Since the embroidery machine goes to class sometimes

Hello, everyone. The embroidery machine goes to Sewing Club sometimes and carrying it is rather awkward. Toting a four-year-old child in arms awkward--both arms needed and while it doesn't weigh as much as the four-year-old, it's an inanimate object and can't help at all. So I decided to look into a way to carry it. Thought about a webbing harness but couldn't figure out how to design one that would support the machine without major wobbles. Then I was looking at Sailrite.com and found a video about a tote. Theirs is a little smaller than this but it looks sturdy.

The footprint of the machine is 22"x18". 

I have now learned a lot about Dacron sail cloth (the interfacing) and Cordura. And that this project is at the very edge of the ability of my Janome HD3000 sewing machine. 

There is a little bit of extra fabric,  maybe I can make some little things out of that. 😀

Sewing Club project: March (edited for link)

Hello, everyone. I'm still on a tear, as they say, to finish things. Today's finish is the project from this month's Sewing Club meeting. 

First, the front:

And then the back:

This was a fun little bag to make. We did the XL size of the Clam Up bag from ByAnnie.com. The pattern came with several sizes and it has good directions...though I personally recommend that the person making one accept that some parts will need to be read more than once. I didn't use my coupon for the video yet, because our meeting was led by a member who has made some of them. (The coupon comes if you order the pattern through your local sewing or quilt shop.) 

I used my embroidery machine to make the roses design on the front before putting the layers together. Then I added some quilting to accent the design and improve stability. The foam interfacing (I was out of Soft n Stable, so used some Flex foam that happened to have iron-on adhesive on both sides) was going to be connected to the back of the cut away stabilizer, so I also used the iron as well as the quilting design. If not for that, there might have been a more-densely quilted design.

The foam was really thick where it is doubled next to the zipper. Absent the glue, I might have trimmed the edge a bit. But it did go together, even at the bottom seams, and I like the finished bag.

A new bag (stash usage)

Hello, everyone. 

I had gotten a pattern for "Hip" zipper pouches a little while back.

 I got it for the cute little travel trailer, but it happened that the first bag made from it was more of a textural kind of bag. 

I substituted the tassel fringe for a ball fringe, because the fat balls type of fringe was the wrong color. Buttons were added for little people to fidget with, too. And a hang tab was added. 

And the only part that wasn't from stash was the fringe.

A sewing club project

Hello, everyone. 

The sewing club met this past weekend and, as usual, we worked on a new project. 

This meeting's project was an in-the-hoop pouch with shadow work, appliqué, and stipple. We worked with polyester organza for the shadow work.

The front of the pouch. There is stippling here, too, but it's in white thread on white. 

It's shadow work because the shell and the stars and flowers are all on an underlying layer of the organza. The leaves and the detailing on the flowers, stars, and shell are all added to the top layer of the organza.

The back of the pouch. The stippling is blue. (Just because.) 

I think the next time I do this I might use a white zipper. The tape of the salmon zipper is clearly visible here. 

The pouch was surprisingly difficult to turn out; perhaps more attention to reducing bulk might have helped with this.

DH thought it was pretty, but "kind of small." It's not so small that it's only big enough for a lipstick and a credit card, but it does tend in that direction. 

Another little something

Hello, everyone.  

I have been experimenting with crumb piecing lately. There have been quite a lot of odd bits and ends, that weren't so small as to make me think of pincushions or bowl fillers. Besides, I have a bowlful of them already.

This is a pouch made from the "blue tones" pieced fabric. It incorporates the spring colored scraps left from the most recent Charm Pack Apron, plus a lot of other bits.

There is a zip closure and a strap across the end that the closed zipper pull will rest at. The boxed corners make the zipper end be horizontal when held by the little strap.

I am thinking that this can either hold snacks while we are walking the Camino, or be stuffed with a tee shirt for use as a pillow on the plane. 

It should be gently washable, as the pieced fabric is backed with a sheet of Shape flex light interfacing. I will drip dry it after washing, just like the hiking socks and merino garments. 

Another project completed (updated)

Hello, everyone.

When I got the pattern for the Charm Pack Apron from Shabby Fabrics, I also got a pattern for a tote bag. Today it was completed.

This is the inside-out, quilted bag, with its straps and the top of the pattern booklet.

The front of the pattern booklet.

The pattern instructs you to stop at a seam end that is not the fabric edge sometimes.

When that point comes, both on the lining and the external bag, you need to clip the seam almost to the stitching or the bag will not lie smoothly.

This is a leftover half-charm from the apron project. I thought, and still think, that tote bags should have somewhere to hang dangly things like keys.

The half-charm is ready to sew into the top edge of the bag.

I got a little excited with the larger pocket and folded it so that four all of the six charm squares show. The other two and the remainder of the top and bottom form the lining of this pocket.

The completed bag.

This was an interesting project. I found that on the final sewing, the stitching got a little hard for the machine. Don't try it with a size 11 universal needle, it gets pretty thick at the end. And the batik lining fabric was resistant to piercing, too. I used a size 14 top stitch needle, which is sharper than a universal needle. It still had some hard going while top stitching at the straps and the key loop.

And yes, I was still dialed up on Christmassy fabrics when picking out the charms. I used stash fabric for the sashing instead of cutting up charms for it. The interfacing is Thermolam, which is iron-on. It's thin and stable.
 

A small interruption of the recap series: sewing

 Hello, everyone.

Today the birthday gift for DGS3 was finished.

 A backpack/tote sack for the young man's things

with his favorite theme embroidered on it

This is my second time working with Meshin' Around, a pattern from ByAnnies.com. I had bought it at my local quilt shop, along with the cool colored meshes for both of the projects, and found the cactus fabric there, too.

The directions are very good with this pattern. She even includes labels to put on the cut out pieces of fabric, mesh, interfacing, and elastic.

The project completed

 Hello, everyone.

It's been busy around Ye Olde Homestead these last few days--is it ever not busy at Christmas time?--and some of the busy was finishing up the embroidery project from the last post.

This is the front of the tote bag. There are a variety of different skills that were used to finish the embroidery. The new one for me was the multi-hooping technique of embroidering something that is too big for the hoop. The program came with a step for match points, both on part 1 and part 2, which were later picked out as not part of the design.

I elected to box the lower corners. The bag as set up was basically flat and it didn't seem as useful as a bag with boxed corners. So I added that at the end. This bag broke 2 needles, and stalled the motor on my regular-duty sewing machine. It had to be finished on the HD-3000 with a size 16 topstitch needle. 

I think that, while the bicycle as digitized is more conceptual than realistic, I might make another tote bag with the design. Possibly omitting the cute words at the bottom. There is a good sized chunk of beige twill cotton in the stash and it might work out well as a tote bag.

(Of course some of that twill is already going into another bag. But there's a lot left.)

We had a day of Grandma Camp also in the last week, and DGD wanted to make a Christmas ornament.

We did a felt one, using freezer paper to get the cutting reasonably smooth, and she chose beads and stitched them on to the felt. 

This was her first time stitching beads onto a piece of felt, not in an embroidery hoop, and she designed her lines by herself. There are two kinds of seed beads here, a pink/clear blend and a gold.

We glued the back to the front as time was running short that day, with some Tacky Glue. 

A new embroidery project, almost completed

 Hello, everyone.

My local quilt shop has classes, both quilting project classes and embroidery project classes. I have been going to the embroidery classes to learn how to work with my Janome embroidery machine.

Yesterday we worked on a tote bag project. It was a Kimberbell class, so we had a tote bag to embroider on. Today I finished the stitching on the decorative design.

All it needs now is soaking, to get the dissolvables out, and finishing the bag.

There is a bit of colored chalk to come out. After the chalk is cleared up, I will drip dry the fabric and complete the bag.

It was fun to  learn new things and try something different. This one was a multi-hoop project that was designed to be sewn in stages.

A little project, embroidered and sewn

Hello, everyone.

Recently I noticed that the poly lense wiping cloth that came with some pair of glasses or another, and lives in my purse, had lost its clear plastic case. It was just sitting there, possibly collecting grit to scratch the lenses with. That won't do.

There is an assortment of poly satin fabric in the stash. I picked out a color and decided to embroider a small motif onto the small bag. (Wanted to have a larger one on the front and a smaller one on the flap.)

There is a small flower in the included files of my Janome MC500e and I decided to do it in red, white and blue on navy blue satin. I used iron on woven stabilizer as the sole stabilizer, and topper on the surface. (Pellon Shape-Flex, which is iron-on, stable, and light weight.) Possibly there should have also been some cutaway as well? there is a bit of rippling.

The front of the pouch. 

Inside view with the cleaning cloth.

View of the flap from outside. The flap design was shrunk a bit in the planning stage with the software.

The hem was done with a decorative stitch on my (made by Janome) Kenmore computerized sewing machine. 

The project came out reasonably well and would make a nice stocking stuffer. 

This sewing machine is one of the older computerized type, where there is pre-stored info that you select from, but no availability to add more via computer cable. 

It works well, but it has no adjustment for the presser foot pressure. "It's automatic!" as the trendy marketing people say. (More like, it's preset to one level and you had better like it.) Other than that quibble, I like it. This machine was why my newer sewing machine was also made by Janome: HD3000 not in some cool color but in the basic white. 

 

Easter tidbits...

Hello, everyone.

This year I found a sugar free chocolate rabbit! A small victory, but I can eat Easter candy with the rest of the bunch...separately.

Being stuck in the house most of the time has turned into sewing, too.

 Five more masks have been made. Not sure who should receive them just now, going to get some given away before making more.

Joanns.com has been sending out emails a lot about patterns for masks, and they've even come up with some pieced ones that a quilter can make patch patterns in. I've just been using up the stash that  is the right size and laying decent sized scrap chunks to one side for future use.

And I needed a break from the mask sewing!

A spring-themed zipper pouch

This is another little in-the-hoop pouch like the purple one. Scrap short zipper, an off cut from one of the masks in the above photo, and other fabric lying around. (The green rosebuds print was made into a mask too, but that one's been shipped out to a relative. I think.)

It was nice to use the embroidery machine for that project. (Link is to my local quilt shop, where DH got me my Janome Memory Craft 500e embroidery machine.) I'll probably do some more pouches of this type in various color combinations. They're useful. And textured fabrics can be used with care. There are also some pieces of linen ready to be made into embroidered coasters...I gave pairs of matching coasters away to family for Easter this year.

Piles of (American-made) plastic pony beads have arrived from mail order. They will probably be used in fidgets. (As movable items along a ribbon) Along with the various fake fur fabrics, random on-sale zippers, and odd cuts of fleece and whatnot. The fidgets are fun to make, but they do demand a certain amount of creative focus to come out right. I found that making a fidget for someone I knew was a lot easier, just because I had a sense of the kinds of themes they like. 

Another project from the embroidery machine

Hello, everyone.

Yesterday the embroidery machine got to do some more work: an in-the-hoop pouch with a zipper. The regular sewing machine got to rest this time.

The pouch closed up. The project includes the quilting stitches on the front.

The pouch with zipper open to show the lining. This was a stash buster project all the way: fabric, batting, and zipper.

One thing learned from this, though, it's really important to pay careful attention to the photos and the words of the instructions. I had to redo some things because they were stitched incorrectly. Also learned the hard way that when restarting after a birds nest or similar mess up, it's a good idea to take the hoop bar back to home position and re-position it after doing the "backspace through the messed up stitches" trick.  I have officially broken my first needle on the new machine.

The solid green corner is a piece of linen, which I backed with iron on interfacing before putting into the project. The iron on interfacing has been working well as the first stabilizing bit in the black linen coasters. It worked well here, too. (It's one of the knit ones on that page.) I used the regular sewing thread (50 wt) instead of embroidery thread as there really isn't any thread visible other than the quilting stitches. The project called for cutaway stabilizer, and I now know that it's maybe a good plan to trim that layer a little more than the others at the end when removing the project from the hoop. Final closing stitches: ladder stitch, by hand.

The small pouch as shown will hold a cell phone, at least some sizes, but I suspect my Otterbox cover doesn't go through the opening very well. YMMV. If, like me, you've abandoned your fat, heavy wallet for a little pouch to hold money and cards, this would work very nicely.

Finished a project

Hello, everyone.

The old Aggie Bag that has been going with me on so many trips is getting a bit old. More to the point, I recently used it on a trip where my only luggage was a backpack, carried on. The Aggie Bag was a big to carry on as the pack, and so I proceeded gingerly down the aircraft aisle with a big round thing held in front, the bag, and a big round thing in back, the pack. It was doable but not really desirable, if y'all know what I mean.

I have been learning about my beautiful gift from Santa (I understand that there is now a newer, bigger version on offer instead) and found a project on Sew4Home to practice the embroidery on. It involved buying new thread...oh boy, more stuff that has to find a home!...and embroidering a design, then using the embroidered fabric in a tote bag. The tote is a good size to hold my tablet, DH's tablet, and some few odds and ends...assuming one also has a waist bag, it will work I think.

Yesterday it was finished.

This is the zipper added to the top, to keep the contents from spilling out all over my feet during a plane flight, and discourage strangers from exploring the bag. It is a purse zipper, from stash. I looked around and used one of the various tutorials to create the zipper facings and attach it. The bulk of the bag made things a bit difficult.

The print used for the sides and the zipper facings is from stash--it's left over from a set of half-circle gathered swags at the Former Abode. Or maybe it was a sample piece left from the decision making at that time? The white used is a fake-linen piece (poly) and I used Stay-Flex for the interfacing. The rest of the interfacing was iron on fleece. Maybe I should have gotten some of the Decor Bond that was recommended. Speaking of bulk under the needle of the sewing machine! But I didn't want to add yet another pile of half-used stuff to the sewing studio.

The embroidered side. It is an open pocket. I lined it with a white on white cotton print, so the lining wouldn't show through the white panel. As y'all can see, I didn't go with the suggested leather handles. (Really? Stiff leather handles for something that has to tuck in by my feet in those tiny airplane seats? Don't think so!) I made straps out of some solid cotton that matches one of the colors in the printed fabric, padded with some iron on fleece, and stitched into the seam between the top edge of the bag and the rest of it.

I also added a zippered pocket on the back side. With only a little bending and folding, boarding passes could fit here. Passport would go with no trouble at all. And of course! the credencial. When ever we get to return to the Camino path, that is! The zipper here is an invisible zipper from stash.

About that new thread: it's Auriful 80 weight cotton. It comes on a wooden spool. Of the three spools I got, one has a snag on the edge. It catches the thread while sewing. And, being very, very thin thread, I had to lower the top tension on the machine a lot to get the project to sew out reasonable well. There are 2 failed attempts now in stash, and DH says they're cute too and look like quilt blocks to him. We'll see what turns up. The stitching pulled in when it was done. And because of the snag and the tension issue, there were a lot of thread breaks. I'm not at all sure this thread is for me.

On the plus side, Fat Quarter Shop had really fast service. (Thread link above is to their site.) And lots of colors of thread, too!