Category: Sewing – Fabric, Patterns, Vintage

Christmas Sewing – A Bag for Marguerita

This year I made a lot of Christmas presents – hats, bags, and a robe.  Here is the bag I made for my sister-in-law, Marguerita, who kindly sent me some photos of her bag as I forgot to take some.

After the complexity of the other bags I made, as well as the hand sewing they required, this was a pleasure as it was super easy to make!  I was really burnt out by Christmas Eve, but also felt really good to have accomplished making so many presents for those I love!  This season I knitted 3 beanies and made 4 bags, and one robe.  You won’t get to see the beanies and all the bags (bean bags?), but you will get to see the robe soon enough.

The materials were, for the most part, 100% cotton. The green is duck, rather coarsely woven as is the nature of duck. It’s stiffness was both a blessing and a curse. I also ran out of thread and had to go out to buy more – the result was nothing matched what I had used originally, so I had to remake the straps. No biggy.

The bag lining was pure serendipity for the matching of the pink to the printed fabric. I felt really lucky to find it – so many shades of pink!

The Parisian scenes are some upholstery fabric, and it was the focal point of the bag. The pink and green matched perfectly!

I had enough material left over to make a sewing machine cover for the Baby Lock Presto II – it came with a lightweight vinyl cover, and I thought something more classy would be fun to design and sew.

I used my Janome 6500P to make M’s bag. I have not used this machine in a while, and since I plan to use it when I go to the class to finish up my quilt top, I thought it would be a good thing to dig it out, reread the manual, and relearn all its parts. As an aside, it is a more sophisticated machine than the Presto, but less portable simply because it is a lot heavier. The Tutto makes it easy to tote, so I am looking forward to testing it out in a classroom situation.

So ends 2018!  I plan to continue sewing and learning to be a better sewist in 2019 by exploring new and different ways to sew, or things, such as using knits.  Photography, painting, drawing, knitting, and designing are all in the plans.  It is so nice to have time to do things – to not feel a horrific pressure to get things done!  Savoring time to think, to design, to plan, to learn – those have been so absent for the last 5 years.  Those 10-12 hour work days suck!  And now I get to enjoy the leisurely activities of a housewife – some of which I like (cooking) and some I just tolerate (cleaning) . . .

Happy New Year to everyone!  May 2019 bring you joy, health, and happiness!

It Had to Go! (Bye-Bye Passport, Hello Presto!)

Yesterday, in a moment of pique, I packed up the Pfaff Passport 3.0 sewing machine and took it back to the dealer.  Time to trade it in for something better, even if a bit heavier for taking to classes.  I’ve tried to like the damned thing, but too many little frustrations mounted up.  After only two months, it was time for it to get lost.  I felt no love for it, only a liking for the fancy, decorative stitches.  I had a problem with too-flexible plastic presser feet and a bobbin cover that was capricious, sometimes jumping out of its holder in the middle of a seam.  As well, the reverse button would work sometimes – and other times it would not.  Why bother?  I hate to say it, I gave it a two-star review somewhere on the net . . .

Enter the Baby Lock Presto II.  My dealer gave me full credit on the Passport, and I walked out with a brand new machine, marked down incredibly to be a very good deal.  To me, that is great business.  And, I really am liking the Presto II.  It’s not full of decorative stitches, which I admit I do like and imagine using them to create some interesting things in the future, but the practical side of me finds that a machine that works, has solid feet, a good stitch, and a good reputation is more important than fancy stitches.  (Oh, the Puritan speaks!)  It also has damnably good buttonholes!

There are 7 buttonholes on this machine, some of which I did multiple times to check out their quality. The default ones are very good as they are, but I prefer the ones where I lowered the pressure on the presser foot from 4 to 3 and shortened the distance between the stitches, for example from 0.5 to 0.3.  My trimming is not spectacular as I just cranked them out after putting some medium weight Pellon between two layers of a fine, soft natural muslin.  The buttonholes are actually quite nice . . . I wonder if computerized sewing machines produce some of the best ones?  I know that my Berninas do a really fine job and they are mechanical machines.

Anyway, this machine is probably 5 lbs. heavier than the Passport and does not have a case.  I have a turquoise Tutto trolley (say that 3 times real fast!) to transport the Presto II.  The machine also has a handy dandy handle on top to make carrying it easier.  Classes will not be a problem as far as weight.

Below is a frontal view of the Presto II, a promo image from Baby Lock.  There is a Presto (I) prior to this one – the II has the addition of a thread cutter.

Image result for presto ii babylock promo image

The promo picture below gives you an idea of the location of various buttons for your sewing convenience.  On the right is the digital display, which is very easy to use.  A few things aren’t intuitive, but you can read, right?  Easy peasy afterward.

Beneath the index finger is the thread cutting button, to the left of that is the needle-up / needle-down, then a button to push to terminate a pattern when it is complete, and the reverse stitch.  One thing the Presto II has that the Passport does not is a sensor which won’t let you sew if the presser foot is up.  What is not shown is the fact it has an absolutely fantastic automatic needle threader!  Oh, how my old eyes like that!  To the right of the index finger is the speed control – slow to fast, up to 850 stitches per minute (faster than I need!).

Image result for presto ii babylock promo image

Finally, in the Baby Lock promo picture below, you see under the top of the Presto II.  The top of the machine flips up.  In the picture I took above, you can see the 100 stitches printed on the lid.  The spool holder and bobbin winding mechanism are also under the lid, and the bobbin winder sports its own thread cutter.  Under the lid and along the thread paths are clear markers on how to set up the upper thread (solid line) and how to set up the thread to wind the bobbin (broken line).  The bobbin case itself has a picture showing how to place the bobbin it it.

Image result for presto ii babylock promo image

I’ve never sewn or used a Baby Lock prior to yesterday.  I know their sergers are supposed to be phenomenal, so why not their sewing machines?  There are a lot of thoughtful little conveniences – small touches – which make this an outstanding machine, more so considering that this is not one of their fancy embroidery machines or even top of the line sewing machine.

After having the Presto II in my possession for a little over 24 hours, I can honestly say that I have “bonded” with it – I like it a lot! – and do not regret getting rid of the Passport 3.0.  It’s sad that I feel that way as there is a lot of potential in the Passport, but the poor quality of its plastic feet and the bobbin cover coupled with the reverse button’s finicky quality were not worth working with.  Sewing should be a pleasant experience, not a wrestling match with faulty equipment and shoddy materials.

Quilt Top – Borders Added – And Ready For Something Else!

Sunday was the last quilting class of the year.  The goal – add the borders, which you can see in the above image.  There was a glitch with them, and I am not sure if it was me or the pattern, but I figured out what to do to make it work.  Now, this is set aside until January 2019 when the last classes on the steps to apply batting, backing, and binding are held.  I’m rather pleased with it, can see where I have improved, and see where I need to figure out subtle refinements a bit more.  I learned a lot over the last 5 weeks, and am looking forward to the final processes to a finished quilt.

Now – Christmas sewing!  And pants hemming, over which I am hawing . . .  😉

Finished the Quilt Top and Killed My Iron

This is the quilt top, all put together as of noon today!  This is just the top – next Sunday is the border, and then wait until the second class begins sometime next year.  That is when we will add the batting and the back side of the quilt.  And do the binding.  And, I assume, the quilting.  It feels pretty good to be at this point in the quilt, let me tell you!

And, in the middle of all this excitement, my foot wrapped around the cord to my iron – one I have had for 20 years at least and really like – pulled the iron off the counter, and it shattered into a billion pieces of plastic.  “It’s dead, Jim,” to quote someone.  Luckily, I had another iron, older than that one, as back up.

Sacrifices must be made, I guess.  The sewing gods are jealous gods . . .