Author: Teresa

Quilts, good books and dogs. Plus a cup of tea. Life is good.

Quilting Magazines – Where have they gone?

June 18, 2016

Normally, I conduct a major studio purge every June. I tidy up in between projects, but leave the major weeding (the official library term for culling old and no longer needed items) and reorganizing until I am off for summer break. I skipped last summer because I was in the process of changing jobs and needed to devote my energies to making that a successful transition.

Which is why I’ve found myself with about 18 months worth of old magazines to sort through this week. In the sorting process, I noticed a few titles missing – Cloth Paper Scissors Studio, Quilt Magazine, Sew Beautiful, KiKi Magazine, Quilty, Quilt It Today – and was surprised by the number of magazines originating from the UK in the pile. Curiosity got the better of me so, I donned my librarian hat and logged into to our school’s periodical subscription service to check the status of the magazines.

Industry consolidation and a shift from print to digital media are the two main reasons why you see fewer craft related titles at the newsstand.
Industry consolidation within the past 2 years:
F + W bought New Track Media.
Harris Publishing filed for bankruptcy. (Quilt Magazine)
American Crafts Group filed for bankruptcy. (The Quilter Magazine, Quilt It Today)

F + W’s portfolio includes the following quilting/sewing related businesses:

  1. Fons & Porter
  2. Keepsake Quilting
  3. QNNtv
  4. Martha Pullen
  5. Creative Crafts Group (McCall’s Quilting, etc.)
  6. Stitch Craft Create
  7. Interweave (Quilting Arts, Stitch, etc.)
  8. Sew News
  9. Sewing Expo consumer sewing shows

Probably not a complete list because I didn’t have a lot of time to search!

Basically, this leaves Meredith (BHG, American Patchwork & Quilting), Stampington (Where Women Create), Hoffman Media (Classic Sewing – sort of like the old Sew Beautiful), Taunton (Threads) and the British publishers as the competition to F+W.  There are a handful of small, specialty publishers such as Homespun (Primitive Quilts), but they serve highly specialized niche in the magazine marketplace.

It also makes me wonder how many additional titles in the F + W portfolio will eventually disappear as the editorial groups consolidate further inside of F + W (Interweave & Creative Crafts Group, especially).

So here ends your magazine publishing lesson for the day.  I am removing my librarian hat and donning my stitcher hat.  Needless to say, I will take a closer look at the magazines in the pile. Specifically, I’m hanging onto Quilt It Today, Sew It Today and Quilty (when Mary Fons was editor).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sewing Camp Update

June 13, 2016

Unfortunately, the schedule did not work out for a week-long sewing camp this summer. Too much going on between VBS, assorted camps, summer school, vacation and what the quilt shop already had on the books. It’s also a shortened summer break due to the adjusted school calendar.

Someone suggested project classes in June and July. Three come to mind:  (1) pillowcase for brand new stitchers;  (2) t-shirt pillow upcycle project and (3) zippered pouch/journal cover with initial monogram/applique.

What do you think about monthly kid-sew classes starting in August?

 

Replacing Retractable Sewing Machine Spool Pins

June 11, 2016
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Janome JW5622 from Wal-Mart

My sewing club kids worked the sewing machines over this past school year!

One of the machines, a JW 5622 from Wal-Mart, wound up with broken and bent spool spins. (Well, they are made of plastic, so what else do you expect when a dozen 9 & 10 year olds use the machines over the course of 28 weeks?)  I decided to replace the the plastic pins with metal ones.

Normally, this would mean taking the machine to the repair shop and shelling out $90 for a basic service and less than 2 minutes of time to swap out the spool pins. Not this time. Mechanical machines I can do. I rehabbed a Singer 99K and maintain my Featherweight. Both run perfectly. Parts were available online, so I decided to DIY.

But first, I needed 2 things:  a service manual* and 2 metal retractable spool pins. (* This one was free from Janome and is a basic service manual for several variations of this model available through online retailers and big box stores. Service-Manual.net is a reliable resource for purchased sewing machine service manuals. Most are about $10 and include the parts list.)

Surprisingly, there was no mention in the service manual on how to replace the spool pins. That turned out to be the easy part. Getting the cover off the machine was another matter entirely. The service manual was a huge help with dismantling and reassembling the machine.

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Machine apart with new metal spool pins installed.

Here’s the machine taken apart with the spool pins replaced. (See the red felt?) Loosen the tiny screw between the spool pins just enough to release the tension on the wire, slide in the new spool pins in place and tighten so that the spool pin catches the wire on the indention near the bottom of the spool pin.  FYI – the end with 3 lines is the top of the spool pin. Test the spool pin (move it up & down just like you would normally) and adjust the tension on the wire as necessary. That’s it. Now, reassemble the the machine!

Helpful hints:

  • Enlarge the machine diagram from the service manual on the copier and tape the screws to the page as you remove them.
  • Use a magnetic tip screwdriver.
  • Have a pair of tweezers handy to hold screws in tight places.
  • If the machine disassembly diagram instructs you to loosen the set screw, that’s what they mean!  Do not remove the screw completely. There is a reason for this!
  • On this model, there is electrical wiring that needs to be tucked BEHIND the spool pins and the tab to the left of the spool pins (the white box thingie) before you re-attach the rear cover.

This repair cost me $12.00 for parts and took about an hour to complete. Most of the time was spent figuring out how to disassemble/reassemble the sewing machine.  The sewing machine cost $149.00 when I purchased it and it was worth it to me to attempt the repair myself. Worst case scenario – I would take the machine to the repair shop in pieces and pay the money to have them fix my screw-up.  By DIY, I saved $75 plus gas and the 90 minute round trip to the sewing machine repair shop.