Bobbins and Postcards

new Janome blue

    Look!  They are blue!

This was a gift from Wendy at Creative House Sewing Centre where I teach.  They are new Janome bobbins.  What a sweet perk!  (Thanks Wendy!)

Aren't they pretty?  I like the color variety because I put regular thread on regular bobbins, and specialty thread on special bobbins (100 wt or 8 wt). Now I have clear, pink, and blue.

So, you know I am a huge lover of fabric postcards.  I've been making and swapping for a few years now.  I even began running Creative Quilted Postcard Workshops which have been very fun.  After 2 years as list owner of the PostCard Cottage swap group, I've decided to hand over the reins.  Sad news?  Not really.  I'm now officially back to 'regular swapper' status, which is really great.  I no longer need to come up with themes or manage anything.  All I have to do is sit back, get creative, and sew.  ; )  I just jumped into a swap themed, "Evergreens".  I make 3, I get 3.  It's been a long time...

I took out some lovely hand dyed fabric from my crazy friend Dahn (haha - yes I just called you crazy!).  I fused it on to stabilzer as the sky, and then I stitched down some white raffia.  It makes great snowbanks in my opinion.  I though I would just threadpaint some evergreens, but then I got this idea...

To do bobbin work, you fill a bobbin with thread that would be otherwise too fat for the top of the machine.  You'll need to loosen that bobbin case screw first.  I have 3 bobbin cases.  One Janome 'red arrow' case for regular tension sewing, one 'blue arrow' case that is set a tad looser for perfect free motion quilting, and my hand painted 'green arrow' case that is my mess-around case to set however I want to.  This is what I use for bobbin work.

You need that fat Dazzle (8 wt) cord to be able to slip out through the tension properly.  The extra case is $25 and worth every penny to not mess up the preset ones.  Next step - flip your work face down and start stitching.

I used a regular weight white cotton thread on top, and then I began 'drawing' everygreen boughs.  If you use a coordinated thread or a lighter weight 80 or 100 thread, then it will be more invisible.  I chose this so that the white would show like snow or frost.  See when I flip them over?

Pretty!  I love it!  I made a few more, and then I began hand stitching little snowflakes all over with a sparkly hologram thread.  They are so pretty...  here they are prior to handstitching and finishing up the back & edges.

Fun.  Add some pretty borders and you are done.  I used a variegated thread that ran blue/pale blue/grey.  I think it adds just the right festive touch.

I hope you enjoyed the little tutorial.  You could make beautiful wreaths this way too!  Oh the ideas are endless...

Have a great weekend.  If you are in town, I just heard that Creative House Sewing Centre is having an open house with sales, goodies and door prizes all day tomorrow (Saturday Dec 15th).  I sure hope my  kids are all on the mend so I can go!!  Crossing my fingers...

Expanding Your Horizons

I had a good time on Saturday at Creative House.  It was a small gathering and more informal than we had anticipated.  Wendy bought SO much food.  Her grand kids and my children got to pig out on fresh fruit and cheese for the rest of the night, so it all turned out great.  : )  Thank you to the women who came!  I had a great little catch up with an old high school friend who showed up, not knowing that it was me she was coming to see!  ; )

Pretty Penny did a good job.  I am really surprised how often I meet Janome and Horizon 7700P owners that didn't know about awesome features or can't get something to work (hey- I was one of them!).  I had two phone calls this month plus an email asking for Horizon advice.

Did you know there's an extra-high presser foot lift?  That's great for stuffing quilts under, or a stabilizer hoop.

Did you also know that there's a little screw to adjust the height of the presser foot for free motion stitching?  You don't need a screwdriver.  You just use your fingertip to adjust it.  You'll want it lower if you are working on scrim or any thinner surface.  You'll want it higher if you are quilting a big fat quilt.  How high?  I tell people to set it at the lowest level you can that will not create any drag at all.  You want it somewhat close as it acts to stabilize the fabric at the point of quilting.  When the foot is too high, your fabric can bounce while you FMQ or threadpaint, and this will ultimately cause skipped stitches.

Another tips with the Horizon is to get the needle plate engaged for FMQ.  Again, this stabilizes the fabric while quilting and will prevent those horrible skipped stitches when you free-motion pretty curls. Read your manual.  It's easy to do.

Hands down, the Horizon loves Topstitch needles.  I do use a lot of Wonderfil thread, and they also suggest topstitch for nearly all their threads.  Maybe that's the variable.  So... Topstitch it is.  It has a long, long eye and I never get shredded threads ever.

When most people free motion quilt on a domestic machine, they lower the top tension to achieve even stitches that meet-in-the-middle of the quilt sandwich.  If the top is too loose or the bottom is too tight, you will get those horrible eyelashes / feathers on the back.  With the horizon, you can leave it on auto tension for the top, and change to this alternate 'blue arrow' bobbin case.  The blue arrow bobbin case is pre-set with a lower tension and creates PERFECT FMQ stitches.  You don't have to fiddle and test on a sample first.  I used to get eyelashes all the time no matter how carefully I sewed or how precise I thought I was setting my machine tension manually.  I found that when I tightened up the top thread, I would ended up getting my top thread snapping during quilting.  Everything was too tight: top and bottom.  That's enough to make me cry.  This blue arrow case is brilliant, it's only $25, and OMG it fits my old non-computerized Kenmore!!  wow.

With that in mind, I popped my other loosely-set 'play' bobbin case (yes - I have another case for bobbin work) into that old 12 stitch Kenmore.  It worked!!  I marked it green for fun with nail polish.  This is the one I play with and set very loose according to the cord / floss I use.  I don't want to play around with my other ones because they are perfect and I would like them to stay that way.

bobbin play sampler

Now I'm really looking forward to doing bobbin sewing on my Horizon - all the pretty stitches she has!

So I was thinking...
If any other Horizon owners would like to get together to experiment with the machine together, or if you need help troubleshooting, I would love to gather at Creative House in the sewing area.  We can set up and sew together for a couple hours. If you are upgrading from a Kenmore to a Janome, the presser feet are the same on the low shank machines FYI.  The bobbins & bobbin cases are all the same for high or low shank Janome & Kenmore. 

I'm linking this in as a "Tips on Tuesdays".  I hope many of you find this helpful.  : )  And yes - I drop the dogs, especially when threadpainting on a low, thin piece.  On quilts, I don't notice drag if I forget.

Have a great day everyone!  I hope this was helpful.

The Bobbin Thing. And BEAUTIFUL Thread.

I was at Creative House the other day to see their new sewing lounge and inquire about teaching there.  (Yes!!  I plan to be teaching in the fall!!)  When they heard me gush about my love of thread, they sent me home with this to try.

I know... excuse the left-over holiday party-polish.  ; )  But seriously, check out the thread!  It's by Wonderfil, and it's called Razzle.  It's a big fat crochet-size rayon in my favorite color with sparkle through it!  I have a regular 'red arrow' bobbin case for sewing, a 'blue arrow' for free motion and thread painting so that I don't have to fiddle with the machine's tension at all between threads.  (LOVE that about Janome.)  So I bought a third bobbin case and marked it with party-green nail polish to distinguish it from the rest.  It's my "play" bobbin.  What a liberating thing to not fear adjusting the bobbin tension!  : )

I set the tension screw so that the Razzle cord could easily unwind off the bobbin.  Then away I went.  I didn't want to try too much because I really don't want to waste an inch of this thread.  ; )  I put a green 50 weight Wonderfil cotton in the top (Tutti green variegated), away I went... basically sewing upside down.  When you flip it over, you'll see the cotton top thread appears to couch the Razzle bobbin thread onto the fabric.  Isn't that cool!?

This was just stitched down onto a scrap of stabilizer.  What a cool thing.  I'll couch with it on top too, feeding it through the foot.  For now though, this is pretty intriguing....

perfect couching.

Thank you George & Wendy : )