I am in love with making purses and bags. For the most part, they are pretty simple projects, don't take a ton of time, and I feel like I've accomplished something. Don't get me wrong, I love to sew anything and I love to piece and quilt, but with a limited amount of time, throwing in a simple or smaller project is just what I need to get that feeling of ACCOMPLISHMENT.
I participate in Bernina Software Sampler classes monthly at my Bernina dealer, Shiisa Quilts in Bloomington, Indiana. There were a multitude of techniques discussed in August's class featuring some of the vast array of things you can do with Designer Plus V6 software. The project was to do a raggy type bag using some of the designs we created. I'm not a raggy type person, so I elected to do a hobo style bag pattern called Carol's Purse Pattern from Creative Needlecraft. I purchased several of their patterns at various shows, but this was the first one I've made. The directions were good and I had no problem constructing the bag. I made several modifications to fit what I wanted to do, and I like the way it turned out.
I took an old pair of jeans to use for the fabric, in keeping with the techniques we were using. One of the great features of the software is the ability to scan in a pocket or a flap or whatever and then use that to create placement lines for doing the embroidery placement. It turned out perfectly. In addition to the embroidery designs, I embellished them with an all-purpose ink from Tsukineko in Champaign Mist. Love this and see many uses for it. It was easy to apply, dried fast and was ready to go with a little heat set from the iron.
The photos are some of my in process shots and then a few close-ups of the designs, and finally the finished bag!
The embroidery and construction was done on my Bernina 830.
I'm still on the quest for better organization in my sewing studio. The back leafs of my sewing tables are always in the up position and I have used several plastic drawer carts under them to store things. I had one larger three drawer cart that I used for stabilizer rolls, and then some of the smaller drawers in other carts for some of the smaller rolls. I've found that I tend not to be able to find what I am looking for easily, so I figured there had to be a better way to do this. I wanted something that would fit in the space I had, and help me get better organized for my stabilizer storage.
I was flipping through the Sunday paper today and Target had some laminate shoe cubbies on sale this week, and after checking the dimensions, I figured two of them would fit perfectly in the space I had and give me plenty of storage. I really wanted white, but all they had in stock was the wood color. Not bad at all. Below is a photo of the shoe cubbies with stabilizer in place. It was amazing how many rolls I had, and how many duplicates of some I have. Don't think I'll be needing to buy any stabilizer for a long time to come. I'm very pleased with the way this turned out!
On my Bernina 635, the work area lighting is not ideal. I use a lot of Ott lights in my sewing room, and I have two trained on the bed of my 635, but there is still not enough light on the working surface. I learned of a new add-on LED lighting system from CJ Tinkle by way of her Created By CJ blog in a recent post concerning Ecolux Lighting. I just had to click on the link and went and had a look see. I liked what I saw, and even though it might seem pricey, I decided to give it a try. I ordered and had within two days. Great service!
I finally got time today to install it on my 635. I got the six-light size, and it is perfect. I'm really liking this light and will not have to deal with aiming a light exactly where I want it to be. It was super easy to install. I've snapped two pictures, one with the light off and one with it on. All the shadows are gone!
On July 22 I was able to go to Shiisa Quilts in Bloomington for an afternoon with Paula Reid that was put on for Shiisa's Crazy 8s group. This was a wonderful chance for us to play with some decorative threads and do some bobbin work. Bobbin work is great in the Bernina 830s and 820s because you can use a variety of threads in the bobbin and only have to do a simple adjustment for thicker threads. For the Superior Glitter thread that I used, no adjustment was even needed. I also added some decorative stitching using a thicker varigated thread in the needle.
I really enjoyed myself and below is my finished piece; when I got home I added a few glitz embellishments to the butterfly, but it is ready to be made into a journal/notebook cover. What a fun afternoon. The link above to Paula Reid is to her blog, and you can see some of the other classes that she gave at Shiisa's when she was there.
She will be back at Shiisa's in September 2012, so I'm looking forward to taking more classes with her.
I would not recommend getting your finger in the way of the needle when you are doing machine embroidery. It is not pretty and doesn't feel very good either. I'd show a picture of the wound, but it would probably make your stomach turn, so I'll spare you. All I was doing was trying to smooth the fabric a little as it was going, didn't think I was that close, but unfortunately I got distracted and it surprised the heck out of me and went through my finger. If you need to do something like that, be sure and stop the machine first!
Not much new around here. I've been doing a little sewing, but nothing exciting enough to blog about. Did go to the International Quilt Show in Cincinnati in April. Had a wonderful time and will go back again next year. Cincinnati will be hosting it for at least 3 years. It is a wonderful venue and I hope it stays much longer than 3 years! Got some cool new tools that I need to write about; it's on my list of things to do!
I did teach two classes last Saturday for the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Sewing Guild. Both classes were for projects on the serger. The first was a jacket, and the second was a puzzle blouse. We had a great time. Below is the class sample that I made for the jacket. It is made out of rayon batik fabric. I really like the jacket and will wear it a lot.
This weekend I worked all day yesterday on the week 1 blocks for the HoopSisters 2011 Mystery Quilt. The mystery started June 1, so as usual I'm a little behind, but I am enjoying it. This is my first HoopSisters quilt, so it's a learning experience, too. I'll post pictures when allowed. Right now it's still a mystery so I have no idea what it is supposed to look like in the end.
On March 26-27, we held a sew-in for the Columbus Neighborhood Group. We are a local Neighborhood Group of the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Sewing Guild (www.indyasg.org; www.asg.org).
We had a wonderful time and plan on doing another one in the fall. We have a great facility (courtesy of the Bartholomew County REMC) that we are able to use for our meetings and they graciously allowed us to use it for an entire weekend. What made it extra special is there is a full kitchen so we had pitch-ins for lunches on both Saturday and Sunday. About three quarters of our members were able to come spend some time sewing for at least part of the weekend. I've posted pictures below.
I would recommend trying this for your Neighborhood Group if you can. It is a great opportunity for fellowship and sharing and just relaxing.
