Fostering creativity through sewing and other hobbies
We LOVE the farmer’s market!
Unfortunately our local market doesn’t open until the first Saturday in June, so we’ve waited patiently…
Finally, it’s open AND we’re in town!
Our first stop—the yummiest, biggest, juiciest peaches!
We also came home with tomatoes, corn, squash and cucumber. Yummy!
For my sewing friends: Check out my new post at www.needlesnutsandbolts.blogspot.com. It’s all about your all-important sewing machine manual.
My mom has a saying:
Every time I’d complain about my bobbin thread breaking or my machine making a strange noise or not being able to balance the tension, I’d hear
So, in honor of my mom, for this post, I need you to:
You can find it, right? Mine is here…
That’s right, it’s within arm’s reach of my machine.
Did you find yours yet? Okay then,
…and a stack of sticky notes. In my beginning sewing class, I have my students mark some pages for easy reference. Even now, these are the pages I turn to most often:
If you mark these pages with stickies, the next time you get stuck, the answer will probably be close at hand. So, the next time you want to throw your sewing machine out the window:
Are you having a problem with your needle coming unthreaded each time you get ready to stitch a new seam? Several of my girls in my latest sewing class were having that very problem. I watched them a time or two and found the cause.
When you don’t raise that needle, the tension is still on the thread. When you pull it away from the machine, you are stretching your thread. After you snip, the thread is bouncing back–right out of that needle.
Any questions? Leave me a comment or drop me an email!
It’s Summer! Well, almost! June for us means:
Swim Meets!
Of course, this means hot days, ice chests, sno’ cones, sunscreen, and swim caps. The BG needed a great bag for her suit and gear, so I whipped up this beach bag:
I wrote out and photographed a tutorial. You can find the Beach Bag Tutorial at http://www.needlesnutsandbolts.blogspot.com .
Vinyl makes a great beach bag. But, there are a few tricks you need to know before you start:
1. Once you poke a hole in vinyl, it says there. So, use pins only when necessary. Instead:
2. Topstitch ¼ inch on each side of the seam to hold seam allowances in place.
3. Finger press only: Move your fingers along the seam line, pressing the seam allowances open.
4. Use a plastic or Teflon sewing foot. If these aren’t available, place a piece of tissue paper between your vinyl and your presser foot.
5. Use a NEW size 11 needle.
6. Increase your stitch length to 3.0 mm.
7. Don’t backstitch to secure seams. Leave long tails and tie knots.
To construct your bag:
1. Cut out 2 rectangles 22 inches wide x 18 inches tall.
2. Cut out 2 rectangles 4 inches wide x 27 inches tall.
3. Fold under ½ inch on the top edge. Tape into place.
5. Stitch along the zipper tape.
7. Unzip the zipper about 8 inches and fold the pieces right side together.
8. Stitch the edges with a 5/8 inch seam.
9. Open out the bottom corners.
10. Pinch the side seam and the bottom seam together.
11. Mark a line 2 inches from the point and 4 inches wide.
14. Trim the corner.
15. Repeat steps 9-14 for the other bottom corner.
16. Turn the bag right sides out.
17. Handles: Using the long, skinny rectangles, turn in each long edge into the middle.
18. Fold the new edges to the middle.
19. Stitch close to the each outside edge. This will be much easier if the tissue is between your presser foot and your vinyl.
20. Mark the bag in 4 places: 6 inches in and 1 inch down from each top corner.
21. Secure the straps to the outside of the bag at these marks.
As if I didn’t have enough to do…
Several months (okay, a year ago) I started keeping some of my sewing-only stuff on another blog. It’s mostly book reviews and “how-tos”. I’ve passed out the site to my sewing students, but I realized I never mentioned it to y’all.
This site has no personal stuff on it. No pattern review, no kids pictures, no personal sewing plans, etc. It does have my book reviews and “how-tos”. (But, I post all that stuff here too, so you aren’t missing anything.) I hope to add links to great tutorials.
Now to ask a favor, if you sew, will you please check it out? I’d like to have a site that beginners can depend on for good resources. I have found that my adult sewing students are overwhelmed when you hand them a list of websites, but if I could hand them one site that would direct them to other helpful places, that’d be great.
Right now, it’s not laid out quite like I’d like it, but I don’t know what I need. I’d like your input. Please check it out: www.needlesnutsandbolts.blogspot.com and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
4. Place the zipper coils along the fold and tape into place. 
6. Repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 for the other large rectangle of vinyl. 
12. Stitch along this line.
