Do You Know Your Feet?

Most of these presser feet came with my sewing machine.  I’d say that I stay with the all purpose foot for comfort, and with the zipper foot and buttonhole feet when I must.  But I hardly felt necessary to use the others until I realized what they could do.

Narrow Hemmer Foo

Buttonhole Foot

I've written about the Narrow Hemmer foot and the Buttonhole foot in my July Aha.  So I won't bore you with these same two feet.  

Blind hem presser foot does wonders--neat, close to the edge stitches.  Life before blind hem foot was having my fabric fed right into the needle plate whenever I attempted to sew close to the edge.  Ok, let's not go back there...

Got a quilting foot for I just could not see where I was stitching when I appliqued.  This presser foot has "an open toe", allowing you to guide your stitches.  The problem was that the presser foot shank screw did not fit my machine.  I needed to improvise.  So I used an unbended paper clip instead.  What can I say, it did the job.

The 1/4" quilting foot aka piecing foot is great for sewing 1/4" or 1/8" seams.  The presser foot has 3 red markings at the needle, 1/8" and 1/4", making your sewing precise when you have a rectangular-4-side job.

Here's a link from Viking that has great illustrations of how a piecing foot works: 

http://www.husqvarnaviking.com/us/Clear14piecingfoot.pdf

I am not a quilter, but I could imagine how quilters could not live without this baby.

Check out the Binder foot post here! 


The Overcast foot post here! 


And the Teflon Foot Alternative post here! 

Here's a link that has video demonstrations of how different feet work:

http://www.sewingmachine-sales.co.uk/sewing_machine_info/video/36/bias-binder.html

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Service Sewing Project for the Children of Joplin

Dress A Joplin Child 

For The First Day of School   

http://en.paperblog.com/dress-a-joplin-child-for-the-first-day-of-school-29847/

I plan to join this service project for the children of Joplin, Missouri affected by the tornadoes of last May.  http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/devastating-pictures-of-the-joplin-missouri-torna

Sewers, check it out and see how you could help, too.
Garments should be completed and shipped by August 1, 2011 in time for the beginning of Joplin's new school year starting August 17, 2011.

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July Aha!

Aha #1:  Me and my Narrow Hemmer Foot

I love words such as "clearance", "sale" and "free".  So when I learned that my sewing machine comes with additional sewing feet, I was convinced that I got a great bargain.  However, some of those free feet are tricky because I DID NOT KNOW HOW TO USE THEM!  The most challenging presser foot trophy goes to my narrow hemmer foot.

Great looking foot, isn't it?

Common sense told me that anything problem could be solved if I just read!  So I read the 2 pages of "How To Use Narrow Hammer Foot" again and again.  Tested on my poor scrap so many times that the top edge unraveled.  Still, could not feed the fabric into the curled part of the presser foot far enough to make a stitch.  As I struggled, I would look at my user's manual and go "Are you sure about this?"  (Arrrrrrr!)


I even found a tutorial online for Mastering the Narrow Hemmer here:
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3947/mastering-the-narrow-hemmer-part-two
Tried and failed...

Then, I thought to myself, "Self, why don't we start stitching 2-3" down instead of  feeding that tiny corner into the curl part?"  So I put the presser foot 2" down from the top of the fabric and tried to feed the fabric into the curl part from there.  Sure enough, Aha!  It worked!  The fabric was catching.  When I started stitching, I saw this beautiful narrow hem forming.  No sweat.  I am dreaming of all the possibilities of using this presser foot right now.  And the best part is now there's no more fear. 

Aha #2: Buttonhole  Foot setting on the bag

The buttonhole foot is an odd ball.  It does not fit into my small box for the presser feet family.  I left it in the original plastic zipper bag and got my "aha".

I wrote a short summary of how to use this presser foot (and the page number of the user's manual for detail reading, just in case) on the bag.  Later, I added the setting adjustment, too.  I do not sew buttonholes that frequently, but whenever I do now, it's a breeze. 

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June Great Finds!

 Our backyard pond is livelier than ever.  The girls snipped this beauty and displayed it on the dining table.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Last month, I made this "England flag" messenger bag with 2 Target kitchen towels (could you believe they were only 79 cents each?) and have been carrying the bag whenever I go.  Seriously regret not taking a picture when it was fresh from the craft room.  It’s so well loved that it has paid visits to the washer more than I wanted.  This picture was taken after the bag has survived an egg bath (an accident in the car on the way to Z's swimming), several baby shampoo attacks (another story at the Y) and machine oil slashes (have not a clue how it happened).  It's a true veteran in my book.  

These target kitchen towels were half price when I found them--less than 4 dollars for 4.  I plan to make 2 more messenger bags out of these.  So stay tuned!

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Gifts for Teachers and TA

 I was feeling very brave to finish this gift set for Ms. M in one night, given that there was a zipper involved.  So pleased that it turned out beautifully.

Daisy bag for Miss Daisy's Pointe.

My gift for the retiring Ms. G.  

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Bias Tape Hand Bags

It all started with creating a year end gift for Ms. Che.  I had gotten the cute penguin print, but had no idea what to make.  When I saw this post from Prudent Baby, I knew that was it.

The hardest part of making those bias bags was sewing on the tiny and skinny bias tapes.  Arrr, the agony!  I don’t know how others manage the 1/4'” tape under the presser foot, but I know it took me several unraveling before I was happy with the stitches.   But the skinny bias tapes sure look good on the mini hand bags.  So I cannot complain anymore... 

Upon finishing all these bags, I had a treat of having my brother over for 10 days.  He is sure THE BEST photographer in the family, if not of all the people I know.  Last year, he showed me some brilliant pictures he took at a Mediterranean restaurant.  I fell in love with the place and asked if he could take me there.  When he finally did, I was shocked at how shabby the place really was and was amazed at how my brother could still capture any beauty there.  If my brother is not a wizard at taking pictures, I don’t know what to call him.       

Being thick skinned, I requested that he take pictures of the bags I just made.  Having never attempted to take shots of “products” indoors, the two of us went nuts setting the scene.  It was a super fun afternoon experimenting with my bro.  Of course, we were both frustrated that those pictures were still missing something aside from the props so we ended up shooting in the backyard and had instant satisfaction! 

For the JJ bag, I did not have white bias tape at hand, so, for the 1^st time, I made a continuous bias tape out of a 12”x12” muslin.  This was the 4^th bias tape bag I made.  Well, practice makes perfect!  Very happy that I did not have to use my ripper for this one…

 JJ bag hanging out with my Hello Kitty Tea Pot.

 JJ bag enjoying the afternoon sun.

JJ and bag in action.

 The 2 purple hand bags were made for F and her sleepover friend (from swim team). 

Love the wooden flower button.

And, thanks, bro., for the lovely shots.  Love ya! 

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June Aha!

Aha #1:

I love ribbons and use them for most of the bag/pouches I sew.  But organizing them has been such a pain.  Went to Daiso and sew their wall organizer system.  Never knew what the long hook was good for and then…Tada!

To keep the ribbon tidy, I pin the ends at an angle.

Aha #2:

 Anyone out there is like me who cannot seem to remember whether to turn the knob left or right when it comes to adjusting sewing machine settings?  With the increasing number of members in the house comes the increasing among of work. And it also means using more memories in my already lacking brain storage…Oh, fine, fine, the real problem is me aging to0 quickly, alright?  Talk about embarrassment!

I hate sewing test st. on scraps and I am too lazy to always refer to the user’s manual.  So, the “aha” is to note the settings on sticky labels and stick them on my sewing machine!

This is what I have for length setting:

0- button

9- satin st.

1-4 (short-long) 

I now have 4 setting labels and a kitty sticker gifted by J.

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Gift and Gift Tags

 H got F a 2nd hand ipod for bday.  My gift, besides Lala, the cat, for her, was this hand-made ipod cozy that she could wear on her neck. 

 Since this was for such a small gadget, I wanted to eliminate using metal attachments.  Found these little clear plastic from grandma’s place.  Perfect for the job (besides using them as markers for knitting projects).

Check out the flower eyelid for the earphone plug!

Still got time to make gift tags on Picnik.  Lots of fun

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Diaper Pouch

Celebrating baby Chan's upcoming arrival.  

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Doggy Oversize Bag

Got this yellow upholstery fabric long ago while it was on clearance.  Never liked it as much as I thought I would.  Did manage to make several items out of it (shoulder bag, car trash bag, luggage handles…etc.) When JJ saw my new yellow fabric creation, she asked: “mommy, isn’t this your bag?  Why are you using it as a trash bag now?”  

(sorry, baby.)

Earlier last week, I took the remaining fabric out (still had more than a yard left) and thought hard.  Ah-ha, how about an oversize beach/swim-meet bag!?  And while I was at it, I remembered this blue corduroy remnant that would go with it.  Thus, this bag was born.

 This Puppy Love Applique was from here.

 The Lu’s came to Agape the other night with a bag using grommets to attach the handles.  Lu’s bag was my fuel.

 This is my version of the grommet/clip handles.  Never knew setting extra large grommets were so tiring…  Next time, I am going with curtain grommets (no hammering required.  yippee.)

 Attached snaps on the side to hold the shape of the bag.

Can’t wait to put some towels in there and head to the beach.

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Ms. Fanny's Owl

 I am having so much fun making owl zipper pouches as gifts.  This pink number says “Ms. Fanny” all over with the pink floral body and the dreamy cartoony eyes.

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Magnetic Doll Set

 Saw those really adorable printable paper doll sets on babalisme and learned that I could make magnetic dolls out of them.  I got these magnetic canvas  for this project.  (Of course, you could get just one or two sheets from your local craft store). The dolls and outfits & accessories are charming.  Used a cookie tin as the "stage" and a gift card tin for outfit storage.  JJ loves playing with this set.  And so does mommy. ;)

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Birthday Gift for F's friend

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