Seam allowance

I am working on a project where it is crucial to keep the seam allowance to exactly 1cm.

The rubber band marks the 1cm line as well as act as a guide to keep the fabric straight.

So far so good...

Project ABC: F is for Face

I have done several projects before where I used my youngest son's face for the design.

(Have a look here, here and here)

This time it was the turn of my eldest son to lend his picture to a project.

I've always wanted to try freehand machine embroidery but always put it off because I thought I didn't have the right machine for it.

Today I just gave it a go.  This is the result.  

I used a variegated thread on a fine polka dot fabric.

It is not perfect but it is a start....

  

Stash-buster 1

Stash-buster No 1 is done.  

It was a bit of a trial blazer, as I tried out a few ideas, but I think it turned out okay.

I didn't do a lot of planning for this one, I just cut a pile of blocks and started working.  

The triangles were cut years ago and ended up back in the stash box unused, so I started with those and just added more blocks to make up a small single blanket.

 It was the first time I tried machine-quilting.  

I like hand-quilting more, but I just don't have the time to work my way through all the stash by hand.  

I am very impressed with my very basic bottom-of-the-range Brother sewing machine - I think it did a great job.  

I used a variegated quilt-thread, which I like a lot - I think I'll stick with that for the following quilts too.

(Look how nicely the afternoon sun shines on my work space...)

I have already pieced the tops of the next two quilts, but I think I will change the quilting slightly.  

On this one I quilted around every block.  It took forever and it involved a lot of turning the whole blanket around while in the machine.  Not the perfect situation with my machine. Oh, and working away the loose ends! On the next one I will only do straight lines...

The back of the quilt is from IKEA.  I bought a whole roll a few years ago to use as table cloths for a party.  I am still trying work it all away...  I think I have enough to back ALL the stash-buster quilts I still plan to make.

Butterfly Sewing Macines

While visiting the Haberdashery Souk in Deira yesterday (more about that in the next post) we stumbled across a small sewing machine shop in a side street.  Of course I can't just walk past old sewing machines without having a closer look.  At fist glance these machines looked like old Singers, but on closer inspection it turned out to be all different and unknown brand names from India and China.

The most beautiful one was a Butterfly machine.  The man in the shop told me it was from India, but I have since learned it is from China.  Apparently it is a copy of the Singer model 15 machine.

The metal and paintwork is beautiful.  The man told me the machine is in full working condition and comes with a wooden base and box (which I didn't see) and sells for AED220 (US$60 / GBP36)

I didn't buy it, but it was beautiful to look at.  No doubt modern machines do a great job, but isn't it a joy to see so much decoration going into something so utilitarian? I am sure a person working with a machine like this cannot produce anything ugly.

PS:

While searching the internet for more information on these machines I found these wonderful resources:

Relics and The International Sewing Machine Collectors Society

I apologize for the poor photo quality.  The shop was quite small and not very well lit.