Re: Your favorite trick?
- From: Anne Rogers <annekh23@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:11:58 -0700 (PDT)
This is why I piece by hand. I can't get
points to match to save my life using a
machine!
IIRC you like to hand piece for portability also?
If you feel the urge to do something by machine, don't despair, the
learning curve is fast learning curve. About a year ago, I was very
frustrated, I had finally taken a beginning quilting class and was
branching out rapidly into projects of my own. I cursed at my sewing
machine, blaming it on my problems. Then I read a book by Sally
Collins and picked up many tips on accuracy, I found their was so much
more to it that the step at the sewing machine and even there I
realised it was me, not the machine, it was good enough, their are
some machines out their that it is very difficult to sew a quarter
inch seam, such as the feed dogs being too wide apart. I told myself I
could learn to piece well on that machine and when I'd proved I had
the skill, then I could start more seriously looking at purchasing a
new machine. It's difficult to estimate how many hours it took, the
amount I would sew in a week would vary, but it was about 4 months and
things were transformed and looking back their are ways I could have
made the process easier on myself, fabric selection that is forgiving
gives you space to make errors that won't show without close
inspection, the things I did at that time tended to have high
contrast, or fairly plain fabrics. I have a mariners compass sat in
front of me right now where the fabric choices are distinct enough not
to blunt the points but with enough colours in common that the couple
of points that I would have resewn in plainer fabrics are very
difficult to find - which lets you complete projects whilst learning.
Obviously I still desired a new machine, but it became a case of a new
machine might make things faster and easier, but not better. I got
lucky and DH decided I should get a new machine before Christmas, when
I'd been thinking it would be another year away and the results are
exactly what I expected, it feeds much more smoothly, their are sew
many aids to an accurate seam that I can sew a bit faster, the inline
thread snippers are a real time and thread saver when chain piecing
isn't possible.
I would honestly say that I am not someone who is naturally neat and
accurate, I'm someone who's creative, loves colours and patterns.
Obviously I do take some enjoyment from the process otherwise I
wouldn't be doing it. I've had to pull on skills that are not natural
to me to improve the quality of my piecing, I had to slow down, I had
to check, I had to be persistent. I would definitely say when it comes
to the physical things like manual dexterity, hand eye coordination
and what not I'm somewhere in the average range and that if I can
learn the skills, then the vast majority of other people can too. I'm
lucky that I have talents in other areas so that other parts of the
design, cutting, piecing process are easy, I'm one of those very
annoying people who you can show a picture too, give a measurement and
I can just do it, but that's a completely different set of skills to
when you've got your pile of patches to chain piece, actually doing it
well. It's a bit like learning to write, you move from print to
cursive, but that's different to the content, but that if you can only
print, it's slow and frustrating and the content suffers as a
consequence. So if skillful machine piecing is something you, or
anyone else wants to acheive, my recommendations are to get a book by
Sally Collins, believe in yourself and accept it will take time.
Cheers
Anne
.
- References:
- Your favorite trick?
- From: Polly Esther
- Re: Your favorite trick?
- From: Irrational Number
- Your favorite trick?
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