I have always loved sewing since I was a little girl at about 10 and started making Barbie clothes on my Mother's treadle Singer sewing machine. Actually this machine was originally my great grandmother. My uncle had installed a motor on the machine but I was not allowed to use the motor until I was a little older. Mom made almost all the clothes for herself, my sister and myself on this machine. I remember standing in the middle of the kitchen table so Mom could use the hem guide to hem our dresses. When the dresses were done we would spin in the living room to see how far out the skirt would go. That was of course after we sometimes found a wayward pin in the waistline. Not only was Mom an inspiration for my sewing but also my Aunt Kate. If Mom didn't have a solution to a problem with a pattern, Aunt Kate surely did. And then there was my friend's Mom, Mrs. Muir who lived up the street that was always helpful when I needed it. They all encouraged me to keep sewing and I continued to use the old Singer machine. When I got my first full time job, I bought my own new sewing machine. It was a Pfaff cabinet model and I bought it at Witherill's from Mr. Thorne. And, this machine went in reverse! I soon upgraded to a Pfaff free arm machine and then to a Pfaff 1471. I am fortunate to have three beautiful daughters and I can't begin to tell you how many hours are on that 1471 making them clothes from infancy right up to adulthood. Play clothes, dress, coats, 1st Communion dresses, dozens of Halloween costumes - even in high school and prom dresses. For many years I did little sewing and missed what I call "my therapy". There is nothing more relaxing to me than to spend an evening sewing. So, last Spring I bought a used machine. I said, I don't want a fancy one - I don't do embroidery but the 2170 fit the bill for the features I wanted and it did embroidery. Well, I was soon taking classes at Knecht's and have found a love of machine embroidery. I was jealous of the other sewers with their Creative Visions and soon upgraded to one. I am having so much fun with this machine and have found a whole new world of sewing in embroidery. I thought that I would share some of my projects as I go along. I don't profess to be and expert seamstress but I love sewing and I love sharing these with you. Hope you enjoy them too! Thanks for looking.

REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PICTURE FOR A LARGER IMAGE!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

My New Best Friend - for Sewing



As promised, here is my newest tip for sewing I'd like to share.   If you had told me a few years ago, that I would be using glue instead of pins, I would have said that you're nuts.  Turns out, glue is great for pin basting.  That's right - glue instead of pins - in certain circumstances that is. There are lots of good glues for sewing on the market.  You need to make sure that it is a water soluble glue - that it will wash out of the fabric.  I first used Roxanne's Basting Glue on the Heirloom Christening dress that I made a year ago for lace joining on the fancy band.  It comes with a long slender pin point stem to put down just little drops of glue. Place your second fabric piece on top and touch with an iron for instant drying.  With a slight tug, they will come apart if you need to reposition the fabrics.  I found some great videos on You Tube by expert quilter Sharon Schamber.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2hWQ5-ZccE     She uses the glue to attach the binding on quilts instead of pins.  Think about it - if you glue down the binding to the quilt, it will stay in place and you can stitch the whole thing without having to stop and remove pins. She has some other great techniques too that I have found very useful and have made perfect miter corners with her techniques.   Use glue to attach rick rack and other trims.  If it's glued down it's not going to move around like it sometimes does with pins.    It's so easy - I love using glue!   You can also use the glue sticks that are found in sewing departments.  A new one that I recently purchased is a refillable glue stick pen by Bohin.  This is a little lighter glue than in traditional glue sticks and it has a light purple color so you can see where you've applied it.  I've used the Bohin glue stick several times to position my fabric in the embroidery hoop so it won't move when I start stitching.  The uses for Roxanne's glue and other glue sticks is unlimited. 

This is my first attempt at a video!!!  Here we go - - - - -



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