7 Reasons to Own a Serger

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I know. You’re a quilter.  Or maybe you enjoy machine embroidery. You don’t need a serger to have a happy life.

But I’m here to tell you that you can use it in many useful ways, even if you think you won’t.  If you never want to have one, that’s OK.  But let me try to persuade you just a little.

Why You (Might) Need a Serger:

  1.  To make quilt backs.  I use my serger all the time for this simple reason.  It is the fastest machine to do a very straight and very sturdy stitch on long pieces of fabric.  Afterward, I just iron the serged edge to one side. This is especially helpful when the back of the quilt is rather scrappy and I am assembling multiple pieces.  Just keep your edges straight, and off you go. Easy peasy.
  2. To make duvet covers. You may or may not want to do this, but I use a nice comforter on my bed that needs a duvet.  I always make my own, never purchase one.  I piece them together just like quilt backs.  Usually I have one print on one side and another print on the other, so when I flip the comforter I get a contrasting, yet coordinating look.
  3. Curtains and valances.  This is the very best way to make things for the home.  I have different valances for different seasons in my kitchen.  They get lots of washing and re-hanging over the course of the years. They have to be able to withstand all of that and a serger keeps the raw edges from unraveling. Of course, the edges that you will see are turned under but seams and ruffles really last with a serger.
  4. Pillow cases.  I use the easiest pattern for pillow cases ever (not the burrito style–google it if you don’t know about that.) The Ready Set Serge is great for simple serger ideas and I have used a number of her patterns over and over and over again.
  5. Garments.  This one is a no-brainer, but if you’ve never sewn garments, it may not be obvious to you.  It’s the best way to give your sewing a finished look without elaborate things like french seams or other couture techniques. This is the tool for quilters who occasionally sew a garment.
  6. Knits and any stretchy fabric.  Sergers were designed for this.  They can pound through sweatshirt fabric like nothing else. Leggings? Bathing suits? Stretchy fabric for a skirt?  All perfect on a serger.
  7. Simple bags. With the onset of the “bring-your-own-bag” movement, I have often found myself using leftover fabric (sometimes not-so-leftover fabric) as grocery bags, farmer’s market bags and carry-alls. I prefer cloth bags to anything else because I can throw them in the washing machine…and often do. The finished serged edges keep them from fraying and they withstand wash after wash.

I hope this persuades you to think again about a serger.  I know that for folks who do more garment sewing than I, the serger is priceless.  But even as someone who is mostly a quilter and machine embroiderer, I find that the serger is the perfect complement to my sewing.

And here’s the thing.  Once you have one, and learn to use it, you won’t know how you ever did without.

Speaking of JoAnn’s…

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I wanted to add a follow-up to my last post about JoAnn’s.

I recently read an excellent article on the Craft Industry Alliance blog, and I want to provide a link to all of you.

The article very thoroughly goes over the impact of recent tariffs on the craft industry.

Answers are not simple or easily resolved. It is important for all of us to understand that this impacts us all. Thankfully, the article makes it clear that good quality quilt fabric, the kind we purchase at quilt shops, is manufactured in Korea and Japan, and therefore not affected by the tariffs.

I urge you to read the article.  Please note the sidebar that covers the list of products that will now be priced higher. This is our industry. These are the products of our hobbies and often our businesses.

The least we can do is be aware and well-educated.

(Thought it might be a good time to re-up this blog post of mine about where sewing machines are currently manufactured. In light of recent tariffs, the country of origin may become pretty important when purchasing a new machine. Clearly, those made in China will be going up in price…unless we see something else happen in the news.) Here’s the post.

Happy 75th Anniversary Joann’s!

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This August, Joann’s Fabrics is celebrating its 75th Anniversary by giving a gift to all of us who love fabric, crafts, paint, DIY, etc.

They are getting a makeover, and all I can say is: It’s about time.

I do like to go to my local Joann’s, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to throw things on the floor at the checkout line (or the fabric line) and walk away. Either they don’t have enough help, or the help doesn’t care, or the place is just a mess or all of the above.

And yet, if I need plastic snaps, or a white button, or home decor fabric, or any number of sewing notions and I need it NOW, it’s the place we go.

They are starting with a name change…from Joann’s Fabrics to just Joann’s. Because they want folks to remember they are so much more than just fabric. (Honestly, I think that’s just their marketing department catching up to real life, because who of us already didn’t know that’s where to go for storage or plastic flowers or beads or…whatever.)

But the most exciting aspect is that they will be updating their 800 stores this fall and into next year.  They already have a prototype store that’s been updated in Columbus OH.

Who’s up for a road trip to Columbus?

New features in Joann’s stores:

A cutting bar:  You’ll be able to check in, and get a text when your fabric is cut.  In the meantime, you can wander around the store. Anyone who’s ever stood in line while folks dawdle and chitchat or worse, know this can be a frustrating and time-consuming wait.

Creator’s Studio: I love this idea. You can rent a sewing machine, grab a cup of coffee, a cookie, or attend an event or class. The studio is positioned in the middle of the store, not shoved away in a corner.  It’s meant to revolve around community…possibly a place for bees to meet? I don’t know how this will work but am anxious to see it in action.

A Custom Shop:  Tailoring, custom design? Sounds like they are working toward a specialization that very few other places have. (With good reason.) I’m guessing this would be a place for alterations and some custom services, possibly home dec.

Expanded merchandising:  They are planning on carrying more sewing machines from different manufacturers, for every budget.  Obviously, this gets complicated because sewing machines need service, but we’ll see where this goes.

All of this is great news for anyone who loves crafts of any kind. And we already know that all crafts overlap. Sewists are often also knitters or scrapbookers or bakers (or gardeners…hey, Joann’s don’t forget about that!) We need a place to go that’s inspiring and caters to customers’ needs.

Of course, we still love our independent quilt shops, and they will ALWAYS be our first choice for quilt fabric. But in a world where so many shops are disappearing because of online competition, it’s good to know that someone is investing in us.

And in our $3.7 billion in discretionary spending.

FreeStanding Lace Embroidery

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done any freestanding lace. A friend recently gave me a few spools of white Isacord thread and so what else would I do with it?

I immediately purchased a few designs from OESD. Collection 12724 was perfect for what I had in mind.

When you are working on freestanding lace, you’ll want to use 2 layers of wash-away stabilizer.  I used AquaMesh from OESD. Not to be confused with Aquamesh PLUS, which is also a wash-away stabilizer, but has paper, almost like contact paper on one side, so the stabilizer is sticky.  You’d use that on towels or something where you want the stabilizer to disappear, but don’t want to hoop your fabric.

A quick look at the machine in action:

Now comes the finished product.

Once the design is complete, remove it from the hoop, trim away as much excess stabilizer as possible, then rinse it in warm water until the stabilizer has dissolved.

Next, pin it down to a piece of styrofoam or floral foam.  Cardboard will work as well, but it will get a little soggy. I invested in this piece of styrofoam years ago in the floral department of a Michael’s, JoAnn’s or Hobby Lobby. I don’t remember where. The point is that it will last for years.

When you pin, feel free to use all those pins that are bent or just not perfect for quilting or intricate sewing. These pins don’t matter much, they just have to hold the design in place. It WILL curl and stick up in strange places if you skip this step. Overnight is usually the perfect amount of time for a design to dry completely.

machine embroideryIt’s a perfect accent to a delicate teacup or a small jewel box.

I have been working on a larger project and I planned it out in Bernina Software 8. It requires a few of the pieces repeated and arranged and sewn together. I don’t know how it will look when it’s done, but I’m envisioning that it will make a nice centerpiece on a round table with a festive color underneath. It’s about 18 inches across. (It’s over half a million stitches, so…yeah, we’ll see.)

Freestanding lace, Bernina Software 8

For some of my previous postings on freestanding lace, you can click here.

And here.

Tell Me What You’re Reading

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These precious last few days of summer (school starts back in less than 3 weeks) are the perfect time to settle in with that last book you wanted to read. Me, I spend my whole summer looking for something perfect.  My favorite thing in the world is to read books set in the season I’m currently living.

In the fall and winter, I like to read about cozy fireplaces, and blizzards and storms and the crunch of the leaves or the quiet of the snowfall. In the summer, I want to read about warm breezes and the sound of crickets, the scent of meadows, and long horizons of farmland.

I have no problem shifting from brilliant classic to current thriller.  It’s like a light dessert after a heavy meal. Or getting to eat a treat after my vegetables.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog, I also like to cover my books. You can see a bit of that here.

So here’s a list of some of the books I read this past summer.  I haven’t found a bad one in the bunch:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Maybe you read this in school. I certainly did not, and I cannot imagine anyone teaching it now.  Just way too controversial, though it is brilliant in its capture of a time and place.  I sank right into it and laughed out loud at some points. Some may have difficulty wading into the mind of a young boy, but…I truly did not. I entered and never left until I was done. Mark Twain is a genius. At many other times I was sickened and appalled by the norms and lifestyles of the times. It is mind-blowing as an adventure story, and Hemingway famously said “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called ‘Huckleberry Finn.'”  I agree. From this book comes Indiana Jones and every other Hero’s Journey that followed. If you’ve never read it, jump aboard the raft and travel the Mississippi with Huck. You won’t regret it. And you learn a bit about true friendship.

 

 

 

Gideon’s Sword  and Gideon’s Corpse by Preston and Child

This is a series I started with the most recent book, “The Pharoah Key.”  I bought it in hardback, and I got about 10 pages in when I decided to put it down and go back and start with the first book in the series and read them all through in order. Wow. Is all I can say. Start with Gideon’s Sword, and buckle your seat belt.  This is like watching an action flic.  I cannot say this is great literature, but man, it’s fun to read.  Some of it is a bit on the gory side, but they are thrillers. You can never imagine how our hero is going to get out of his next scrape. This author partnership will never win any awards for their character development of women, but still…fast-paced page turners. Reading this duo is like riding a roller coaster. Hang on.

Howard’s End by E.M. Forster

Now for something completely different. I found this book by wandering through the Classics section of Barnes and Noble.  I’ve been trying to read as many of them as possible, and I now have gotten through all the low-hanging fruit and am venturing into some of the (in my opinion) lesser known classics. It was this or “Moby Dick” and frankly, after reading “Mutiny on the Bounty” in high school, I’m not sure I ever got back my sea legs. At any rate, this is a novel about hyper-intellectuality vs. blind pragmatism and industry. Beyond that, you’ll have to read it, as it also has a sub-layer of willful obtuseness and the last thing I ever expected…brilliant feminism.

I hope you are enjoying these warm days. September will be here in no time. If you have a minute, share what you’ve been reading. I’m always ready for another adventure.

Do Your Flying Geese Need Their Wings Clipped?

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I’m not terribly big on specialty rulers, but I do have a few.  Mainly, I find that I purchase a ruler, use it once (maybe) and then have to find a place to store it for all eternity.

I am guilty of that with my WingClipper from Studio 180.

I had it for over a year and never even took it out of its original packaging.

Then, a couple of months ago, I did some layout/design work for a good friend who is a Studio 180 Certified Instructor.  In return, I asked her to show me how to use the tool efficiently.

If you are in the Midwest, you can contact her and book her for classes.  Her name is Lydia Ziegler and her contact info is themeasuredstitch@gmail.com.

I am planning to begin work later this summer on a project I downloaded from 3 Sisters.

I know I downloaded this for free, but for the life of me, cannot find the link any more. But it is a pattern that is available out there, even if you have to purchase the download.

UPDATE: A friend found the link for the free pdf.  Here you go! (Thanks Tomi!)

It looks like a pretty good challenge, and I will be using Laundry Basket Quilts’ Blue Barn Collection (shown below.) It’s getting to be a couple of seasons old so the fabric is no longer readily available everywhere.  Luckily, I think I have plenty.  But I guess I’ll find out.

As you can see, I’ll be doing plenty of “flying geese”. The medallions are gorgeous and truly intimidating to me, but the flying geese?  I can tackle those…especially now that I have made friends with my WingClipper.

This is pretty straightforward piecing and trimming.  The instructions that come with the ruler are very clear and helpful, and if you want a class, see Lydia!

The reason your piecing stays so accurate is that you create everything slightly oversized and then trim down. You are provided info for multiple sizes.  It’s really a great way to approach any pattern that has flying geese.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think.  I will be embarking on my adventure within the next few weeks.

Til then, may your goose be hanging high.

Patience and Persistence and (Im)Perfection

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15-year-old:  Wow, that’s cool.

Me: Thanks!

15-year-old: It must be teaching you patience.

Me:  Child.  Raising you teaches me patience. Sewing is what I do to relax.

15-year-old: That’s wonderful.  That you could find something other than food to help you relax.

Sigh.

In fairness to the tactless adolescent living in our house, I have been making a concerted effort to eat properly, and he is fully aware of that.  I actually think that *he* thinks those are words of encouragement. It’s almost like he’s new around here.

The other day I found a “journal”, a spiral bound notebook, from when I was 14. I looked over the scribbles and cringed myself into a fetal position…pages and pages of teenage angst. So-and-so likes this guy, but he likes another girl and this one didn’t talk to me today at school, but another guy wanted to call me after meeting at the roller rink.  OMG. Could I be any more of a living breathing cliche?

Anyway, the point is, I wrote pages and pages about my weight. At 14, I went to Weight Watchers for the first time, and I weighed 104 lbs. It was the end of the world.

Yes, that’s Donny Osmond.

A little more digging and I found the rest of them.  An archive of my weight, my life, my loves.  You know you have them too, somewhere.

And I started thinking about the themes that run through our lives.

What are yours?

Do you have a way to revisit some of them and see if you’ve made any progress?

I imagine that this is the work of our lives…to choose the colors, to find the patterns, to do the hard work, and to make something out of nothing. Again and again. Over and over, and with any luck, we evolve.

We learn a little patience, a little perseverance, and we learn from mistakes. (Well, at least some of the time).

And, maybe, like me, you have some battles that just drag on and on.

As we get a little softer around the edges, those old battles aren’t quite so fierce any more.  We can slow down and enjoy the details and the journey.

And maybe, at the end, when all the quilts are done and all the notebooks are filled up, we’ll have something to show for it.

Maybe.

Public Service Announcement – Recognizing Shoplifting 101

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Weird topic, right?

I was in the self-check line at a local grocery store the other day (the line for unlimited items) and a couple ahead of me had two shopping carts.  The woman was running things through the scanner and the man was at the end bagging and putting things into the second cart. Efficient.

I was only half paying attention, but was there for their whole transaction. When they were done, the woman moved the empty cart up behind the full cart and quietly transferred a case of soda to the “bagged” cart. She didn’t scan it. I glanced around and the clerk was busy helping someone else in the self-check line. The couple finished up quickly and off they went. Free case of soda.

Huh.

As someone who worked at a small shop, I can tell you that LOTS of people shoplift, and it’s not often who you think it might be.  I worked in a quilt shop, for Pete’s sake. 98% of the customers were women and more than half of them were over 50.

But some of them stole from us.  Sometimes it wasn’t much. They often purchased from us at the same time.  But we learned to get good at recognizing them.

Some stats (click for more): 

  • 1 in 11 people is a shoplifter. Think about any 11 people you may know.  One of them likes to steal things from stores.
  • 75% of shoplifters are adults, 25% are kids.
  • They are caught only 1 in every 48 attempts, and brought in front of police only 50% of the time.
  • Only 3% are professional, organized, international shoplifters. The other 97% are regular people who get a kick out of it. It’s a mini-thrill, probably the same as you or I would get from a chocolate treat.

Working in a quilt shop we had several types of shoplifters.  Sometimes we’d be visited by a team, one chit-chatting with workers while the other “browses”. When only one person is manning the store, a shoplifter will often give that person a task; cut some fabric, search for something online, while off they go to quietly grab.

Others will continue a conversation with a worker, making sure they are just out of your eye sight. They are around a corner, they stoop down to see something and in it goes into the handbag.

I’m not making any of this up. And you know, every quilter has a giant bag she carries around with her…mostly innocently.

At our shop, we established a code word.  I won’t give it away, because you never know when it will come up again. But if any worker at any time said the code word in any context, it was all hands on deck. We stopped whatever we were doing and focused on the culprit. All eyes on YOU. (Not you, of course, but the shoplifter.)

As a shop owner, you have no right to stop someone until they are out of the building. Then what are you going to do? Chase them in the parking lot over a fatquarter or spool of thread? Maybe.

We found that prevention was the best approach. Once someone was suspected, they were followed ruthlessly by workers, made to feel uncomfortable. The goal was “Goodbye, don’t come back, or we’ll do the same thing.” Were we sometimes mistaken? Possibly. But you develop a sense of these things and we were a vigilant group.

With eyes wide open, I see more petty theft all around than I ever did before.  I once knew someone who worked in security at the Shedd Aquarium in downtown Chicago.

Now THERE are some real thieves…well-known bands of pickpockets that worked in teams and preyed especially on older women with big bags, and pre-occupied moms. The more crowded the day, the more thefts take place.

My advice to you: open your eyes.

You will be surprised at what you see. And it will train you not to be a victim.

The good news is, most shoplifters won’t ever commit another type of crime. It’s their thing. Just don’t let it happen in your shop. And if you don’t own a shop? You don’t want it either, because prices will rise for all of us.

Eyes open.

 

Persistence Pays Off

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Believe it or not, I found my fabric. Awhile ago, I wrote a post about a line of fabric I fell in love with, and all I had was a layer cake to use (40 pieces of 10 in. x 10 in.)

I searched at different shops, but because I no longer knew the name, it was basically impossible to find.

And then I stopped at a quilt shop I haven’t been to in a number of years. I seemed to recall that this MAY have been the place where I purchased the layer cake almost a decade ago.

The shop is hidden in the cornfields of Illinois, on a farm. When you pull in, it feels as though you are pulling into someone’s private property, and frankly, you are.  The quilt shop is located in an out-building, in back of the farmhouse. Two dogs run to greet you as you enter. Sam, the chocolate lab, is extremely friendly and looks perfectly at home lying on the braided rug at the entrance. The other dog (whose name I can’t remember, is more hesitant…a  spaniel mix of some kind, I would guess. But eventually, he warmed to me as well.)

I brought out the cutting samples that I carry with me, and turned to the owner.

“Before I waste a lot of time, do you think you have any of this fabric anywhere?”

The quiet woman took the samples in her hands and slowly wandered to the back of the shop. She ran her fingers over some scraps, and thoughtfully pointed, “There’s a bolt.”

She continued to scrounge through her clearance fabric and one by one found beautiful remnants of the fabric. A yard here, a yard and a half there, another yard here.

I was thrilled.

We found enough for the back of my 80 x 80 in. quilt, and more for any accessories I might like to add. All at clearance pricing.

9 yards total, and I felt like I had won the lottery.

The name of the fabric line is Evening Mist, by Sentimental Studios, for Moda.

And the name of the shop is Basketcases in Clare IL.

Above, over 120 – 4 1/4 in. 9 patch squares. The quilt still has a long way to go.

But I feel complete.