January
3 , 2004 -- Sewing machine and doll quiltMy
sewing machine arrived this morning much earlier than expected. Amazon estimated
Jan 29, FedEx said Jan 6 and I was flabbergasted when I heard the door and found
myself staring at my long awaited Xmas gift! Before
I get to trying to make something for real I wanted to play with the sewing machine
to start getting to know it. I
had the manual read and the machine threaded and ready to go in 30 minutes. The
only thing I did not like was the automatic needle threader. Paul had to look
at it and he said it doesn't always work because the little hook that is supposed
to feed through the needle eye sometimes misses the target. Reviews on this machine
warned me of that problem so I was forewarned. It's just faster to thread the
needle myself. It's a good idea, but I don't think it's better or faster than
just doing it the normal way. I'd
gotten some remnant fabric in chicken prints and hunter green so after washing
and ironing it all I started cutting blocks for a doll quilt. I made the template
4.5 inches on cardboard and then traced it out on the cloth. Then I just started
piecing them together with a chunky 1/2" seam allowance because that's where
my post-it pad seam guide fell closest. To
use a post-it pad for a seam guide you just peel off the bottom paper ad sick
it where you want it. The thickness of the pad provides a little wall to butt
the edge of the fabric against to help keep you straighter. And I need all the
help I can get! A half
inch seam allowance is a chunky seam and not very refined, but easy to deal with
while I was getting used to how this machine works. The hardest part was the foot
pedal and getting a good speed. After that was keeping the control of the fabric
going through the machine. I do ok on the short seams but on the longer ones I
start to get wavy. I ended
up with sixteen 3.5 inch blocks -- 4 block per row, 4 rows total. I decided it
was too square for a doll quilt, then added another four blocks to make it more
rectangular. A plain green border and back brought the size to 18 inches by 24
inches -- enough to make any doll happy. 
I
made a lot of small mistakes -- wavy seams, getting some tangles and having to
rethread, getting the hang of stabilizing ends with reverse stitching, not lining
up block row seams quite right, not getting the borders smooth so there are some
little pooches here and there, and one side of the borders was accidentally done
inside out. I don't know if I'll rip it out or not before I finish this quilt.
I'll decide tomorrow when I get to the last steps. I
have to hand stitch the hole I left where I turned the quilt right side out. Even
though I didn't use any batting in between, I wanted to practice yarn ties too. I
had a fun 3 hours though. I still have more chicken fabric but no more solid so
I'll pick up another solid remnant swatch is some other color and try another
doll quilt. Then I get more practice before doing my flag quilt and the nieces
can play with my practice pieces. <<
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