Bertha
Heidi
She bought it new from a brick and mortar sewing shop, which meant that Heidi came with lessons. Lessons?! I did sewing in 4-H back in the day, and still remember tests in middle school about sewing (specifically, the purpose of a pressing ham, and that one guy sewed an ice cream cone pillow for his girlfriend), why do I need lessons? My approach to sewing thus far had been to grab the cheapest needles, the cheapest thread and the cheapest material, and then hope it all came out all right in the end. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes my thread broke 3 million times and I thought it was the tension. So I went ahead and took the first lesson. And lo and behold! it wasn't always the tension! Thread matters and how long you've used your needles and the shape of the needle and how often you've cleaned your machine! My first sewing class at Ryan's was fantastic, and I'm really looking forward to the next one.
Around the time mom got the new machine, we also learned about Superior Threads. Several of the quilters around here had taken the project-a-month class called Superior University, and all learned a lot. I went to my first quilt group meeting last month, and I was impressed by what projects had been completed. So I signed up - I thought it was better than just going through a Martha Stewart book using all of my old habits.
This week I received my first project. There were three kinds of thread (two colors of Razzle Dazzle for the first project, and a spool of Bottom Line thread to use for subsequent projects), a notebook, a batting/stabilizer called Soft and Stable, a DVD, and two instructions sheets - one for making a thread sample before starting a project, and one for this month's project. I particularly liked that the instruction sheets came with color photos detailing the steps in each project, and that there was a list of all materials needed. In addition, there's a show and tell page that lets you know how other people's projects look.
Now that I'm finished, here's what I learned.
1.) Razzle Dazzle is a thread that you place in the bobbin. Why this seems so remarkable, I have no idea. But it is! When it came to making my thread swatch (perhaps this is not what they are called - gauge swatch?), for some reason it was tricky to have to duplicate my notes on both sides of the swatch. If I had planned ahead (if my brain had said, "you're sewing with the BOBBIN, plan ACCORDINGLY"), this would have been a little better. Just a note to self: When sewing with the bobbin, prepare the front and back of the blank swatch identically, in order to make marking relevant info more easy.
3.) The Soft and Stable is black, and I bought a light colored fabric, which made everything look a little stranger than I had anticipated. On future projects, I will pick a much darker or dizzier fabric so that the black isn't such a big deal.
4.) This thread and project was made for free motion quilting. Luckily, I had purchased said foot this weekend, so I was off to the races. I was so much more happy with the free motion squares than with those I tried to follow on a pattern.
5.) The instructions came with an template, but without any carbon paper, artisitic ability or stencils, they weren't very useful to me. This ended up for the best because it made me give free motion quilting a go, but if there's a pattern like that in future projects, it would be worth it to me to pick up stencils or carbon paper.
6.) I need to take the time to baste the openings. The first one I did (bottom left) is by far the worst. I kind of figured out how to make it better as I moved on, but none were anywhere near as good as if I'd basted.
In sum, this was a great project, and I'm glad I'm giving Superior University a go. I think between now and next month I'd like to make some more of these with the free motion quilt foot. They are just the right size for trying it out without getting defeated.
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