3:00PM
Dear readers,
We are gathered here today for the weekly Sunday meeting of the DK Quilt Guild.
DK Quilt Guild: A place for quilters to gather, share ideas, projects, and to make the world a better place, one quilt at a time. Join us and share your thoughts, projects, questions, and tips. Quilters here are at many different levels of skill. Beginners and non-quilters are welcome, too!
It is my turn to contribute, and I am going to have to do a little tap dance to distract from the reality that I have neither accomplished much nor mastered any quilting skills to share since my last diary. I have been on one long and expensive learning curve as I make my graceless transition from hand quilter to machine quilter. The machine quilting industry that has developed while I have been trying to get ten stitches to the inch is truly awesome, and I get lost in the volume of information and materials available. This is the story of one adult-plus woman trying to change and adapt to the new sewing ways - it is a story of hope, joy and tears.
Join me below the orange ornamentation, where I will attempt to piece it all together.
My sewing comeback did not exactly get off to a roaring start. Ah, the sweetness of age. I needed some fitting and some fixing before I could get going, and I was not a patient patient. The delay was disappointing, but all the while I was reading, researching, delving, learning - seeking out information on the internet - and wow is it available - psyching myself up for the new machine quilting experience. Finally my hand healed enough so I could do some cutting and piecing, and I put together a relatively simple quilt top using my newly acquired grown-up fabric stash and my trusty old sewing machine, the White. This was a Christmas present - and truly a gift - from my parents in 1964 when I was a teenager, and it was the only sewing machine I had ever owned until six weeks ago. It has a great stitch, but the harp is small, and there are no special quilting features whatsoever. I knew that I needed to make machine quilting as easy as possible for myself and that a new machine was going to be required.
Reluctantly, I began the task of researching quilting sewing machines. The only sewing machine dealer in the vicinity suddenly went out of business and the next closest dealer was almost an hour away - so, against everyone's sound advice, I bought a sewing machine right off eBay - a slick Janome 7700 that was "brand new, unused and in the box". It turned out to be a real deal, and I saved $1000 off the dealer's price - which I needed right away for the table, chair and light. I soon discovered that the warranty was not transferable which was a bit worrisome as there were a few problems with the machine. I took it in to a local sewing machine repair shop where the proprietor reassured me that nothing was wrong with the machine. She told me that all of the sewing machines are made by robots "these days", and that they are never tested before being shipped out of the factory. She said that some dealers service the machines before they sell them, but that most don't and that it is a big part of her work. She spoke highly of the Janome brand and said all that was needed were some adjustments. She charged me $80 for servicing, and there were no more problems after she had finished with it. Whew.
Here is the formidable new machine.
Okay, so I am finally getting there toward my goal of making a quilt entirely on a sewing machine - I've got the machine and the ergonomic set-up and a completed quilt top - so now to learn to machine quilt. I acquired books and videos and most of the tools and gadgets they recommended and even then - I soon realized that this machine quilting was not going to be a walk in the park. I decided to quilt the quilt top with some straight line stitching and try out the dual feed assembly on the Janome which is like a built-in walking foot - I was going to start with the easy stuff. Oh, I went through all the lessons in the books, and the quilted sandwich samples turned out great - I thought I was going to be a hotshot. However, any glimmer of hope I had that I might possess a sliver of talent for machine quilting was soon extinguished as I got to work on the real quilt. Missed stitches, rounded corners and irregular stitching were common place, and I had to rip out and re-do about 50 % of my work - nothing seemed to help - I was dumbfounded as to why. The owner's manual gave me three resolutions for missed stitches, and I performed them over and over to no avail. I adjusted the tension and foot pressure and changed needles and generally messed things up so thoroughly that I had to go back to the default settings just to be able to sew.
Then I joined an online group of Janome 7700 owners, and they responded from around the world with a wide variety of suggestions. Something or some things finally clicked, and after weeks and months of buying and reading and practicing, I was finally really quilting on a machine. That magic moment happened only one week ago, and I am absolutely thrilled to be making progress. (I know that you can't actually see the quilting in the picture, but it's there.)
I am still experiencing missed stitches occasionally, and if I can't figure out why soon, I'll take the quilt and the machine to the repair shop for some consultation.
Yes, it is all a learning (and spending) experience like I cannot believe! Life was so simple with a needle and thread and a wooden hoop! Laughingly, I used to think that hand quilting was more difficult than machine quilting. I don't know about that now! Anyway, the learning is fun (finally), and I am really looking forward to getting used to the machine and then eventually getting into some free-motion quilting and maybe some applique. I am just taking the baby steps now - I am eagerly anticipating winter and long days of sewing and getting to know the new Janome.
When I set up the date for this diary months before it was scheduled, I thought I would surely have completed several projects to write about by this time - how naive of me. That will have to be next time.
To all of you experienced machine quilters, I guess you know where I am at - and to all of us new or about to become new machine quilters, hang in there - those magic moments are just around the corner. And to all - thanks for reading. Let's get together in the comments below and talk quilts.
Until we meet again,
Florene
We need people to write diaries! That is what keeps this going. Finish this sentence - "if you can do it, ____". Please consider it. It's fun. The schedule:
10/28 -- Melanie in IA
11/04 -- Pam from Calif
11/11 -- Sara R
11/18 -- OPEN
11/25 -- Melanie in IA
12/02 -- OPEN