Shop Talk is Born!

There are many times I want to write about things I learn at the shop. I work at a Pfaff/Husqvarna dealership 1 day a week. It's also a quilt fabric shop. Now, you may not want to read any of that shop talk, so I will warn you with the Shop Talk heading. Consider yourself warned.

Now this is also my blog, so no one tells me what to write or how to write it. I don't discuss what I may or may not write at work. So, it may be shop talk, but it's still all me.

The simple things are so true. I'm finishing up a project for the boss and I can't get a good stitch formed. My seams are wonky, the tension is tight and stitches are not locking. The only good thing I could say was that it was really easy to rip out, which I did several times. Finally the Great P looks over to see what I'm up to and calmly suggests my thread tension would be better if I had the thread on the thread spool properly. This what I had.

This is what I should have had.

It seems the thread slides off the spool better this way without a little tug after every round. Makes sense, doesn't it? You see why I call her the Great P. Her knowledge is vast and all encompassing.

This is what the seam looked like after. I was putting in a invisible zipper. The still remaining puckers on the right are the part I refused to tear out again. Note the invisible zipper foot. This little darling works beautifully, unless you put the zipper teeth to the wrong side. Yes, I like to experience learning to its fullest. Thankfully you don't have to remove those stitches. They just don't get as close to the zipper teeth as you'd like. So you just pop in another row with the zipper teeth properly placed and you have a perfect zipper. 

I LOVE YouTube! The sewing, quilting and craft videos there are so helpful and inspiring. I could watch Missouri Quilt Company videos all day, and have. When the duck quacks, I'm there. As I'm new to quilting I get to see lots of patterns, how rulers work and pick up tips. Now another company I get lots of info from is Heirloom Creations. They talk about lots of neat things. Today I watched excellent videos on all of the different Schmetz needles available. I came away thinking Universal needles are really a last resort. I also learned to use stretch needles when sewing on velcro. I saw videos on several Anita Good embroidery designs. When you see these made up they really come to life. Can you see why my wardrobe sewing has suffered lately? I need to get back to it. I have piles of fabric and new patterns. Yep, I hear them calling. Bye!