Have you indicated your interest in attending the Sewing Going weekend in May? Kathleen and Lucy need to hear from you before month end if you are interested. It’s a great weekend. You will come away feeling refreshed and proud of all you get done! I plan to be there!

http://www.craft-design.ns.ca/courses/course-list?page=1

Check out these spring classes.

Wild Ginger is having a “Time Sensitive” sale! I use this software for much of my sewing. I’ve just been working on pant fitting from patterns, and went back to my Wild Ginger. It gives me the ability to input my fitting adjustments once and have them apply to everything I do. It’s not for everyone and it does have a learning curve, but it works for me.

I’m not. I’ve been sewing and I’m sure I’m not the only one. With the cancellation of SIN Saturday and the abundance of sewing time this week I’m suggesting you send me pics of what you get up to. We can sew together – virtually! If you don’t want to send pics, comment here to let us know what’s on your cutting table. Pics can be sent to me directly, or to the contact email on the blog front page.

POSTPONED – the SIN Saturday Sew-in, on Saturday, March 21. New date will be announced shortly.

Decision made fearlessly by our esteemed leader in our own best interests. All hail Ms. Tory!

Need a measuring tape for your cutting table?

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?cat=1,43455,53293&p=70539

This is a good time of year for following the Sew Mama Sew blog. Last month they reviewed purse patterns daily. Now it’s on to a month of daily projects for gift giving. They have quality free tutorials and patterns and lead you to really good sites.

Do you have an automatic threader on your sewing machine? Do you yell at it often and rarely use it? Well stop yelling at it! That isn’t at all nice or productive. Take a close up look at what you’re dealing with here. It’s a teeny wire hook on a wobbly arm – trying to fit through an equally flexible and often moving teeny hole. It can do the job quite nicely, but the moon and the stars must align in a harmonious state.

If your threader is not working well, gently guide it down to the proper location and (again, gently) wiggle it into position through the needle hole. Do that a few times. It’s like a retraining and alignment. This may help. It also helps to be gentle and flexible when you do get it working again. Some work better than others too. My older version works much better than my newer one. One version also works with the needle at any height, and the other likes the needle at the top of its cycle. Go figure. However it does pay to have it working when you need it, so put the effort in.

And if you’re trying to thread a size 9 needle you need to think again and put away the wacky tabaccy. Maybe with a really fine thread, but even then people – I don’t think so.

I have been asked to post 2 machines for sale.

For more information, contact Karen Ladelpa at home 902 835 8919 or email karen_ladelpha6@hotmail.com

PFAFF 2170 embroidery sewing machine. Beautiful built in designs. Easy to use. 2 extra hoops and an extension table for a larger sewing area. Wanting to upgrade $1500.00 OBO

7570PFAFF embroidery sewing machine. Many built in embroider stitches. Plus it has an embroidery unit. Regular professional maintenance. A real workhorse on all types of fabric. Wanting to upgrade

Also asking $500.00 for 7570 OBO.

After Minh mentioned Patch in the last blog entry I needed to drop in. It was easy to find parking on a side street. The shop is very nice and the rental machines were busy. Everyone was quite social.

I am a quilter, so all the fabric was attractive. Wonderful prints for sun dresses or shirts! However, the garment sewer in me liked the cotton/linen blends (perfect for shirts). And there were 5 or 6 bolts of knits. 2 were gorgeous thin and silky wool ($37?) and the others were cotton/bamboo ($19?). I bought a meter of the cotton/bamboo and brought it home to wash. Then I hung it out on the line.

And now… this is why you buy quality fabric and don’t mind paying more when quality counts.

That wet fabric is hanging on the line pinned on each end. There is no sag. The sides and bottom edges are hanging perfectly straight. When have you ever seen that in a wet knit? When I sew it up the garment will do the same, and the sewing process will be divine! Occasionally you need to do something nice for yourself. Good fabric will fill the bill!