Well I found out what's behind all those numbers and symbols on the sewing machine. Have you ever taken the time to stitch out all the decorative stitches on your sewing machine? That was the groundwork of an online course I'm taking on Craftsy called“Stupendous Stitching” taught by Carol Waugh. Before getting into the fun of making the class project which I'll show in the next post, I first explored the decorative stitches on my Bernina by making this stitch reference. Class instructor Carol Waugh had us stabilize fabric rectangles, and then sew rows of the numbered stitches in order. We also varied the width and length of the stitches just to see the effect, and numbered each stitch
It was a time investment that yielded a
very useful tool. So often the stitch images shown on a machine or a
reference card bear little resemblance to the actual results. Now I
can see what they look like, and I confess I had never even glanced
at many of the available stitches before. Next Carol showed us how to
assemble these stitch samples into a booklet to keep handy by the
sewing machine. She even made a pretty cover for hers, but I was too
anxious to get to the project so mine remains cover-less for now.
While I missed the mark and wound up
with pages that vary in size, it won't diminish the usefulness of the
project. There are nearly 200 stitches, but taking the time to sew all of them was well worth
it. It's easy to spot favorites, it helps to know which stitches use
up a lot of thread or take a lot of time, and it provides a great visual tool for sewing. I
have the stitch settings for a couple of often-used stitches like the
buttonhole and feather stitches memorized, but now I can vary the
stitches I use by glancing through my stitch dictionary and making an
informed choice.
3 comments:
I'm jealous, will you make one for me? I've always meant to do this, now there is a format.
I feel like a slacker! I did this one year with my new machine but only filled a small 5" square!! this is such a great reference for you to have, Nancy!!! Very nice effort!!!
Just getting caught up, Nancy ... too much fun with company! LOVE what you have done. I agree, you will get a lot of use from these samples. To heck with the cover -- carry on quilting I say! HA! :o) Donna
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