Sewing Class

It wasn't really a sewing class in the sense that the students were working on their sewing machines. It was more of a demonstration class where a representative from Bernina, Debbie, showed how to do things. It was fun watching and listening to the other, older, more experienced students.

For this class, Debbie showed us how to wrap strips of fabric over a cord and how to sew these cords to make a place mat and a bowl. First, the fabric had to be cut on a bias. To do that, get a folded cloth a meter in length (when you buy fabrics, the fabric is already folded), fold it to make a triangle and then cut it diagonally. She used an 8 millimeter cord. She wrapped the end of the cord with a fabric so the cord didn't show and then she started to stitch.

When she asked if anyone wanted to try, part of me wanted to but part of me was afraid I'd touch a wrong button or something and ruin the project.

The second was a bag with an applique. She took a folded a tear-away towel, placed the fabric where she wanted the applique to be on top of the tear-away towel and then placed some cut-outs of daisies she got from some scraps. One thing I learned from the ladies was to use at least 2 layers of tear-away towel to hold the embroidery otherwise the edge of the embroidery would have a bubble effect instead of it being flat. Someone also suggested spraying the fabric first with starch especially with dense embroideries while using tear-away towels. I forgot the other suggestions but I think those two are the important ones.

I also learned that the type of fabric one uses will determine what needle to use. For normal sewing, a number 80 needle should be used. For fine fabrics like velvet, a number 60 needle should be used. For finer fabrics like silk or satin, a number 70 should be used. And for thicker fabrics like denim, a number 80 should be used.

It was just a two-hour class but it was nice. The next class would be in March. Hopefully, by then, I'd be able to do something with my machine. Tomorrow, I'll be going back to the sewing shop to get a free lesson on how to use my sewing machine.