Lighter Sewing Machine

Well, I am progressing slowly with my sewing in general. Over the past four or five weeks, I have been learning how to make ‘blocks’ at my classes.

I have been following The Missouri Quilt Company in particular, as our tutor suggested that the blocks that Jenny was making in one of her videos, may be of interest to us.

Yes! I have found it fascinating and now I have progressed to understanding the basics of batting.

What I particularly like about sewing or crafting is, how freely people will help you if you are stuck with something. So thanks for your support!

First Mini Quilt - Ever!

Here above, I have completed my first mini quilt which really has no structure to it, none of it is level, the machine foot pushed the fabric all over the place and the binding has a ‘mind of it’s own!’ But, I have loved making it and I am proud of myself as at the beginning of March this year, I had no idea what quilting entailed, never mind how I would even contemplate making one!

I was so impressed with myself being able to create a mini quilt, that I made another one straight after, this time I did things differently.

The first thing I looked into was picking the scrap material that I felt was of similar quality and weight. The material I had bought was cheap and this was reflected in the quality. But when you start something new, you have to go with flow and buy fabric of some sort to start you off. I am learning as I go along.

The second mini quilt was easier to make as I had just finished my first one a couple of days before and keen to progress due to my recent flush of success!

I took more time over this one and had a go at cutting my own binding from fabric I had.

I had been watching Missy at the Little Green Bean the other day and Missy introduced me to ‘Jelly Rolls’ so I bought one. I used some of this fabric from the roll and joined it together. Mmmm! that didn’t go well as I was confused about the angles for some reason, so I just joined them by butting the two pieces together. It worked but it could be much neater!

This time the sewing machine foot pushed the top fabric forward thus leaving 1.5cm of the batting showing at the opposite side. This made it really difficult to cover with the binding I had made. I must admit this one turned out much better than I expected even though things didn’t always go to plan.

The back of the quilt, I hand stitched the binding but due to my inaccurate measuring and sewing, and the foot pushing the material all over the place, I found it was difficult to sew on correctly.

Back of the Quilt

But I feel I have progressed positively and I am learning something new all the time.

I have been looking for a lighter sewing machine to take to my classes as I have a fair way to walk, once I have found somewhere to park the car.

After looking into the weights and prices of the various machines, I decided to buy a Brother LS 14s.

Clearly I am no expert on sewing machines but this one fitted the bill.

I’ve tried it out on various pieces of fabric and various thicknesses and it seems to cope well.

So next week, I will be taking it to my class and I have no doubt it will be invaluable when it comes to me making more blocks for my new quilt.

Hopefully see you next time and thanks for visiting me, Karen