It’s super thrilling when you get a bright brand new shiny machine from a loved one!  Or – if you just decided to splurge while shopping for others!  The trick is – using it.  The hardest thing for a newbie to do is to figure out how to use the darn thing.

My advice?  Take a good look at the manual first.  Sit down and read that sucker through, from first to last page.  Even if it doesn’t make any sense.  Just let those instructions wash over you, along with all of the possibilities.  Refrain from drinking a glass of wine until you finish the next few steps.  This is important!  You can reward yourself later.

You next step – turn it on.  Easy  - you got this!  Next is a little trickier.  but the good news is, once you get this down pat, you are off and running. You’ll need to figure out how to run the thread through the top of the machine (to give you that top stitch) and how to wind and place the “bobbin” in the bottom of the machine – this give you the bottom stitch.

If you got your machine from a shop – its a great idea to take it in and have the salesperson there show you how to go through these two steps.  If you bought it online, you can still nail it, just take the instructions combined with the illustrations slowly.  There are usually just a few steps and once you have done it a few times, you will be able to do it in your sleep.

Get some scrap fabric, run it a few times to test and then celebrate!  You have conquered the hardest part of sewing.

Cheers!

Recommendations for good starter machines (Easy to thread and get started):

Brother 60112

Singer Models

Janome

Another tip, if you haven’t yet purchased your machine, is to comb craig’s list or your grandma’s attic for an old, non electric, non-computerized machine.  they run like iron horses (due to the fact that they ARE cast iron) and are the absolutely the easiest to get up and running.  There is very few bells and whistles, but you don’t really need much to sew, actually.  A machine that sews a straight and zig zag stitch will take you as far as the runway.

Welcome to the abigail m. blog. I much prefer stitching to typing, so you may not see very many updates here. I will try and post when I have events coming up where I will be selling my things, and when I am asked questions about textiles or sewing that I think people might benefit from reading about.

For example, basting, as the title mentions, is considered a somewhat boring, but very important step in building a quilt. “Making the sandwich” as my mom and I like to call it, it involves putting the quilt together, bottom, batting and top, and holding it together temporarily, but securely, to allow you to hand or machine quilt the whole thing permanently.

My tried and true method for basting is affixing the bottom of the quilt with long running stitches to a rug on the floor, fitting the batting and top precisely to that. If you have the floor space (and a good vacuum), this is a perfectly good method, though can be very tough on the back as you bend and stitch, foot after foot. The very privileged might have enough space to have a large enough table that you can baste in the same way, but standing! Of course, you will need a place to store that table, and room enough to bring it out for those special times.

These days, you will see many “no-baste” frames that let you wind the pieces all together on rolling racks and then quilt as you unwind the whole thing. Once you get the hang of this equipment, it could be a time and muscle saver, but I have found them to be overly frustrating with one or two too many moving parts. The other downside is that once on the rack, you are stuck quilting most of the project seated at its side. I much prefer being able to curl up on a couch or soft chair with a section of the quilt in a hoop, and do the hand-quilting by a fire, watching a movie, or having a glass of wine. But that’s just me.

-Abigail