walmart carries more than they do. That is bad. I really wish more people sewed then there would be more fabric stores. I have had to go on-line to buy supplies and while that is not all that bad I wish we had it locally too. But Canada’s population is much smaller than the States. Supply and demand.

Last night, I watched the movie Jarhead. It was good but not great. My husband looked at the cast and said, “no wonder you wanted this movie it has Jake Gyllenhaal in it”. He was probably standing in the blockbuster wondering why I wanted a war flick. Duh! the beef cake! There is no action in this flick. It focuses on the characters more so. I think Jake may have made this movie so he is not type casted as a gay man. Don’t worry Jake. We know you are not gay.