Why we just love sewing machine presser feet
They make sewing MUCH easier – and even more fun! We’ve waxed lyrical about sewing machine presser feet on a number of occasions – and
Making the most of your sewing machine for quilting
We love quilting here at Jaguar Sewing Machine Central, so we’re always on the look out for some useful, tips, tricks and techniques to share with our colleagues and sewing groups.
Get in touch if you’d like us to cover a specific topic in a forthcoming article by the way…
Spinning seams
Right – to kick things off, we liked the simplicity and excellent photos of the blog entry How to ‘Spin’ Seams from the Cooking Up Quilts website. Beth, a quilter and pattern designer, recently added this really useful tutorial.
“This is a helpful technique to use in a block where there are lots of seams coming together in one place – it can help to flatten the block and reduce bulk.”
She’s helpfully used a dark thread on the seams so that you can see what’s going on really clearly.
Perfect your quilting – without needle and thread!
One of the biggest challenges for the developing quilter is to be able to reproduce consistent, accurate shapes at will – training your “muscle memory” as it’s sometimes called.
We love Quilting Daily (why wouldn’t we?) and Tweeted a coupe of days ago about an outstanding piece by Brenna Riley Gates called Longarm Quilting: Making Muscle Memories.
Don’t panic by the way when you see the word “Longarm” – these methods are just as relevant if you have a conventional sewing machine!
We were intrigued by this idea – and by trying it ourselves have come to realise that you can improve your quilting techniques far more quickly by NOT using a needle and thread. Sounds weird? Actually, it’s remarkably straightforward – one of those “Why didn’t we think of that?” type things…
Brenna quotes Dawn Cavanaugh’s lesson – muscle memory – from the APQS Longarm Certification (Sponsored by Fons & Porter) course she teaches.
This technique is something that you can practice watching TV – never a bad thing! Although it now looks as though you won’t be able to do it whilst watching the Great British Sewing Bee. (Don’t get us started on that – it’s just too sad!).
Brenna observes that “To be a successful quilter, you must make your muscles remember what it feels like to make smooth curves, flowing lines, and graceful shapes over and over again.”
Make the most of those leftovers!
We’ve always got a lot of those of course – and were wondering whether we really need to bin them all. So we had a little look around and found a wonderful article by the redoubtable Sherri on the A Quilting Life blog.
Her excellent article How To: Scrappy Quilt Binding Tutorial shows that some really engaging results can result from reusing those leftover bits and pieces. It’s a clever piece, enabling the reader to imagine themselves sorting through scraps, colours and patterns, showing how to respond by what they have to hand.
“I was pretty happy with the look…so glad I went with scrappy for this quilt instead of with just one color or even with a scrappy version of one color.”
We’re definitely scrappy binding converts now!
Sewing machines for the new and experienced quilter
Featuring the wonderful quick threading system. The unique DQS (Digital Quick-threading System) has now been introduced to the UK. All current models come with a three year parts and labour guarantee and the 100% satisfaction guarantee.
