It was revolutionary! I'm talking about the invention of the sewing machine way back in the mid-1800s. It made the entire ready-to-wear clothing market possible and it transformed home sewing among other impacts. This quilt is an ode to our sewing machines. It began with a layer cake of 10" squares and then, when I ran out of fabric, a sewing friend handed me the print with the old sewing machines on it. They got incorporated in the design, and here we have "The Mechanical Muse." A muse is defined as "a source of artistic inspiration". Yes, sewing machines can be our muse.
How many machines do you have? I have three currently, and they all have jobs to do. This Elna Excellence 730 is my newest. I purchased it from a sewing friend who was ready to buy new machine. It's pretty, reliable, and a versatile workhorse. It's my primary machine. And I love how well lit the sewing area is. It took a bit to get used to the push button start feature, but now I've put the foot pedal away and use the button exclusively.
The second machine resides at our home in town. I really appreciate having a machine in each location to say nothing of a sewing room to go with! This Bernina 440 QE is also one I purchased from another quilting friend who was upgrading her machine. This is the one on which I do free-motion quilting on smaller projects. There's one of my Selvage Queens on the throat plate. I'll show you more about those in an upcoming post.
Bernina even has her own dust cover for when she's not in use. This wacky face is one I made in a workshop with quilting legend Yvonne Porcella. It was great fun, but what to do with the class project? Turn it into the dust cover, of course! Now I smile whenever I see it.
And my third machine is a lightweight, portable Eversewn Sparrow. It's been with me for nearly a decade and it's the go-to machine for classes and retreats. The other two are just too heavy to lug with all the other supplies. This photo was taken on our guild retreat last year and the Eversewn is hard at work. In the foreground you can even see a glimpse of everybody's favorite machine- the Singer Featherweight! Those sturdy little vintage machines often show up at retreats. They are reliable, even if not fancy with bells and whistles, and so portable. And speaking of bells and whistles... aren't today's machines right over the top with all they can do?!
The same quilting friend who gave me the sewing machine print also added some sewing machine panels in case they'd be of use in the project. They were a little too golden for the quilt, but one of them made a dandy book cover. While I was at it, I also made two covers using Riley Blake panels by artist J Wecker Frisch.
Here are the backsides. And don't you find that quilters are so generous? The Riley Blake panels and companion fabrics were also given to me by yet another quilting friend. Jackpot!
