A week or so ago, I learned how to make Dorset buttons. A friend invited me to an online class, and I randomly decided to attend.
I am not British. I don’t cosplay. Though I have watched quite a bit of Downton Abbey and various Jane Austen renditions.
Nevertheless, I took the class. For those of you who do not know what a Dorset button is, I will give you the basics and you can google the rest. The Internet has produced many more people who are better at the craft or at describing their history than I.
Back in the 16th and 17th centuries, buttons weren’t a thing. We take them for granted in our lives, but they really weren’t available in mass production until sometime in the 1800’s. In the county of Dorset in England, the folks invented and made famous this way of creating a custom “button”, and the craft has carried on now for centuries. Feel free to google “How to Make a Dorset button.” Many people will provide you with instructions and supply lists.
I took the class on a whim, and then discovered, to my surprise, that making these was…I don’t know…FUN. If you are like me, you might already have a stash of heavier weight thread or perl cotton. Purchasing plastic rings online is quite easy. And get started with an upholstery or chenille needle that has a dull point and a large eye.
Once I started making them, I found that I wanted to make more and more. Why not try one in this color? Or in that size?
The next obvious step was to turn them into jewelry. (Well, obvious to me.)
Once the the ring is filled, it is a miniature open canvas for embroidery. so I started with something extremely simple with no thought at all.
But now I’m thinking about different embroideries and shapes and sizes. And I purchased a few necklaces and clasps, and now I’m just on my way.
Of course I’m still sewing, but this little distraction has taken me down a rabbit hole of renewed creativity and possibilities. Plus it’s easy to do while watching TV or sitting at the kitchen table.
Give Dorset buttons a try. You just don’t know when something will ignite a bit of inspiration.
In the process of cleaning out my basement, which will take me another 10 years, I found an old school yearbook. Not mine. Not belonging to any relative of mine that I can discern, although the school sounds familiar.
It’s from St. Anne High School in Chicago, 1946.
2211 W 18th Pl Chicago, IL 60608 ( I believe this is the address.)
Now, you have to admit, the write-up for sewing is special: “It is a course which provides the teenage girl the opportunity to take an inventory of her charm possibilities, to meet the clothing problems intelligently, and to determine the value of clothes and personal appearance. Here, she learns also the secret of keeping well dressed without over-emphasis on the purse.”
The Annean, 1946
Gosh, not a single mention of STEM, or career path, or self-reliance. Unless “charm’ can be considered self-reliance.
Nevertheless, there is a certain amount of charm, knowing the society back then. And in 2023, we still need to meet the clothing problems intelligently.
Look at those sewing machines. (We won’t mention Sister Mary Bobbin in full habit, and the glowing orbs on the photo of what I can only presume is Mary, in the background.)
A close-up of the gals cutting a pattern. No rotary cutters there! Don’t miss the mini angel-like dress form in the back.
This one is spooky to me. Because the gal standing on the stool literally looks just like me in high school. If I had been born, oh, 35 or so years earlier. We had uniforms that were very similar. Still, I am loving that cabinet they had in the back. What a great place for notions.
I hope you enjoyed this sewing walk through the 1940’s. The beginning of the book makes many mentions of youth being the source of lasting peace. I don’t know if I’ll save the book.
But I will certainly save the sewing page. And frame it.
Well, it’s finished. Quilted on my trusted 780, which is no longer as trusted as it used to be. I think it needs to see the doctor.
I’m not sure why, but suddenly, one of the knobs is not functioning properly. So that is the first problem. Second, the machine just stops sewing from time to time. When I’m embroidering I have to push the button again to restart. It’s not a nightmare, but clearly, I’m in need of some replacement electronic boards. (Yikes, because that is not necessarily the easiest or cheapest fix on a sewing machine.)
Whatever the problem, I was able to finish this quilt along with a quilt label. And now, the quilt will head off to a friend of my Dad’s who has been very kind to him. And the machine, well I’m afraid it’s going to the hospital. Or at least a trusted tech.
And that’s all just fine.
You know why? Because I’m starting a new project which I’m sure can be done on my other machine. (I don’t know about you, but I have at least 3 sewing machines and a serger…or two. Because the instant one goes to the shop, I just HAVE to sew something. Immediately.)
So I keep spares.
But the exciting thing that I’m participating in this summer is run by Modern Quilt Studio. They have a “Summer Camp” that is a mystery quilt. All that I know so far is that we need a cohesive palette that contrasts from a background fabric. The fabrics should not be high contrast. Solids or tone-on-tones preferred.
If you are interested, go to their website, and click “Shop”. The Summer Camp project is listed there for $25. You can use your stash, as I am, and can participate on their Facebook pages. They also have a Youtube video announcing the project. See below.
I’m looking forward to it.
I’ve been curating this collection of colors for awhile without any purpose for them. I tend to do that with my scraps…put them in bundles that look good together. So this is where I’m starting.
The Summer Camp starts June 1, when we’ll find out more about fabric choices and see the first video. Then it skips two weeks and then every week after that for eight weeks. Check out the video here:
So what’s my palette?
Here we go:
“Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose…” As James Taylor would say.
As we go and as we learn more, I’ll add or subtract. For instance, I have some concerns that some of the shades are too close to each other. Nevertheless, I’m gonna go for it. That navy-ish blue in the back is my contrasting background color. It’s not a true navy, it’s much brighter.
Now.
Since this pattern and whatever it will be, belongs to Modern Quilt Studio, I won’t share anything else on this pattern until the end, where I’ll share my finished quilt.
So I invite you to join on their website.
In the meantime, check out the video, check out your stash, and get on the bus for Summer Camp!
I’ve been preoccupied with other things…health issues, cleaning out “stuff” from my house, and just plain doing other things.
But I did create a quilt top somewhere in the middle of all of it. It’s a design from Bonnie and Camille. Sunday Stroll–I think that’s the name. I purchased a kit, because who can resist. But then kits like this torture me until they are completed. Why?
They cost real money.
They are easy to get started.
They don’t require a lot of overthinking about matching patterns, colors, etc.
Once you start, it goes fast.
At any rate, this moved right along. And the colors were cheerful and the pattern was uplifting. Sometimes, you just need to work on something happy.
The thing about kits, however, is that you don’t always get to choose what *particular* print you want to use. This kit often stated “from the reds” or “from the greens”. And when I work that way, I never know if I’m going to have enough fabric for the next section. Or will I have cut it too small already in order to complete something down the line.
I hate worrying whether I have enough fabric. It’s a pet peeve. (Which might explain why I have a room full of fabric scraps.)
Anyway, when I got to the last section on this quilt, I found myself short by just one fatquarter. I guess I could have used a color I didn’t particularly like, but who wants a grey flower? Not me. Sadly, plenty of grey was left.
But the beauty of having quilty friends is that I can just pick up the phone and say “Hey, do you have any Bonnie and Camille that is pink with strawberries?” And, of course, suddenly that extra fatquarter is available.
I’ve finished the quilt top now, but I am stalling on doing the quilting. I know, I know, I can just do it and have this project finished. But I just cannot decide how to quilt it. I like to do it myself on my home machine. And once I start, I don’t want to take forever.
I thought about using machine embroidery, but I’m just not feeling it for this quilt.
Sometimes, I just have to wait for the moment to strike, and then I will be inspired and finish it within a few days.
Until then, I have a pinned quilt sandwich folded neatly on my sewing table. Waiting for me to be in the mood. I know, I know, anyone with sense tells us that you should never wait til you “feel” like doing something. Jump in and do it, and the inspiration will come.
But I just have to clean out a bit more in the basement…and do another load of laundry…and bring those extra clothes to charity…and plant those native plants in the garden…and make dinner…and mend my husband’s pants…and paint the front door…and visit my Dad…and clean out…
Well, you know how it is. I’ll get to this project. It’s certainly not going anywhere without me.
So I’ll make a promise to you. I will not use ChatGPT to create content for this blog. However, I will leverage it for the sake of some fun and to prove a point.
Do you know what ChatGPT is? It’s an AI based program that generates content. And it is really pretty good at it.
The first thing I asked it is “what is machine embroidery”? And I got a very standard answer similar to what you would get from google or wikipedia.
But then of course I said, “what is machine embroidery in haiku?”
Needle swift, flows thread.
Colors blend, fabric comes alive.
Art of machine craft.
–ChatGPT
Not bad right? So then OF COURSE, I asked “what is machine embroider in limerick?”
There once was a machine named Sue,
That could stitch designs anew.
With its precise moves
It always improves,
Making embroidery look new!
–ChatGPT
By then I was on a roll and proceeded to ask it why I’m gaining weight, to compare and contrast Jesus and superman, how will humanity end, could it create a fake language that looks like English, and could it write a Python program that returns the largest odd number from a list. (By this time my husband had joined in, and the answer is yes, it can. And it did.)
But it refused to give me its personal opinion on anything, telling me that it is just a computer program.
With that out of the way, I started to think about how it might actually be useful. So my next question was “Discuss the pros and cons of organic cotton.”
And here I was surprised by how accurate and informative the answer was:
What was exciting to me is that this time, it DID draw a conclusion. Organic cotton is a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional cotton. But it’s sometimes hard to get.
Well, let me tell you: that might not be exactly the way I’d say it, but it sure is accurate. And do you really need my particular voice on my blog? Well guess what. The next generations of this thing are already developed.
With enough input (say 10 years of blog posts) an AI program can start creating content that sounds like me. It can pick up patterns and ways of phrasing and imitation WAAAAY better than any human can (maybe even me.) And it will be able to write in my voice.
And ChatGPT is already in beta stage with a program that has a sense of humor. Don’t ask me how that gets developed. I barely understand how humans develop a sense of humor.
So while I can promise you that I will always write this blog, I cannot promise that I won’t dabble in new technology or ideas or fun. But I will always credit the author…even if it’s some faceless program. But I have no incentive to cheat or fool anyone. Others do. (Teachers, my heart goes out to you).
And other media? Good luck folks.
Be careful out there…things are gonna get weird really fast.
The new Quilter’s Survey 2022 funded by Premier Needle Arts is here and we are in it.
You can see it in the above image. If you want to see the a summary of the whole survey, you can find it here. (Thanks to Craft Industry Alliance)
In case you aren’t able to access images, here’s a quick summary. We are:
Female
In our 60’s
Mostly Retired
Been quilting for over 10 years
Work on 10-12 projects a year
Spend 6 hours or more per week
In addition, the quilt market continues to increase, as it has for the last 10 years. Somewhere around 8-10% of us are new quilters. (New quilters are usually over 50 years old.)
We decide where to shop based on location and fabric selection. (I think we all knew this.) We love our local quilt shops and prefer to shop there.
However, e-commerce continues to expand. And we are using YouTube and other social media channels for How-To info…which may say something about the future of in-person classes.
A missed opportunity for knowledge, in my humble opinion, is the truly social aspect of quilting. The origin of quilting was the sewing bee, the “coming together”. We love our quilt guilds and other communal activities. I would be curious about how this aspect is changing. Or if it is changing at all.
The survey, of course, is designed to help the industry understand where the market is going.
But I will say this much: For the last 10 years I have been hearing about how the quilt market continues to grow. Yet, I’ve seen small quilt shop after small quilt shop close and there just are not others waiting in the wings to pick up the slack.
While the market may be growing, the quilt shops we love are not surviving. I think it is partly because of the pandemic, partly because of e-commerce, partly because of the slow end of of the baby boomer wealth, and finally, fabric is expensive. Cotton and resources and the supply chain are just not getting easier in a world where resources are finite.
Where does that leave us?
I don’t know.
But today I’m going to work on one of my lap quilts and carry on supporting the one local quilt shop in my area that is still thriving.
I don’t think we can change the trajectory, but we can do our best.
The beauty of sewing is that you don’t have to work on the same project all the time. Some days you can work on something difficult. Some days you can switch to something repetitive and mindless. Some times you can try something new. And if you are just wanting to sew without a lot of planning and over-thinking you can K.I.S.S. And I’m sure we all know what the acronym stands for.
Nothing in quilting is super simple or without requiring some skill or knowledge. But some days, you just want to use what you already know and have something finished without a lot of hassle.
Riley Blake makes these monthly kits and my local quit shop had many of them on sale over the holidays. I always make something for Valentine’s Day, and I’m not sure why it means something to me. Growing up, it was just a day I sat home. And even after I got married, we have never taken this holiday very seriously.
Yet when it comes to sewing, I’m always inspired to do something for Valentine’s. Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe it’s the emptiness of the post-holiday household. Maybe I just want something bright in my house this time of year. I’m not sure.
It’s a fairly simple pattern. Although, of course, I found an error in the pattern instructions. You know that’s my favorite thing (sarcasm), especially with a kit, where you don’t have any room for error with the fabric you’re given.
Luckily I *am* someone who reads a pattern all the way through before beginning. Been burned way too many times not to. And it’s a simple fix. Even if you cut it wrong to start, you’ll figure out the problem by the time you get to the next step, and you won’t be short any fabric. I imagine that’s why there’s no correction on their website for this. I won’t tell you here. But if you buy it, drop me a line by commenting here or send an email to carol.edgestitch@gmail.com and I’ll tell you what to watch for.
I found some tiny little roses for backing fabric at the local shop. Thank goodness for them. Please shop your local stores so they stay in business.
That’s all for now. Just a sweet little 36 x 36 room brightener. Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate.
And if you’re sitting home with a box of chocolates–I feel you.
Whenever I’ve had a conversation with any professional seamstress–and I’m not a professional seamstress, I’m a quilter, who specializes in machine embroidery and software, and dabbles in garment sewing–they say, “I’d much rather sew from scratch than try to alter anything.”
I am now in that camp.
My sister works as a Corrections Officer in WI. (MINIMUM security). But they wear these heavy duty, government-issued work pants, with pockets in every direction, darts at the knees, etc, etc.
She was explaining to me that she now only has one pair of pants that fit, because she put on a few pounds over the last few years (who hasn’t?!) and her others no longer fit.
When she put in a request for a couple of pairs of pants the next size up, she was told that there’s a nationwide shortage of pants in that size. Seriously. She was just out of luck. And though we all think we can lose weight easily, let’s get real. Time goes by, years pass, and weight almost never goes away and stays away. (Your experience may vary.)
So as we gathered over the holidays, I told her to bring me a pair that was hopeless. If I ruin it, no big loss. She can’t wear them anyway. I thought, maybe if I look at them I could somehow let them out a bit.
Nice thought.
Once I got a look at them, I regretted every word and wish I had just sympathized and kept my mouth shut. Every seam was reinforced strong enough to withstand a drugged-up nuclear prison riot. Pockets were built inside of pockets and stitched to the outside of the pants. Belt loops were reinforced with some sort of indestructible thread. And flat-felled seams ran up the side that would make the most sense for adjustments. On top of that, her inseam was falling apart, the fabric was worn in some places, and the zipper was pulling away…we’ve all had pants we’ve tried to squeeze into one too many times.
I sighed.
I called my sister. “This is going to take longer than I thought.” Understatement of the year so far, but the year is young.
The first job was opening all the side seams. Once both pant legs were opened, I had my sister try them on, and I measured the distance I needed to add to each part of the pant legs. From those measurements, I created an insert that would start at the waistline and run down the entire leg. Obviously, both legs needed to be done. The insert was made of a cotton canvas in as close a color match as I could find. Then I lined the insert with SF 101 for body and strength. I serged it in to the side seams, and then came in with my sewing machine to give it a nicer and reinforced stitch.
In order to do this, I had to remove a stitched-on pocket that sat on the front of each leg, which was set right on top of the seam..
I don’t know if you can see it from the above image, but the front pockets were each in 3 pieces–an underpocket with compartments, and a larger pocket over the top, and a flap attached to the pant leg at the top to close the pocket. Every corner had super-reinforced seams.
Needless to say, in the course of unstitching all of this, the fabric gave out in one or two places. Not to be sidelined, I went to the computer, ordered some iron-on fabric patches from Amazon and kept working.
The patches actually worked beautifully and I think the fabric needed some reinforcements where it was getting thin anyway.
The final steps after all the unstitching was to put the waistline, the pockets and the hemline all back together again. My sister requested a little extra room in the waistline which was also a challenge, but I used a piece of fabric with some more interfacing (SF 101) again and got it done. (The waistline is elastic, with rubber-like covering, so your work shirt doesn’t come untucked.)
In this pic, I tried to lighten it a bit so you could see the strip down the side that was added to each leg.
All in all, it was a creative challenge.
That I really never want to do again.
While using the seam ripper at one point, it slipped and shoved itself up under one of my cuticles. Yes. It was as horrid as it sounds.
But I lived.
I still have to deliver these to my sister and have her try them on. I know they will be more comfortable than they were. And if they’re not? Well, it wasn’t a complete waste of my time. I learned about the construction and dissection of work pants. Leonardo DaVinci worked the same way, you know, taking apart dead bodies to study anatomy.
But the real lesson is that if my sister wants another pair of work pants altered, I will purchase a seam ripper for her.
I’m happy to do the sewing, if someone else does all the unsewing.
Finally, my Kudos to the workers on industrial machines in Mexico who apparently make these pants for a living (The tag says made in Mexico). I salute you.
These pants should be worth $10,000 in labor. I don’t blame you for stopping work, folding your arms and causing a nationwide shortage.
So here’s a very easy use of Kraft-Tex and machine embroidery to create a charming village.
I re-upped this border design which I used on my last quilt project. Some simple white Kraft-Tex and an exacto knife, and I trimmed the whole thing.
I attached it with crazy glue to a 1 x 1 block painted white. Honestly, the simplest of ideas. And yet, it’s really effective. For anyone who’s not familiar with Kraft-tex, it’s a tough, durable leather-like textile. It withstands a lot. It won’t rip. It’s washable, if that’s what you want to do.
But I just used a sticky-back tearaway stabilizer (Stabilstick) with a piece of the white Kraft-Tex on top. This particular design is ideal for this application. It’s not stitch heavy, but enough to hold its visibility.
I created three of these village scenes, added some fairy lights, with a backdrop of a white birch, which I already owned.
A bit of white filler which I found in the basement (for making stuffed shapes, pillows, etc.)
And when I was done, I had a charming village which would look lovely on a mantle. I have it on a book shelf in our hallway.
It took very little time to create this scenario, and of course, I wished there had been a series of these borders with other shops and scenes all in the same profile. But this worked out on its own.
I hope your holidays are peaceful and calm. May you enjoy your craft and create beautiful things. Happy Stitching!
But I really got hung up on the border. I wanted so badly to incorporate red and white buffalo checks. I tried it in so many ways. I wanted it to fit with my soon-to-be Christmas theme of red and white gingham. (Never mind that my whole house is going to look like a CrackerBarrel.) Anyway, you can see from the top pic that the red was jarring and annoying.
The village border embroidery, however, was adorable and I had to use a mid-tone fabric, so that the snow trim on the village would show up.
I finally landed on a layout that seemed calm, and simple and peaceful, like the images on the quilt.
Now for the snowflake quilting. The first thing I did was stitch out the design on pieces of cutaway stabilizer. I stitch out the first right side up, and the second upside down. Yes, I could have just turned it around in the machine each time, but I also saved the design in software both ways. So with each hooping, I could choose A or B, and didn’t have to fuss with turning the design upside down and back on the screen every time. I cut them to precisely fit the inside of the hoop and used it as a guide to hoop each design.
With the first stitch out, I knew I was going to love the quilting.
Giant snowlflakes falling on a sleepy Christmas village. Yum!
But then I started to really worry about the darker color. Would the snowflakes be too busy? Would the embroidery design underneath hold its integrity against the quilting?
It worked just fine, I’m happy to say. The quilting adds texture, and if you look closely you can see the snowflakes. But they do not overwhelm the village, which was my fear. The quilting thread throughout is Isacord white. Top and bobbin. And it worked like a dream.
Do not try to do machine embroidery quilting with Aurifil. Look. I love Aurifil as much as anyone else, but it really is not designed for the high speed of machine embroidery. It breaks and you will want to scream. (Ask me how I know. Luckily, I learned that lesson on a prior project. Now I only use machine embroidery thread when using machine embroidery for quilting. Just imagine doing 40-some-odd hoopings, and you have to keep stopping for thread breaks. Trust, me on this one…use embroidery thread.)
And one more word of advice: Be sure to leave plenty of batting and backing around the outside of your quilt when you are embroidering. I had to do several hoopings that reached the edge of the quilt and stitched off. You need the room to let the design stitch on something as it runs off the end of your quilt.
In the end, the quilting turned out lovely, and I’m really enjoying the tiny details. It’s a “look closer” kind of quilt.
I want to encourage you to try machine embroidery for quilting. I know it’s intimidating, and 40+ hoopings sounds daunting. But each hooping took about 7 minutes to stitch out. So maybe 8 hours of work spread out over 2-3 days. I was able to precisely place each sequential hooping by using the 2 different cutaway stabilizer templates.
The look is exactly what I wanted. But let me tell you, along the way, I was never sure it would work. I guess that’s what makes it fun.
Happy Stitching to all of you, and Happy Holiday Season!
