A Little Yarn On The Side

This week I had Wednesday off instead of my usual Friday because the piano people at the main store were attending training, so I filled in for them on Thursday and Friday, as well as filling in for the audio person on Thursday and the guitar guy both days.  It was like a music pop quiz.  We were so short-staffed that I didn't get to leave for lunch, which was a bit disappointing because..... I was going to go look at a new sewing/embroidery machine My faithful Jeeves is having problems again.  First it was not being able to tell the difference between needing a new thread color and having an empty thread or bobbin, but that was workable.  Now it's stopping repeatedly during a design saying he's out of thread when he clearly isn't.  This is all fixable (probably), but my embroidery software can't run on a computer system newer than Windows XP.  Microsoft, of course, hasn't supported XP for years, but personally, I've never found Microsoft's "...

Well, mostly. I've never done applique with the embroidery machine (actually, I've only done one applique in my life), and while I love the cleverness of the designs in the set Andy gave me for Christmas, the instructions do presume a level of basic knowledge which I don't have.  I was hoping for some suggestions on what type of material to use, as a few minutes with Google only turned up a suggestion not to use fabric that is "too" prone to ravel.  Satin is prone to raveling, but I wasn't sure if it ravels "too" much or just enough, but as I couldn't think of anything else to use--nor find anything sort of shiny that ravels less.  In the example, they did color changes with the thread AND used two colors of fabric.  I decided to stick with just one for now, as the design wasn't too specific about how it was going to work.  I pulled the design up with my embroidery software and walked through the design, so I knew that it used thread c...

I've been thinking about a new ornament design, and this afternoon it was a bit too warm to work in the garden, so I thought it would be a perfect time to try it out. First, I dug out 5 blue Christmas fabrics, ironed them just enough to get by, then cut two 1 1/2-inch strips and one 2-inch strip from each color.  Then it was time to play with one of my favorite feet: I have 3 different 1/4-inch quilting feet (one came free with the second Husqvarna), but this is the only one I can truly manage 1/4-inch seams with.  While I think I'm staying on the edge of the other feet, I don't always stay as close as I should.  This one has a guide for me to use, and I am happy to say that even I can manage 1/4-inch seams with this one.  I laid out the strips in the order I wanted, sewed them each together with the 1/4-inch seams, then pressed the seams toward the dark fabrics.   One thing that always amazes me with fabric is this: every last one of these fabri...

With the amount of seams I've done on this, I think I could have had an entire wardrobe.  Instead, I have: a bag.  It's a nice bag, but it is definitely going to be an only child.  I love the way the stripes are played with: but with a band and bow only on one side, the bag sags a bit on one side.  I think the bow may sag a bit over time as well, so I'll probably need to stitch it into place.  I do like the new edge-stitching method, which works really well if one is stitching fabric of uneven height.  That was good.  The pattern, however, isn't.  I'm not sure if you can see this,  but right after having you fold the bag in half and sew the edges, it tells you to line up the bottom seam and side seam to make the bottom pleat.  Which, of course, is a really stupid instruction in a bag that you have just created by FOLDING fabric. Not to be outdone by a bad pattern, today I made every mistake I could think of.  Fir...

Mostly of the really bad sort.  I did manage to get all the buttons sewn onto the new dress, which is when I discovered I put the buttonholes on the wrong side.  To be fair, I was partaking of a white chocolate martini while sewing the buttonholes, but I'd marked the silly things BEFORE the martini, so I have no excuse.  I really did look at the picture on the pattern and think I was putting it on correctly.  Oh well--it's certainly not the ONLY thing in my closet with buttons on the wrong side....... I am finally ready to show you Saturday's project.  For once, Husqvarna's website posted a free pattern that did not require buying a whole new machine or $500 accessory, so I decided to make their striped bag . I should have known better.  If Husqvarna can't get money from customers, they're not really interested in anything, so the pattern isn't great.  There's an 11 by 12 piece required, but they didn't mention which way the stripes were to g...