Free Motion Sewing

Ha! I am learning a lot of stuff!  If you haven't checked out my link to Ellen Lindner, you should.  I downloaded her ebook class on Color and spent some time working on it yesterday.  I probably have  a couple more days of work to finish it.  But by watching a video of her and looking at her quilts and looking up stuff on 'art quilts' I discovered this thing called free motion sewing. 

It turns out my sewing machine has a couple of other feet I've never used.  A 'darning' plate and foot, and a 'walking foot'.  If you use the darning foot, you can sew backwards, forwards, sideways, in circles, it's unlimited!  You have to be careful not to make a mess of the back (by pulling the threads to the top before sewing.  Anyway, here is my first try... you can see the possibilities.  You can use fabric to make pictures...  how fun!

I learned something else too... it's called 'hiding your tails'.   How could I have been sewing for close to 50 years and not know about this?  It's basically leaving a longer tail on a thread and then sewing the tail back into the piece instead of just clipping it off.

Last of the Cat's

OK - here's the other cat bag... also reversible, but one pocket in and one out no matter which way you turn it...  two projects finished.  I guess I think the pocket is too big.  The nice thing about this project was now I know how to make this bag in any size or shape.  good learning experience, and if nothing else you can use them for groceries...save the earth!

Cat's in the Bag

OK - making bags is really fun and addictive... this is a different kind of bag, made in a cat theme for a friend.  This was my first try and I made a few mistakes... but who knows, one girl's mistake is another girl's 'feature', so we'll see...

This is one side of the bag, featuring contrasting snap pockets, one on each side.... OR... the bag is reversible, moving the pockets to the inside.

So, pretty fun, right?   Look out friends, you are all getting bags based on your interests, whether you need them or not!