Saturday, June 30, 2007

I've been playing

I got my new machine last night and I am so excited. We were just going out to dinner shortly after it arrived, so I didn't get time to do anything except unpack it yesterday.

We had a great time last night. We went to a relatively new Japanese restaurant in town with our bible study group. There were 8 of us there and some had never had sushi before, so it was fun getting them to try new things. This is a really diverse, and great group of people and we always have a good time.

Today I got up early and have been playing. I've read about 1/2 of the manual and have tried out many of the sewing features. Then I took a trip to the BabyLock dealer because I knew there were some things that I needed. (A couple of feet, stabilizer, embroidery thread, extra bobbins, and a twin needle.) After that, I came home and set up the embroidery unit. It was a lot easier than I expected and I played with a few designs. I want to make a passport/boarding pass case to take on our trip and I want to monogram it in the front. I was really happy with all of the embroidery results I practiced. This is what I did:

There are a lot of expensive stabilizers out there, but I did these with the same tracing paper that I use to trace my patterns! I think I will be able to use it for lots of different fabrics, but I bought a sample set of a variety of stablizers so I can try them and see what I like best. I liked the tracing paper just fine.
Sewing with an electronic machine is SO different than a mechanical. the thing that is hardest for me to get used to right now is the fact that the presser foot lift is on the right hand side of the needle so you have to use your right hand to lift it.

Also, I have been working on the vogue dress. I've kind of put it aside, because I'm not sure I like what I'm doing. I decided I wanted to put bra cups in the top so that I wouldn't have to wear a strapless bra with it. according to the finished measurements on the bodice and the style of the dress, I didn't think I needed to do a FBA. However, I should have added an inch in length and didn't. I also needed to line the bodice front in order to add the cups. Because I did not add the inch, I decided to use the lining to make the casing for the straps instead of folding over the 1" allowed. I'm hoping that this will compensate for not adding to the length, but now I'm afraid to finish the dress. I did just run a piece of seam binding through the casing before I took this picture to see how it will fit, and maybe it will work. I guess I'll have to get on that.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, Fun, Fun, Fun!
Your first stitchouts look good!
As far as stabilizers are concerned, the less you buy the better..I have found that a good tear away, and a water soluble in a couple of weights is all I have actually used, and all the other stabilizers are just sitting in the storage container...
I do have embroidery thread, but use serger thread ALOT! It is less expensive and it takes more of a beating in the washer than the rayon thread. It's great for childrens clothing.
So nice to enjoy being with your friends and I hope your dress will end up much better than you hoped!
Enid

Nancy Winningham said...

Thanks, Enid, for the tip about serger thread. This is all new to me. I have been trying to read a lot, but nothing beats the experience of those who are "in the trenches"

cidell said...

I think I'm a little jealous. I have not helpful hints about the dress, but the fabric is very pretty. I also have to add about 1/2 inch to the bottom of those types of bodices.

KittyAnn said...

So glad you got your machine and are having fun with it! I've been following your pursuit of an embroidery machine to see what you'd get...I purchased a used embroidery machine from Ebay last year, a Janome 10000 and love it. I was a bit leary of purchasing such an expensive machine sight unseen because of some bad experiences I'd heard about but in my case, and now yours, it had a happy ending. I use all kinds of things for stabalizers, just depends on what I'm working on really. There are many good discount suppliers of embroidery threads/stabalizers etc online, my favorites are: http://www.thethreadexchange.com/ --- http://www.allthreads.com/default.aspx (free shipping!) --- http://www.redrockthreads.com/ (3.00 flat rate shipping). All the best - Ann in NC

Nancy Winningham said...

Thanks, Ann. I'm not familiar with any of those suppliers, so I will definitely check them out!

Elaray said...

Wow!
New sewing machine.
Summer school over so you have free time!
Life is good, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

Nancy,
Another suggestion: You might want to join a Babylock Yahoo Group...you will learn alot about your machine and embroidery....I have found my groups to have a wealth of information.
Enid

Anonymous said...

Hi Nancy, I found your blog through PR and really enjoy your reviews. A lightweight stablizer that is probably in your home are used or new dryer sheets. both will work. -Ying