Come Stitch With Me

Hubby’s surgery at MD Anderson was a success.  It was a long 10 days and I am SEW glad I brought a sewing machine and project to work on while we were there.  May I share some of what I learned from my experience?  These recommendations are based on staying at a hotel for an extended time (not attending a sewing retreat).

1. If at all possible, take a sewing machine – preferably a computerized 3/4 size sewing machine like a Janome Jem 720/760, Elna STAR or Handi Stitch 210 (from HandiQuilter).  These are all essentially the same machine made by Janome.  It fits perfectly in a Travelon underseat rolling tote, so you can carry it on the plane.  Remove the needle, place a piece of foam in the bottom of the bag and set the machine on top of it.  Tuck fabric, batting and/or your sewing mat around the machine to protect it even more.  A Janome Jem Gold 660 or a Singer Featherweight are also options, but it really depends on the type of project you plan to do. I took an Elna STAR with me. I REALLY appreciated the needle down and adjustable zigzag.
2. Unless your project is completely precut, take a folding 18″x24″ mat with you.
3. Take a portable Ott/Daylight or similar lamp with you, along with a 6′ extension cord.
4. If possible, take your extended sewing table (or get a Sew Steady acrylic table for your machine).
5. Pack your rotary cutter plus an extra blade.
6. Pack only your go-to rulers – (for me:  5″x15″, 6-1/2″ square and 2-1/2″x6″-1/2″)
7. Karen K. Buckley Perfect Scissors are wonderful!  I took the lime green and turquoise sizes with me.
8. Leave the iron and ironing mat at home – the hotel has an ironing board and iron.  But do pack a small bottle of ironing spray, a couple sheets of parchment paper and a travel size lint roller.
9. Pack all project specific items – pattern, templates, interfacing, marking pencils, etc. in a ziplock bag.  Fabric, too!
10. Essential sewing supplies – and only you know what those will be. If in doubt, leave it out. You can always buy one when you get there.

Things I really wished I’d brought with me:  wooden chopstick or skewer, hand sewing needles/thimble, pretty magnetic bowl and a “trash” bag (fabric or paper bag/tape).

Any must-haves that you would add to this list?

About a month ago, my world was rocked when my husband was diagnosed with a very rare form of thyroid cancer.  We were immediately dispatched to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for further evaluation. We knew the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes surrounding the thyroid on his right side.  What worried us was a suspect lesion on his lung that appeared on the CT scan done locally. The battery of tests conducted that long week spent in Houston for evaluation concluded that the cancer had NOT spread.

That’s good news since the only protocol for this type of cancer is removal by surgery. There’s no chemo or radiation afterwards. Hubs will be under the knife for several hours as Dr. Z. and his team work their magic. Hubs will come away with a nice, long scar as his souvenir.  My fervent hope is that the surgical team gets ALL the cancer and there are no surprises during surgery.  I sincerely hope hubby heals quickly and with minimal pain. Well, the previous sentence is for me, too, as I will be the one with him in Houston for those two weeks.

Yes, I’m packing my Janome Jem Gold 660 and Granny’s Garden (a Lori Holt sew-a-long) project to work on while I’m there.  [Ideally, I’d bring a Featherweight, but I need a zigzag stitch for applique.]  Others in similar circumstances actually encouraged me to bring a machine or pick up an inexpensive one at Wal-Mart once we got to Houston. It will give me something to do either in the hotel suite or in the community room (we’re staying at a property adjacent to the medical center). Handwork can be saved for time spent waiting in the doctor’s office.

We’re on Fall Break this week. I’ve spent time outfitting the Janome with accessories I might need and sourcing fabrics/tools/templates for the quilt. Tomorrow, I will make the first block – all the way from start to finish. Lori Holt suggests that you precut everything and put it in baggies before you begin to sew. No time for that. I might try to precut parts for the next 5 blocks and bring the rest of the fabric with me.  I plan to use a low sheen, invisible poly thread for the inner appliques and white thread to stitch down the large circles to the background squares. I don’t have room in the suitcase for multiple spools of thread to match each applique piece. I need to find my notes from the invisible applique class I took with Jan Cunningham!

The Janome Jem Gold 660 is a wonderful sewing machine. However, it features stitches that come with preset stitch length and width. I could not find stitch length and width measurements anywhere for the straight and plain zigag stitches. I even called Janome. Their USA customer service didn’t have the info either.

Some experts recommend disregarding any sewing machine without adjustable stitch length and width. For most sewists, preset stitches are really not that big of a deal unless you are taking a class that requires decorative stitches and uses heirloom sewing techniques.  The Jem Gold 660 is perfectly fine for quilting classes, raw edge & Lori Holt appliqué projects, plus most garment sewing applications.  It also makes a great travel machine.

Following is my best approximation of the actual stitch length and width for the preset straight and zigzag stitches only:

Straight stitch length

Small  1.7 mm – 15 stitches per inch (anything where foundation paper is torn away after stitching)

Medium 2.5 mm   – 10 stitches per inch (95% of your sewing will be done with this stitch)

Large 4.0 mm  – 6 stitches per inch (basting and gathering)

Zigzag stitch width x length

Small  1.5 mm x 1.5 mm (appliqué  – most of your appliqué will probably use this stitch)

Medium   3.0 x 3.5 mm (appliqué, decorative, seam finish)

Large  5.0 x 2.5 mm  (seam finish, decorative)

(I measured actual zigzag stitch samples with a metric ruler.)

* In a pinch, you could probably use the narrow and wide stitches in the 4 step buttonhole for a satin stitch!