Sewing Machine Help

[Granny]

I spent years as a working woman/business woman/mother/community volunteer/wife/home maker longing for retirement to have the time to devote to hobbies. It has taken me a year to work out a workable timetable and actually really accomplish things. Retirement brought the "tomorrow" syndrome. I actually never let go of my hobbies when working and fit them in as well. I am a organizer by nature but stepped that up so that when I had some free time I could work at the hobby and not spend my time looking for the needed supplies and tools.

Enjoy your sewing day!

[natc]

Hi there. Well, spent most of the time working out how to use the machine and practising on on scrap material. Then we hemmed some fabric and made a plain green table cloth! Will do for this years christmas season!!! I already have a nice gold patterned one for the big day, I think im getting a bit of an obsession with table cloths.... Ive got some more material that i think ill make into an everday table cloth, which i wanted to do today, but wont have the time It feels good, even though its just hemming the material really, just to have made something myself already (with help from mum hahaha)

With the green table cloth, im going to embroider around the edges, the machine has about 6 different patterns, plain but simple, and nice

So im afraid, just for the moment, nothing to really show you, but hopefully going to make a peg bag next weekend,sewing is harder than i thought, my mum just makes it look really easy! But now i know the basics, theres no stopping me, and i can only get better at it

Granny, I think its great that you can now use your time to do the things you love, when you work full time time, it is difficult to fit in your own hobbies, aswell as the job, and all the other things like housework and spending time with family etc. however, im trying to make the time aswell to do the things i love to do also

[Granny]

My motto while working and owning a business, which was far more demanding than just working, was: I keep my house clean enough so the health inspector will not condemn me. In other words, I didn't obsess about spotless but I made a regular habit of picking up through the main areas before bed so that it was tidy. Most people don't notice a bit of dust but they sure notice if the daily paper is strewn in pieces from everyone having read it. That is just one example. I also used lots of baskets, plastic bins, etc to corral things so if I wanted to sew after meals and laundry were done all I had to do was pull out the project that spoke to me at the time. End of session it got put back in it's home. As a storekeeper with a large fabric/craft section I often heard from customers that by the time they had gathered everything they needed for the project at night it was time to go to bed. My time was spent creating, not looking, with this method. I have retained all these methods and fine tune it regularly.

[natc]

Aww thats great Granny! I don find that i "obsess" a bit about doing things in the house that "need" doing before i can do soemthing for myself, and then dont have the time to do what i want as its time for bed! Ha. Advice taken, thank you

[natc]

Hi everyone! Im still playing with my machine....LOL. Saturday, I was going to make the peg bag, i didnt, I made a roman blind instead!!! Hehehehe, and it works aswell!

I had a cheap white roman blind from ikea bought about 3 years ago for my small spare bedroom/office as a temporary thing....was fed up of seeing it. I had some material to practice with which i had bought from skopos a few weeks ago, only cost £3 for about 5m. Bargain. So made the blind with that using the bits and string from my old blind

I have a fair bit left of the material on the roll which i dont know what to do with yet! Any suggestions? I have some spare material which is already cut off the roll from doing the blind which im goin to use to do my mum and myself a matching peg bag!

x

[wendywombat]

Make that peg bag with the left overs???

Roman Blind! How do you make a Roman Blind??

Poke him in the eye!!




Well done! You are enjoying yourself aren't you! I'm so pleased for you!

[natc]

Oh yes i am actually! My mum gets fed up with all the prepping before making things on sewing machine, she says the sewing is the easy part, but i quite enjoy the whole thing, its just the satisfaction of making the things yourself! I know sometimes things can be expesive to make, the material can be, but its great!!!

Hahahaha Like ya lil joke!

And yes...waste not want not....

x

[Granny]

How about some toss cushions for the bed/sofa?

[natc]

Mmmm thought about that, but the material isnt what id like as cushions I dont think, could prob do a cushion though in the office where i put the blind, would match nicely Thank you.

x

[natc]

Ooh just had a thought! What bout draught excluders? Got some downstairs but not upstairs!

[wendywombat]

draught hounds eh?? Great idea!

[~threadbear~]

I remember my Nan had a 'dog' draught excluder and as a child I was fascinted with it. I used to feel so sorry for it, all squashed up by the draughty door and so kept rescuing it!

Sounds like you're having a real blast with your machine. I'm really pleased for you.
Hope you're able to show pictures soon.

[natc]

Haha, that really made me chuckle!

Yes, im really enjoying it! I will post some pics soon

[Cecilia]

Good bargain on your sewing machine. (sorry only just caught this thread). I remember how excited I was getting my sewing machine - several years ago now. I bought a Juki and it's got all the basic stitches plus some fancy ones and I love it. I still consider myself a beginner at sewing. I've only really made curtains so far. At the moment I'm making some voile curtains for the lounge and in January, I made a valence for the bathroom window and curtains for the shelving units in the bathroom. I'm hoping to finish the voile this weekend. Then I'm going to get back to my cross stitching because my stitchy bug is coming back at last.

[natc]

Oooh Cecilia, that sounds fab, are you able to post any pics of your homemade things? Im going to get some posted aswell soon, would like to make a few more things frist though!

I still need to make the 2 peg bags! And im going to make another roman blingd for my landing window and one for my room. My room roman blind is going to a lot bigger and i want it to be made out of some nice material so want a little more experience first before i do that Would be very interested to see you curtains