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Puyallup Sew Expo is Feb 28 to March 3, 2013

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

Did you know the nation’s largest event for sewing enthusiasts takes place right here in the Pacific Northwest? The Sewing and Stitchery Expo is a non-profit educational event that features inspirational seminars daily, hands-on workshops, style shows and vendors from all over the country with booths that specialize in the latest in fabrics, tools, and supplies! This year Sew Expo will be taking place February 28 – March 3rd at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. In addition to all the daily happenings, special guests, such as, Nancy Zieman, Mary Mulari, and the “Hot Fusing Chicks” will be flying in to make special appearances . Nancy and Mary will be presenting their second “Kick it Up a Stitch” and if you joined them last year, you know how much fun time with them can be! in addition, television host Ellen March, will be conducting a live audition for her television show “Sew it All”!

Be sure to check out Sew Expo’s website for all the details you need to know about the show. You can download a registration brochure which features all the seminar and class descriptions. Additionally you can register for the daily seminars on the Expo website. You can purchase Sew Expo tickets at all Quality Sewing locations while supplies last. Pre-sale tickets are only $10.00, they will be $12.00 the day of. The Sew Expo website also features an updated blog and some fun links including:

Pillowcase Patrol As a part of the “Million Pillowcase Project”, the 2013 Sewing & Stitchery Expo will be a collection point for handmade pillowcases. Create cheerful pillowcases for the children who are undergoing treatment at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Check out the Expo web site to download your free pillowcase pattern. Expo collected more than 5,000 pillowcases last year. How many more can we give this year?

Be Sure to Visit the Quality Sewing Booths – This year we will have an exciting notions and threads booth in the Pavilion. We have been shopping and negotiating with our various vendors for several months to bring you an amazing array of hot buys! We have combed our stores for close-outs and one-of-a-kind items that will all be priced to sell fast. We will also feature the new items that Nancy Zieman and Sue Hausmann will show in their seminars, all at special Expo prices.

We have many sewing experts on-hand this year and this will be a great opportunity to meet them. Across from the notions booth in the Pavilion, we have multi-needle embroidery expert George Moore and special guests long arm quilting expert Denise Applegate-Schober. Be sure to visit Simon Haskins, all the way here from Australia, over in the Showplex building. He will be showing his amazing techniques and designs along with his brand new designs that have just been released. In the Showplex, you will also find our main booth which will be filled with awesome special on machines and Floriani products. Across from our main booth, we will have special guest Ed Moore, the lead designer for Koala Cabinets. This event is not to be missed as it only happens once a year! View our 2013 Sew Expo Buyers Guide that showcases some of the fabulous deals to be had at this year’s event.


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Posted in Community Service, Crafting, Events, How To Guides, Machine Embroidery, New Products, Projects and Techniques, Quilting, Resources, Sewing, Sewing Celebrities, Sewing Studio, Show and Tell, Tips & Tricks | 1 Comment »

Watch New Episodes of “It’s Sew Easy” Online Now!

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

You can now watch the PBS sewing show “It’s Sew Easy” online!

Watch this episode on the It's Sew Easy website!

Watch this episode on the It's Sew Easy website!

Visit the It’s Sew Easy website anytime all week long to watch the latest episode. New episodes are posted every Friday.

“It’s Sew Easy” is a wonderful show full of wonderful tips, tricks, and project how-tos. From their website:

Welcome to It’s Sew Easy where our many experts break sewing into manageable parts as they share their own unique style in projects and techniques. Whether you’re a novice or experienced sewer, It’s Sew Easy will enhance your sewing skills so you can create personalized apparel and home accents.

Now that they’re posting new episodes on their website every week, it makes it much easier to watch. You don’t have to worry about trying to catch it when it airs, or trying to record it; you can watch it at your leisure any time during the week.

Happy Sewing,
Chris


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Posted in Resources, Sewing | 1 Comment »

My Favorite Time-Saving Features of the Brother PR-1000

Friday, April 13th, 2012

A while ago I wrote about how excited I was to get the new Brother PR-1000 and how much time I thought it would save me. It has done that and much more.

The Brother PR-1000 Multi-Needle Embroidery Machine

LED Indicator Lights

LED Indicator Lights

There were some things that I didn’t realize would be so useful:

One favorite feature is the way the machine remembers what colors I have on the spools. When a new design is selected it highlights the spools that need to be changed for the next design. For example: I was doing a set of designs from a collection. All the designs had similar colors with just a few changes for each design. As soon as the new design was selected the colors that needed to be changed were highlighted in blue, making it very quick for me to get the new thread colors in position. It remembered that Prussian Blue was on spool 3, and even though Prussian Blue was the first color in the new design it was automatically assigned to spool 3 instead of me having to move it to spool 1 or manually re-assign it myself. In many cases I only needed to change 2 or 3 colors for the new design.

The Name Drop feature has saved me more time than I dreamed possible, especially when it is teamed with the LINK function. The Name Drop feature lets you save series of names that it will place in the proper position on a design. As soon as a design is completed a message pops up and asks, “Do you want to do the next design?” If “OK” is selected the finished design will clear and the next name in the queue will load in the next design automatically. I used a design from an Anita Goodesign holiday collection with Name Drop and completed a monogrammed Christmas stocking for every member of the family. Everyone loved them!

Aligning with the Snowman

I have done plenty of large designs using the FF jumbo hoop and the alignment system in PE Design. I’ve never had problems with alignment, but I was careful and followed a “procedure” to make sure it lined up prior to stitching. Now I just divide the design in PE Design NEXT and let the Snowman® do the alignment. This requires no thinking on my part. I just need to be able to read and follow the simple steps that are displayed on the screen!

- – - – -

If you have a multi-needle machine, what are your favorite features? If you don’t have a multi-needle embroidery machine, be sure to stop by your local store and take a look at one in action. You’ll be amazed at how much time you can save!

Happy Stitching,
Carol


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Posted in Machine Embroidery, Sewing | 3 Comments »

Snowed-In Fleece Projects Roundup

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Well, if you’re here in the Pacific Northwest with us, then you know that we all got hit pretty hard with an ice-and-snow storm this week. A lot of us were snowed in and unable to get to work or school or the store. But one good thing about being snowed in is that it gives you plenty of time for sewing projects!

The below-freezing weather got me thinking about ways to stay warm, and fleece of course is an excellent material to keep cozy during short winter days and long winter nights. So I scoured the web for some great, free fleece sewing tutorials, and I’ve collected some of my favorites here.

Kids always love to play in the snow, so here are some great ways to keep little ones warm:

Fleece Mittens

This project by the From an Igloo website is very easy, and uses elastic to keep the mittens snug on little hands. You can make several pairs of these in a very short amount of time (because we all know how easily mittens can go missing).

Go to the Fleece Mittens tutorial

Here are two fleece hat tutorials to keep little heads warm out there:

Fleece Football Hat

From the Make It and Love It website is this comes this wonderful football hat that is deceptively simple to make. It’ll keep the little guy’s ears all tucked in and warm.

Go to the Fleece Football Hat tutorial

Warm Winter Hat Tutorial

This tutorial, also found at the From an Igloo website, is great because it is easily customizable to fit the personality of the wearer, boy or girl. Upsize it a little bit to make a fleece hat for grownups!

Go to the Warm Winter Hat tutorial

Easy-Peasy Bunched Fleece Scarf

Also great for grownups is this extremely easy bunched scarf tutorial from the Just Another Hang Up website. It’s so quick to make and uses so little material that it costs next to nothing!

Go to the Easy Peasy Fleece Scarf tutorial

Men’s Fleece Hoodie

Guys need to stay warm, too, so this Fleece Hoodie tutorial from Craftstylish is perfect. And you don’t even need a pattern—just a T-shirt that fits him and maybe another hoodie to get the shape of the hood right.

Go to the Men’s Fleece Hoodie tutorial

Even if you’re not going to be spending much time outside in the cold, there are still some great things you can make:

Wearable Fleece Baby Blanket

This project, also from Make It and Love It, is like a sleeping bag with arm-holes for a baby! It keeps him nice and warm but still lets him get around.

Go to the Wearable Fleece Baby Blanket tutorial

Clean-Cornered Fleece Blanket

For a more grown-up blanket, this tutorial from The Distracted Domestic can teach you how to make a fleece blanket of any size with nice, clean, sharp corners every time! You’ll be surprised at how easy it is.

Go to the Clean-Cornered Fleece Blanket tutorial

Fleece Monster Pillow

And finally, just for fun comes this adorable Fleece Monster Pillow tutorial from Bernina’s We All Sew website.

Go to the Fleece Monster Pillow tutorial

Even though it looks like the weather is clearing and all all the ice and snow is leaving us, these all still make excellent weekend projects.

Do you have any favorite fleece projects? Leave a comment and tell us all about it. If you try any of these projects, please email a photograph to info@qualitysewing.com or post it on our Facebook wall.

Happy Sewing,
Chris


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Posted in Fast Projects & Gifts, How To Guides, Projects and Techniques, Sewing | 1 Comment »

12 Days of Gifting Recap

Thursday, January 5th, 2012

Last month on our Facebook Page we ran a series of polls where we asked our fans various questions and you answered. Now at the beginning of 2012 we’ve compiled some of those polls into handy charts so we can all learn more about this great sewing community around us!

We asked, “What is a sewing technique that you’ve always wanted to learn or that still intimidates you.” The clear winner was free-motion quilting! Zippers are also apparently rather intimidating, and there’s a lot of interest in various applique, serger, and garment-making techniques. Here are the top 6 responses:
year-end-chart-techniques

We also asked, “Do you do more machine embroidery or regular sewing projects?” Regular Sewing got just over half of the responses with 53.3%, while embroidery got 37.1%. 9.5% of you said that you sew and embroider an equal amount:
year-end-chart-versus

Then for fun we asked, “What is the longest time you’ve ever spent sewing one project?” A lot of you confessed that there have been projects that took 20 or more years to complete, and many are still UFOs (Un-Finished Objects)!
year-end-chart-longtime

We asked what your favorite color is, and purple came back the clear winner with more than a quarter of you saying it was your favorite! Blue and red were distant second and third places:
year-end-chart-colors

Take a look at this pie chart and you’ll see that purple and blue together make up almost half all by themselves!
year-end-chart-colors-pie

We also wondered, “What sewing accessory or notion could you not work without?” The favorite response was a good pair of scissors, and Kai scissors were very popular. A lot of you admitted to needing a good seam ripper by your side! Here are the top 5 responses:
year-end-chart-notions

It’s always interesting and fun to learn more about this sewing community that we’re so grateful to be a part of. We want to thank each and every one of you for making 2011 such a wonderful year, and we hope to see all of you in 2012!


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Participate in National Tie One On Day: Sew an Apron!

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

Apron Memories: Tie One On - An Apron Of Course !
What is National Tie One On Day? It’s a grassroots effort to help those in your community who are a little less fortunate this Thanksgiving season.

Here’s how to participate: On the day before Thanksgiving, Wednesday the 23rd this year, make or buy some sort of baked good: a loaf of tasty bread, muffins, a pie, etc. Wrap it up in an apron and tuck in a nice note. Tie on your own apron (hence “Tie One On”), then walk out your front door and personally give it to someone in your community—next door, up the street, downstairs—and if you’re feeling particularly giving you could do this multiple times to multiple people!

The whole point of Tie On Day is to put the “give” back into Thanksgiving. It’s a wonderful way to bring your local community closer together by sharing your good fortune in the form of food and an apron. Who wouldn’t love some baked goods and a new apron?

If you don’t have a spare apron handy to give away, you can always make one. It’s very easy to sew an apron, and giving a hand-made gift is much more personal and rewarding than giving someone something you bought from a store.

I’ve found many free tutorials on how to sew your own aprons. Here are some of my favorites:

Dish Towel ApronDish Towel Apron

From Martha Stewart.
This is an extremely easy and satisfying apron made from two dish towels. There are even a couple of pockets in the front. An added bonus is that dish towels are usually already hemmed, so it saves you a ton of work!

Speedy T-Shirt into ApronSpeedy T-Shirt into Apron

From Instructables.
Most everybody has old T-shirts lying around, and this is a great way to re-purpose one into a bib-less apron. You can sew a pocket onto it using scraps of fabric!

Men's ApronMen’s Apron

From Needle Book.
In case your recipient isn’t quite into pretty or frilly aprons, here’s a great tutorial on how to make an apron that is more man-appropriate.

If none of these apron designs are to your liking, Tipnut.com has compiled a list of 50 Free Apron Tutorials, so there’s bound to be something there for you!

You can find out more about National Tie One On Day at the official website: National Tie One On Day at Apron Memories. It’s a great opportunity to put your sewing machine to use for a good cause.

Happy Sewing,
Chris


Posted in Community Service, Projects and Techniques, Sewing | No Comments »

How Does Your Machine Make a Stitch?

Sunday, November 13th, 2011

There are a lot of things in life that I just take for granted. One of these is how a sewing machine actually makes a stitch.

I understand tensions of both needle and bobbin threads and their relationship to how that effects the actual stitch (see “Adjusting Sewing Machine Tension” to learn more).

Click on Image to see Video Illustation

I know the parts that are necessary in making a stitch: needle, bobbin, bobbin case, and bobbin hook (check your machine’s manual for specific information about your machine or consider taking a class to learn).

What I didn’t even put a thought into was how the machine actually made a stitch. As far as I cared, little bits of magic happened every time the needle went up and down that somehow entwined the needle and bobbin threads.

While poking around the internet, I found this video illustration that clearly shows how the bobbin hook grabs hold of the needle thread and loops it around the bobbin case. The result: a stitch.

Take a look, it is actually quite simple.

Having seen this animation, in slow enough to see motion, it is easy to understand how threads can be entangled if the bobbin is not inserted in place properly.

Even though the video shows how a stitch is formed, I am OK with still believing that it is a little bit of magic!

Reva


Posted in Sewing | 5 Comments »

Garden Fresh Quilt Pattern: Free Download

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Garden Fresh Quilt

Garden Fresh Quilt from Fons & Porter

I was watching a rebroadcast of a Fons and Porter Love of Quilting show (Episode 1506: Garden Fresh) recently. Currently this episode is available to watch only on Public Television. The guest on the show was Gail Kessler, who designs fabrics for Andover Fabrics.

It was very interesting to hear how the designing of fabric is approached. One thing that I found very fascinating is that when Andover creates a panel, it consistently has a 24″ repeat. This being the case, the repeat of each panel must fill the area (selvage to selvage and the full 24″) and elements in a panel are not always symmetrical. Gail’s tip for using elements (or cheater blocks) from a panel is to trim them so that they are visually pleasing and not necessarily exact by measurement.

Herself a quilter, another thing that Gail strives for when she is designing a border print fabric is to give each 4 full repeats of the striped border across the yardage. This way only one modest length of the fabric is needed to be purchased in order to create all of the borders on the quilt. Don’t you agree that it is very frustrating to need to purchase a great amount of yardage in order to get the proper amount of a border strip to complete your project?

Since the show was originally from April of 2010, the likelihood that this same fabric would still be available to purchase is probably pretty slim. However, the free pattern, Garden Fresh, from Fons and Porter is a real keeper!

Download the Pattern Here!

Hope you enjoy
Reva


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Mitering a Border Print, Will It Work?

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

I love stripes but finding a way to feature them in a project can be a challenge.  When I find a stripe fabric that is great, I like to feature it in my project so that it looks its best. Mitered Borders are a great way to achieve this.  But how do you know if the border print or stripe that you have chosen will work well for a mitered border?  It is a very simple process really, let me tell you how.

  1. Take a piece of striped fabric that you like
  2. Fold it in half with the wrong sides together.  If you are looking at fabric that is still on a bolt, it is already folded for you.
  3. Next, fold again so the folded edges are together.
  4. Finally, fold down the top corner (the loose one) 45 Degrees
  5. The pattern revealed will show you how your stripe will look when it is mitered.
  6. What do you think? Not sure? try it again but rotate the fabric 90 degrees first so that the stripes go the other direction.

Try this some time, it is a fast and easy way to “audition” a fabric and see how it may work for your project.

Enjoy adding some fun to your next project.

Reva


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Posted in Quilting, Sewing, Tips & Tricks | 1 Comment »

Make it With Wool Contest

Wednesday, September 14th, 2011

This October the Puyallup Quality Sewing store will host Washington’s Make It With Wool (MIWW) Contest  (formally held at Pacific Fabrics).

What is Make It With Wool?

MIWW is the longest, continuous promotional entity of the American lamb and wool industry. It began to help promote wool and generate new interest in sewing with wool among young sewers.  Sponsorship of the program has remained strong with support from the lamb and wool industry – producers, feeders and woolen mills – as well as the sewing and fashion industry – sewing machine, thread and fabric companies and fashion magazines – as well as individuals and organizations interested in agriculture and youth.

Currently the Contest offers divisions for entrants from pre-teen (under 12) through adult.  It is a very economical contest to enter, at only $10 for a National entrance fee.  There are several cash prizes given to the winners of the different categories with a top prize of $2000.

If you are interested in entering this contest, check out their MIWW website.  This is such a great opportunity get involved with a great program and to show your creativity. Who knows, you may win a prize!

Reva


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