Stitching Fun!

I've been busily making Christmas postcards this past week or so.  Once they have reached their destinations, I will show you what I've been making.  We wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, would we?

But I can show you a little trick I tried with the edgings.  I have this cool little Bernina foot with a teeny hole in the piece in front of the needle.  You can see I have threaded something through it in this photo.

Bernina calls it an Embroidery foot, but I got it to attach wire to the edge of a doll skirt to give it shape.  Only a small wire fits through there, but this fits, too! 

By simply stitching a zigzag stitch, I attached two rounds of the Light Effects thread to the edge of each postcard.  You can see some of the sparkle here, although they look much more festive in 'real' life!

I used a heavier thread in the bobbin, so the back of the card looks neat, too. 

Isn't Christmas about pretty things and shining lights?

Ruffles

I suspect I could come up with any number of puns using this word.  Like "I'm forever sewing ruffles" or "R-r-r-ruffles have r-r-r-ridges" or "Houston, we have ruffles."  But I'll spare you all that.  (Oops!  Too late!)

What I really want to do is show you my new toy tool!

This is the Bernina ruffler foot.  It looks pretty complicated, but the action is pretty simple.  Every so many stitches, the contraption in front pushes a bite of fabric under the needle to make a little pleat.  You can adjust all kinds of things so that the pleats are small or large, close together or far apart.  Plus, you can pleat at the same time as attaching to a straight piece of fabric.  What a time saver!

And look how neat and even.  I've always wanted to add ruffles to my dolls, but it was such a lot of work.  I'm too lazy for that, you know?  But I can foresee lots of ruffles on future projects.  At least until the excitement wears off!  LOL!

Yes, that is the Hoffman challenge fabric.  I'm finally working on that doll!  Nothing like waiting until the last minute!

What a Doll!

I know . . . what a corny title!  Sorry, but my mind is in idle today, so that's probably as good as it will get.  At least for the time being.  It's been a busy week and today I decided to veg out. 

But enough of that.  This post is about my newly completed doll.  I am calling her Jan - at least until a better name comes along.

Jan is made by wrapping batting and fabric around a wire armature.  I followed the general instructions in Ray Slater's book "Cloth Dolls for Textile Artists".  I used a head and hands that were in my "spare parts" box and used ribbons and yarns to embellish her, so she was a quick and easy project.  I will be leading my doll club in making more of this type of doll at our January meeting.  So . . . that is why her name is Jan.  I did tell you my brain was not at work today, didn't I?

  I find it interesting that I made this head in a class several years ago - 2003 I think.  It was one of my first doll classes and probably the first on painting faces.  Christine Shively was the teacher and if you are familiar with Christine's work you can see her influence.  But after five plus years, my own style doesn't look much like this anymore.  And I wasn't really happy with the way Jan looked.  I mean, she's pretty - but she has Christine's face - not my own.  So . . . I did a little needle sculpting, and just a few tiny touchups.  She still doesn't look completely like a face I have drawn, but she no longer looks like Christine! 

Follow up on last post:

I've had some supportive comments about my messed up sewing bobbin and I thank you all.  I knew you'd understand. 

But the really cool thing is that today I got a comment from a Bernina tech!  How cool is that?  He said this can happen when there is a problem with your upper thread not spinning freely.  I was using a finer decorative thread in the needle and it was starting to fray and break at about that same time.   I applied sewer's aid, but it was probably drying out by then.  I'm not surprised since that thread was already a suspect, but I'm glad to hear that it is probably not a major machine problem.  Thanks, Steve!

Well, This is Ugly . . .

Anybody know what could cause this?  No, it did not look like this when I put it into the machine!  It looked - well - normal!

After stitching for about an inch - maybe less - the top thread broke.  And this is what I found in the bobbin case.  Eeeeew!

I've run through the possibles - inserted in the case wrong - bobbin case not completely locked in - incorrect threading - etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.  I can't say that none of those occurred.  In fact, I believe I've pulled about every dumb operator error stunt ever invented - and invented some new ones!  But none has created a tangle quite like this. 

I'm saving this for my Bernina technician.  She's off getting trained this week I think, but I'll stop by the shop later and see what she has to say.

BTW, after a nice cleaning and complete re-thread (and new bobbin), the sewing machine is working like a dream.  Scared me for awhile, though!

Christmas in - er - September

Or . . . You Knew I'd Do It!

Yes. I'm sure no one was fooled by my hesitation in my recent post about looking at the new Berninas. Of course I decided to get it!

And, of course I had to get the Stitch Regulator. Actually, that was the piece I had to have. So, anyone want to take a guess on what I've been doing the last day or so? Ah, come on! It should be easy! Here's a hint:

Well, it is so much fun to work with! A little scary sometimes, but I will get used to it. I need a lot more practice to move the fabric at an even rate. That needle is really wicked when you move suddenly!

And this week there was another exciting addition to my workshop. I received my prize from Hoffman California Fabrics! Oh my! I will have to try even harder so I can get another prize next year. LOL! This is wonderful!

A whole range of Bali Batik fat quarters! These are just so scrumptious!!!! What will I do with them? Oh dear, I just want to look at them for now. And fondle them - and drool all over them! Er . . . ahem. Might have gotten a little carried away there. But, people, the photo doesn't do justice to these colors. I'm sure I will find something to do with these, but not yet.

And one more thing. Not quite as exciting, but I got a little stirred up anyway. What can I say, I live in a very small town. One must get their thrills where one can.

New filing cabinets! Yeah. Big deal. I know. But the old cabinet was a horizontal file and didn't hold as many files as I needed it to. Plus the drawers did not come all the way out, so there was always some jockeying to get to the stuff at the back. Then the drawers starting jumping the tracks. First one, then the other, until one day I couldn't wiggle it back on. Great! Bottom drawer was stuck at half way! Very convenient, that. Numerous attempts to repair or modify were unsuccessful, so today we took the truck to town. (And spent money again - I have got to stop doing that!) I got busy organizing files and putting them away - in alphabetical order yet! Oh, I feel SO organized!

Pretty cool week, all told. Almost like Christmas, huh? I feel so ready to create now.