How did I learn so much about sewing machines?

April 20, 2024

Answer: Natural curiosity and necessity.

When I ran the Stitching Stallions maker club at my former elementary school, I had an eclectic collection of mechanical and electronic sewing machines for the kids to use. Some came from the district’s own warehouse surplus, others were purchased with grant funds, some were donated and a couple were purchased by me. There was no money for sewing supplies, let alone annual service for the 5-8 machines we used. I had to learn how to troubleshoot, maintain and repair our machines. I did routine maintenance on 1-2 machines every week and a more in depth service during the summer. I learned how to replace spool pin holders, exterior thread cutters and needle threaders. I learned how to make bobbin winder adjustments. I learned how to remove covers to undo tangled threads, broken needles and big wads of fluff that managed to collect in the machines. Believe me, if there is a way to mess up a machine, a kid will find it!

Today was our first Sewing Machine Maintenance class at the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum taught by yours truly. In class, we had an Elna SU from the late 60’s, a Pfaff 1013 originally purchased in West Germany in the mid-80’s, a Singer 9960, a Viking Opal 670 and a Singer Merritt 4530. Can you believe no machine used the same bobbin? Students left with clean machines and a lot of smiles.

Feedback was positive and I was encouraged to offer this class again – which I think the museum director plans to do in the fall. Others asked for Featherweight specific classes so they can learn to use and care for their machines. Look for those to come in July and August. My local FW club is looking for someone to lead them in a machine spa day for their Featherweights. After today’s successful class, I think I’m going to put my big girl panties on and offer up my services to lead that class, too! I certainly know a lot more about FW than I do each of the machines we worked on today.

I definitely stepped outside my comfort zone and the sense of accomplishment I felt after the class concluded is something I’ll never forget.

A fun quilt pattern to make with your ‘tween or suitable for a quick charity quilt

April 20, 2024

Take a look at the Layer Cake Shake, a free quilt pattern offered by Fat Quarter Shop.
The FQS video tutorial for this pattern may be found here.

Why I like it:
1) Great way to use up leftover layer cake (10″) squares
2) Simple piecing with fewer match points
3) At 56-1/2″ square, it makes a perfect size quilt for a ‘tween

This variation of the Friendship Star block lends itself to all sorts of creative interpretation. Be as scrappy or as matchy-matchy as your heart desires. If you need to make it a little longer, consider adding a row of 8-1/2″ Friendship Star blocks or colored strips across the top and bottom of the quilt before adding the borders.

Hint: The quilt center consists of 4 large blocks. Before sewing all the rows into the four 9 patch blocks, lay them out first and decide which block is 1, 2, 3 and 4. Seams on blocks 1 & 4 will be pressed alike and seams on blocks 2 & 3 will be pressed alike. This makes a difference when you sew the blocks together.

This quilt is also very easy to work on in chunks. When I was still working full-time, this was the exact type of project that kept me sane. By working on it for an hour or so each night, I would have a completed top by the following weekend.

And more more advantage to this pattern – it’s a good size to practice my FMQ skills. Can’t wait to see how my free motion quilting plan for this quilt turns out!

The sad state of my local Joann’s

April 16, 2024

Last night I took Big Girl shopping at the Joann’s in Kennesaw. It’s one of their Maker Studio concept stores. It’s a neat place and the only one of its kind in the Atlanta region. It also serves as a hub for online order fulfillment.

Chapter 11 has hit this store hard – particularly when it comes to quilting and sewing. There are obvious holes in product availability throughout the store. Large sections of aisles are bare. While there is still fabric available, sewing and quilting notions are extremely limited and your available options are few. It’s surreal. If I’d needed to buy a twin size package of Warm & Natural quilt batting, replacement blades for my rotary cutter or a pincushion, I’d have been out of luck. It was a similar situation for cross-stitch supplies and the Happy Planner section. Staff told me that they get two trucks a week. It must be all the home decor and seasonal items up front, not items that I typically buy at Joann’s.

Is inventory of certain product categories being allowed to deplete because they are planning a major reset soon? Or is it due to bankruptcy? Think Big Girl and I are going to take a trip to the Alpharetta Joann’s later today for comparison. I’ll report back. So we made the trek to the Alpharetta location. A little more inventory is available, but it’s obvious merchandise hasn’t been replenished in a while. Some empty spaces in the displays, but not as jarring as the Kennesaw location. There’s one area that’s full of boxes. Another area full of clearance stuff. Looks like a reset or a shrinkage of floor space devoted to sales is in the works. I sincerely hope Joann’s emerges from bankruptcy in a good position. We need a solid brick and mortar retailer in the sewing and crafting space.

By the way, I did buy 3 yards of a really cute white-on-white print I needed for a specific donation quilt project.

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