Friday 20th December, 2024
... MAKING THE DAYS COUNT ...
It’s been raining here almost all week … so I’ve moved my sewing onto the dining table down in the house – and as the family are away enjoying a roadtrip holiday, I’ve had the whole house to myself (and my sewing!) – and so far this week I’ve used two different machines, my B435 and B790PRO and the embroidery module, (and my Bernina Embroidery Software) as I made 3 Christmas stockings for my youngest daughter Gemma and her family.
There was a lot of cutting (squares, triangles, tumblers, half hexagons), arranging, piecing, pressing, (lots of unpicking as I got distracted by all the Christmas movies I watched), embroidering names and finally adding the pompom trim and finishing them. (I did make an extra one for her to choose from) I find great joy in making things for my family and friends, and these were a really special request.
And just like that … Christmas is 5 sleeps away – I’ve got more Christmas gifts to make, and it’s Blog day again! When I started this back on the 12th of February, I realised it would be something that might keep me a little busier than I was at the time. Well, it’s now 312 days later (or 10 months and 8 days – yes, I googled how many days between that date and today) … and gosh, I cannot believe how many hours I have actually spent sitting at my laptop during that time writing posts, editing photos and uploading them! Each post seems to take me 2 days to complete. I get out the particular foot or accessory and sample pack I’ve made up prior, set up a machine to play on, get distracted, find the threads and trims I need, get distracted, stitch (the FUN part!), get distracted, stitch more, get distracted, find an unfinished project and ‘pour’ over it, get distracted, write notes, get distracted … can you see a pattern happening here? ‘Life’ does happen in between of course. Maybe I have too many ‘tabs open’ in my brain, and way too much ‘fun Bernina stuff’ up in the Studio to play with … oh never! It is MY HAPPY PLACE!
Over those 312 days, I’ve revisited feet and accessories I haven’t used for some time, played with all my favourites, filled up two boxes with samples and notes, and the third is partially filled.
One of the highlights of every week for me, is that the things I write about bring back wonderful memories of so many years spent working in Bernina stores, discovering very early on what my ‘Tribe’ looked like, teaching classes, leading Bernina Club Days, attending shows and generally sharing my love of Bernina. So looking at my ‘schedule’ I see there are 18 or so posts to complete before my 2024 Challenge is finished, around the end of April. The Big Book of Feet has been wonderful to work through page by page, and I hope I’ve inspired you in some way, to play more with the feet, accessories and attachments that Bernina create for us, and given you some information to further your sewing journey.
But for now, my Challenge continues … and here I am tonight about to stitch out the samples … just me, my gorgeous B790PRO … a Santa hat, a glass of red wine … and a Vintage 1954 Classic movie… White Christmas!
... Did You Know ...
Cleaning and Maintenance
After last week’s Needle Punching fun, of course there was a lot of ‘fluff’ in the machines – I have a great little handheld vacuum cleaner (with a ‘bespoke’ extension) that I initially bought for my L890 and it worked overtime once I’d completed the last sample. I brush out a lot of extra lint as well, (love my red Bernina Brush!) and then oil my machines, give them a quick run and pack them away nice and clean until, usually the next day! Canned Air does not get used in any of my sewing machines, or my L890 Airthreading Overlock/Coverstich Combo machine. I do blow out a lot of fluff from my L460 overlocker with it though, once I’ve opened up the front and left covers.
I have a ‘maintenance’ kit which is always near my machine, handy to change a needle, to add some oil, or a quick brush/clean out.
Rather than write up a detailed section on cleaning and maintenance, I have decided to share a few links that will prove helpful for all Bernina sewing machine owners.
Firstly, here is a link to a We All Sew article, written some years ago now by a Bernina Technician, and the advice is still very current today. Every picture tells a story … Don’t use canned air in your sewing machines!
Another We All Sew article from the same Tech, covers frequently asked maintenance questions …
and lastly, there is built-in help on your machine about how and where to clean/oil them. Check out this link as he walks you through the procedures …
... Between the Lines ...
Pintuck & Decorative Stitch Foot #46C
Another clear foot in the range, with grooves underneath to guide previously created pintucks along, as decorative stitches are sewn between them. The needle opening is 9mm and the foot has a coded sensor at the top to allow the wider decorative stitches to be selected on machines with a 9mm stitch width maximum. On other Bernina models the maximum stitch width will be 5.5mm
Options available for the foot – It’s available in a one version suitable for all models.
Foot #46C had 2 different techniques to stitch out, and you can refer back to the Blog Post on Pintuck Feet #30, #31, #32 and #33 for further pintucking inspiration, including the use of the Pintuck Cording Attachment.
Here’s a quick link back to that post …
... This Week’s Foot Highlights or Challenges ...
‘Pintucks’ – love this foot for pintucks – used a 2.5mm twin needle – had a crease up the centre of my sample to follow for the first row – used far left and then far right grooves under the foot for the outside rows – and then stitched the ones in between having two tucks running in the grooves nearest to the needle opening. The foot simply tracks along perfectly.
‘Decorative Stitches’ – I used half of the sample from the first stitchout – left the twin needle in and selected Decorative stitch # 684 and stitched in the gap between the sets of pintucks. The stitch lost definition with the twin needle, should have changed back to a single needle. I had tested some stitches prior to making the samples – love this stitch, but not with the twin needle. Could have been better if the two threads were more of a contrast perhaps.
‘Decorative Stitches’ – I used half of the sample from the first stitchout – left the twin needle in and selected Decorative stitch # 684 and stitched in the gap between the sets of pintucks. The stitch lost definition with the twin needle, should have changed back to a single needle. I had tested some stitches prior to making the samples – love this stitch, but not with the twin needle. Could have been better if the two threads were more of a contrast perhaps. That’s the downside of not doing a test sample with the actual needle and threads you are going to finish with.
... A Little Something Extra ...
Bernina’s Big Books
Have you discovered any of the other Bernina Big Books yet? There are 8 fabulous, educational publications covering many areas of Bernina’s sewing machines/accessories, overlocking, embroidery, quilting and even a long arm one (only one I don’t own). Here’s a photo of my books in the Studio …
This week I had my Big Book of Stitches out, as I played with a lot of different stitches to use between the pintucked lines. I really must get started on my Stitch Book for my new B990 … that’s a lot of stitching … there’s 2927 Stitch patterns and 879 embroidery designs built in to the machine … might need to break that all down into something achievable … but wow, what a lot of playing that will be!
There are a lot of ideas out there if you are looking to make a Stitch Book. I’m still deciding which format mine will take – initially I planned to use a ring binder with business card sleeves in it, and some folder tab dividers for the different stitch categories (Officeworks had all the supplies I needed) – I’ll need to stitch out card size samples. Check out this ‘We All Sew’ Blog post from many years ago which shows what this option would look like …
One other option would be to make full pages of each of the category of stitches. It really gives you a better idea of what the stitch looks like if you actually STITCH it out! I often stitch sample pages of stitches when I’m planning a new decorative stitch project. Take a look at this Bernina International Blog post from this year, with pages of stitches sewn.
... A Little Reminder ...
Bernina’s Accessory of the Month December 2024 *
are the Accessory Cases for both Sewing Machine feet AND Overlocking Feet 20% off – contact your preferred Bernina Dealer for this fabulous offer. *Australia and New Zealand Promotion Only – ends … 31st December 2024 …
But wait there’s even more machine, feet and accessories on sale!
The Big Books are included and there are now 8 different ones – The Big Book of … Feet, Stitches, Embroidery, Machine Quilting, Long Arm Quilting, Computerised Quilting, Serging, and the latest one is Serger Quilting.
Just a shorter post this week … waaaay too much real sewing needed doing before next Wednesday’s family gathering!
Merry Christmas to you all from The Sewing Gypsy Studio.
Hope Santa delivers something wonderful for you. Chat again next Friday,
