July Sewing Blog


Hi Sewing Friends,I’m back from our two week Mediterranean Cruise and ready to sew up a storm for our August Today’s Special day with some of the unique treasures I found. Aquiring fabrics from around the world is one of my favorite passions. Florence, Italy is an inspiring fusion of fashion. In Lido di Jesolo, a seaside city near Venice, we found a family owned fabric store with rare designer remnants. In the Greek Isles, an extra large embroidered linen tablecloth along with a handful of sarongs was the closest thing to ‘fabric’ I could find. Repurposing those items will be an exciting challenge. It was in Istanbul, Turkey when we went to the Kapalicarsi Grand Bazaar (founded in 1461) that we found a delightful fabric store and trim shoppe among the 4,000 vendors.

When to Watch

August 17

Monday, August 17 at 12am , 1am , 7am, 8am, 11am, 3pm, 4pm, 7pm & 10pm ET


Kapalicarsi Grand Bazaar Kapalicarsi Grand Bazaar
When I approached the storefronts, there was so much to look at I felt like a one-eyed dog in a bologna factory! Hundreds of bags of sequins and coin bangles amid rolls of gold trims and metallic ribbons and threads. The colorful organzas, ornate brocades, fine silks, rayons and sequins were a sight to behold. A touchy-feely frenzy ensued and within an hour we were back on the tour bus carrying bags of overseas potential.
German SINGER sewing machine that pre-dates WW1
We saw an old German SINGER sewing machine in a shop that pre-dated WW1. I wanted to take it home but it weighed twenty-two tons had a $3,600.00 price tag!

Felt Hat WallThere was a spectacular display of felted hats in the Grand Bazaar. Inside the store were many trinkets, jewelry, pashminas, handbags, etc… all done with hand and machine felting. I could hardly wait to get home to my SINGER felting machine after seeing all the creative ideas and feeling a new rush of inspiration from the avalanche of colorful projects.


Felt Hats
Collecting fabric from a foreign city or country can be a great incentive to go there. The hunt is the fun part because of all the things you discover along the way. Just remember to bring along an extra suitcase for all your fabulous fabric finds.
EMBROIDERY
Embroidery patterns for kitchen towelsIf you have the SINGER FUTURA embroidery machine, you more than likely have Auto Cross-Stitch software. We always talk about converting digital artwork into cross-stitched designs but did you know that you can also Cross-Stitch Fonts? There are fonts built into your computer and you can cross-stitch the fonts to combine with one of the 120 built-in embroidery patterns for exciting new kitchen towels!
Here’s one way you can save a font as clipart. Take this one step at a time. Everything you need to know is on your computer screen. Take your time. It is well worth it!!

  1. Click START and ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR
  2. Click FILE and then NEW
  3. Click the T then click on the blank page and type in a word
  4. Highlight the word and go down to the font menu and pick a font
  5. Underneath the font menu, pick a size. I typed in 150
  6. Go to the upper LEFT ARROW and click to make a box around the font
  7. Click on the box and drag the word to the area of page you would like it
  8. Click FILE and then EXPORT
  9. In Save as Type, Click JPEG or BMP. Choose the place you want to store the file
  10. Save in a medium resolution

TIPS

  1. You must stabilize the bottom of the hand towels with an iron-on, tear away or a wash away stabilizer.
  2. Remember to match the bobbin thread to the color of the towel so the backside blends in…..
  3. On heavy terry loop towels with a high pile, the towels are often too chunky to hoop so I “stick” them in place using Sulky Sticky Stabilizer. Instead of hooping the stabilizer, peel the entire piece, stick the whole thing to the back of the hoop, trim the corners and go! (you may want to keep a can of ‘goof-off’ or ‘goo –gone’ because repeated stickings can cause gunky build-up on the back of your hoop but it comes right off)
  4. Use a washaway topper on the front side of terry loops towels. (this keeps the loops from poking through the satin stitches) A balancing act, you may ask? If the towel is not hooped but simply stuck, how does one keep the wash-away in place? Try pinning it to the towel just outside the hoop edges. This will hold down the stabilizer enough to stitch over it. Don’t pull it tight. Leave anough slack so it lays flat on the towel top.
  5. If you aren’t happy with the density of a design that has stitched out, stitch it again! Notice the coverage of the ‘lemon peel on the left and on the right where it has been stitched again.

Embroidery patterns for kitchen towelsEmbroidery patterns for kitchen towels
QUANTUM SERGER TIP
When replacing the needles, you must loosen all the screws so the needles can sit all the way up inside the shaft. Push the needles way up to the top and then retighten all the screws. (you need to be an octopus to do this) If the needles are not seated properly, you will not be able to accomplish any stitching.
Be sure to tune in on August 17th when we have our next Today’s Special. We will be featuring a Brand New Computerized SINGER machine and the ever-popular Futura SES1000 will be on again with even more bells and whistles. I will be wearing the fashions I made and repurposed from my Mediterranean Stash. Thanks for reading. See you on-air.
Sew Your Dream,
Darlene Cahill

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