Right now I am working on a blanket that I tore apart and for some reason decided it would be a good idea to make a jacket out of it, and also see if I could make a purse as well. Tomorrow I will take pictures of the scraps and then you can get a good idea of just the mess I've created. I am hoping this is working out. As for the sewing machine that I would like to get, I've been reading up on the janome 6500 and the 6600 and it seems that the women are having trouble with the bobbins ect. I am so hoping that I don't have this problem. After I've gone through the mental process of throwing myself into one family.........Janome. I was going to do the Baby lock but I've always wanted a Janome, and I guess I won't be satisfied until I get one. At 1,000 stitches per minute this is right up my alley. It seems like my other machines are too slow. Or maybe it's just my imagination.
So far I've not heard from the ladies that I met at the sewing expo and that's alright. I am moving on to the next group of people. so I am going to continue in scoping out the sites and I really should be checking up on the blogs but have been so preoccupied with the machines. Not to mention how I'm going to keep in shape during the winter. I've got to get a stationary bike it's a must. I am really going to get in better shape. No sense in sitting around. At my age I need to be in minimum shape. I would like to age gracefully. I figure that the sewing will keep me mentally alert. It's all I have at this point. Still looking for some type of work. So I can support this habit. Something will show up I'm sure. I should say sources beyond my control will point me in the right direction around the setting that I wish to be in. I hope this is soon. Can't believe that this is December. Another year coming up...............hopefully i will be better at putting things together.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
saturday
Well today my friend Carmell took me to the Janome place. I had no intentions whatsoever of getting a machine at this point and time. Guess what.....I am now putting a sewing machine on lay-a-way. It's just the one I wanted to......the guys name is Walt and we talked briefly about sewing machines. I had been on line at the Janome site and reading what the women were saying about their sewing machines. So this is one I wanted. 6600 series I believe. So this is going to be great. It will be a few months before I get this machine out, but I don't care at this point. It's better than getting one used.
I am not going to tell my other pals about this machine until after it's paid for. Thank God I have two others that I can use. This is going to be great. Also we stopped by S&R Harris fabric outlet, and of course I brought something that I had no intentions of getting. But since I hadn't been there since last November I thought to myself.......get it now because I may not come here for a while. I am going to be dreaming about miracles now that I have this machine on hold. It felt good just knowing that it will be in my possession soon. I know what you are thinking. This broad is sick.......yes I am about sewing machines, but now I finally got what I always wanted and thats a Janome. Over all this has been a really good day.
I am not going to tell my other pals about this machine until after it's paid for. Thank God I have two others that I can use. This is going to be great. Also we stopped by S&R Harris fabric outlet, and of course I brought something that I had no intentions of getting. But since I hadn't been there since last November I thought to myself.......get it now because I may not come here for a while. I am going to be dreaming about miracles now that I have this machine on hold. It felt good just knowing that it will be in my possession soon. I know what you are thinking. This broad is sick.......yes I am about sewing machines, but now I finally got what I always wanted and thats a Janome. Over all this has been a really good day.
Monday, November 16, 2009
first meeting
Well I was suppose to meet my sewing buddy saturday, however she bit off more than she could chew and ended up running people around. We were suppose to meet at 11:00 and she ended up calling me around that time to say she was going to be later and could we possibly meet up on Sunday.
Needless to say I told her, "I had my bag all packed and everything" I was really disappointed, anything to get out of this place and somewhere new. So the lady told me, " let's make it for 11:00 Sunday without fail, no matter what we will make this an all day thing." So I said, "alright" for the remainder of the afternoon I just mentally vegged out and watched movies.
Now Sunday is here................cut to the chase..........I call her at 9:30 to make sure that I am not going to be stood up. She say's I will call you when I get there." 11:00, 30, 12:00,30, 1:00,30, 2:00,30 and then she calls, "I'm on Bloomington, I just go down to park? Right? Right I say...now anyone that knows me, knows I do not wait, hate it, hate it, if you tell me 11:00 you'd better be there at 11:00 or I'm off somewhere else...........but I am not driving so I am just at her mercy. When the car pulled up, all I could do was shake me head.
Now cut to the chase..........she had a nice house, and I think she was more or less trying to feel me out, after all this is the first meeting. So I brought a jacket that I am working on, my goal I told her was to finish everything I start. This fabric came all the way from Morocco so I didn't want to mess it up. She gave me some really good pointers and told me she couldn't believe that I cut this without a pattern. I also made a bag for her as a gift for our new found sewing friendship. I really hope this turns out well.
As for the second lady that I met at the sewing expo.....I find out that they don't see each other all the time. So I guess I will exclusively be her sewing buddy. I made two bags one for each of them. She was thrilled with her bag and the other lady gets her bag by default. We talked about patterns, family (just a tad) I wanted to get to the sewing part screw the niceties (isn't that crazy) but everything must take it's course. So she showed me her pride and joy: viking 500, and babylock machine, and evolve serger (the air one) and a viking serger (905) so now I know she is really a sewer. She showed me how to pop a seam, which I didn't know how to do, something regarding pockets and how to make them and place them on a jacket without showing a seem. That was neat.
Over all I think she will work out fine. I will do a follow up. She did tell me that she doesn't drive in snow, so this means that I will have to take the bus to her place. This is Minnesota for petes sake! So I might not see her that often. I don't know what I am going to do in the winter besides keep busy. We are suppose to go to the fabric place. I will make sure I do this in December. This will be my christmas present to myself. My other sewing buddy calls from Chicago and impishly gloats over sewing stuff with me, called up Katty and asked, "How are you doing?" I said, "you just called to see how the day went on my first visit with this lady." She just laughed. I'll keep you posted
Needless to say I told her, "I had my bag all packed and everything" I was really disappointed, anything to get out of this place and somewhere new. So the lady told me, " let's make it for 11:00 Sunday without fail, no matter what we will make this an all day thing." So I said, "alright" for the remainder of the afternoon I just mentally vegged out and watched movies.
Now Sunday is here................cut to the chase..........I call her at 9:30 to make sure that I am not going to be stood up. She say's I will call you when I get there." 11:00, 30, 12:00,30, 1:00,30, 2:00,30 and then she calls, "I'm on Bloomington, I just go down to park? Right? Right I say...now anyone that knows me, knows I do not wait, hate it, hate it, if you tell me 11:00 you'd better be there at 11:00 or I'm off somewhere else...........but I am not driving so I am just at her mercy. When the car pulled up, all I could do was shake me head.
Now cut to the chase..........she had a nice house, and I think she was more or less trying to feel me out, after all this is the first meeting. So I brought a jacket that I am working on, my goal I told her was to finish everything I start. This fabric came all the way from Morocco so I didn't want to mess it up. She gave me some really good pointers and told me she couldn't believe that I cut this without a pattern. I also made a bag for her as a gift for our new found sewing friendship. I really hope this turns out well.
As for the second lady that I met at the sewing expo.....I find out that they don't see each other all the time. So I guess I will exclusively be her sewing buddy. I made two bags one for each of them. She was thrilled with her bag and the other lady gets her bag by default. We talked about patterns, family (just a tad) I wanted to get to the sewing part screw the niceties (isn't that crazy) but everything must take it's course. So she showed me her pride and joy: viking 500, and babylock machine, and evolve serger (the air one) and a viking serger (905) so now I know she is really a sewer. She showed me how to pop a seam, which I didn't know how to do, something regarding pockets and how to make them and place them on a jacket without showing a seem. That was neat.
Over all I think she will work out fine. I will do a follow up. She did tell me that she doesn't drive in snow, so this means that I will have to take the bus to her place. This is Minnesota for petes sake! So I might not see her that often. I don't know what I am going to do in the winter besides keep busy. We are suppose to go to the fabric place. I will make sure I do this in December. This will be my christmas present to myself. My other sewing buddy calls from Chicago and impishly gloats over sewing stuff with me, called up Katty and asked, "How are you doing?" I said, "you just called to see how the day went on my first visit with this lady." She just laughed. I'll keep you posted
Friday, November 13, 2009
two more bags
these are the bags that I made to give to the two ladies that I met at the Sewing expo. I thought that maybe it would nice to bring something to the table in that we will be sharing things with one another. So I am hoping that this goes over well.
I've decided that I am going to sew all the UFO's or as many as I can. Cause if I don't do that then I will have a lot of things unfinished. so I am going to work on one more bag that I will post and then i am going to take the morrocan fabric and show it to one of the ladies and get some help on it, really all I need is shaping of some sorts. Then I will be on my own. I will meet with her this saturday and let you know how it goes.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
friday
Today I forgot to take my camera. I really, really, meant to take my camera. This was my first sewing expo in this part of the country. I'd been to the one in Puallup, in Washington state, but this was a first. I was in heaven just walking around looking at everything. I arrived around 11:30 in the morning and would you believe? I stayed until the raffled the sewing machines away.
There were so many ideas out there, and examples of things that people sewed. Even some advice on how to join an embroidery club, regardless of what brand machine I have. I was looking at the babylock sewing machines and I really liked what I saw. The serger was awesome and at 2500 dollars it should shine my shoes. It's worth every penny from what I hear. I also managed to pick up two ladies who I am sure that we will remain in contact with each other. They spent at least 300.00. I came even though I had no money but did buy something from Vogue fabrics, my hometown Chicago fabric store. It was nice seeing some of the ladies that had waited on me in the past. They didn't remember me but I remember them because I shopped there frequently. It was the only store for miles around that had such a large selection to choose from.
I also tried to see if I could get some connections with working for Babylock. I now realize that suggesting volunteering to work at any fabrick shop is out of the question. Hiring is the key. So I guess I will just keep plugging away. It's a very tough place to try and get into especially if you are a woman of color. I still enjoyed just being there. I will make sure that I attend next year, and maybe take a class of some sort. I was advised though by my new found friends that taking a class was not all that beneficial. So I just remembered. These ladies really sew, so I am quite sure I will learn something from them. Well that's all for now. I am tempted to go again saturday, just to see if I can win a machine. Who wouldn't want to win one, but now since Babylock says they have a lay-a-way then I am going to go that route.
There were so many ideas out there, and examples of things that people sewed. Even some advice on how to join an embroidery club, regardless of what brand machine I have. I was looking at the babylock sewing machines and I really liked what I saw. The serger was awesome and at 2500 dollars it should shine my shoes. It's worth every penny from what I hear. I also managed to pick up two ladies who I am sure that we will remain in contact with each other. They spent at least 300.00. I came even though I had no money but did buy something from Vogue fabrics, my hometown Chicago fabric store. It was nice seeing some of the ladies that had waited on me in the past. They didn't remember me but I remember them because I shopped there frequently. It was the only store for miles around that had such a large selection to choose from.
I also tried to see if I could get some connections with working for Babylock. I now realize that suggesting volunteering to work at any fabrick shop is out of the question. Hiring is the key. So I guess I will just keep plugging away. It's a very tough place to try and get into especially if you are a woman of color. I still enjoyed just being there. I will make sure that I attend next year, and maybe take a class of some sort. I was advised though by my new found friends that taking a class was not all that beneficial. So I just remembered. These ladies really sew, so I am quite sure I will learn something from them. Well that's all for now. I am tempted to go again saturday, just to see if I can win a machine. Who wouldn't want to win one, but now since Babylock says they have a lay-a-way then I am going to go that route.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
sewing expo
Well monday I went to the Pfaff sewing center up in St.Paul. I just introduced myself and inquired about a job. I know they are not hiring, but I added that I would like to volunteer two days of my time just so I could learn about sewing machines. Well the lady just looked at me and smiled like you would with a child. At least that is the way I felt. She gave me a free pass to go to the sewing expo....so I am really happy about that, but I told the manager that I would like to be loyal to at least one sewing machine.
I told her that I was familiar with the top of the line sewing machines or should I say makes of sewing machines, and that I always keep myself informed on the latest with the on line sites and what the ladies are saying out there. I think that this would be a plus having someone with that type of info. I jokingly stated that trying to get a part time job in this field is like trying to get into the mafia. It's so tightly run and most of the time it's by private owners and they are so far out in the subburbs. I also asked if she had a lay-a-way plan. That was a definite no but it was in the eyes followed by a soft verbal no. I will see if I can make some type of contacts at the sewing expo. I am going to be a sewing machine whore........and to the person who takes me up on my offer. I refuse to work with Singer. I'll do anything but singer. I'm not that crazy about viking but I will even surrender to them just to get my foot in the door. I will report on thursdays outing.
I told her that I was familiar with the top of the line sewing machines or should I say makes of sewing machines, and that I always keep myself informed on the latest with the on line sites and what the ladies are saying out there. I think that this would be a plus having someone with that type of info. I jokingly stated that trying to get a part time job in this field is like trying to get into the mafia. It's so tightly run and most of the time it's by private owners and they are so far out in the subburbs. I also asked if she had a lay-a-way plan. That was a definite no but it was in the eyes followed by a soft verbal no. I will see if I can make some type of contacts at the sewing expo. I am going to be a sewing machine whore........and to the person who takes me up on my offer. I refuse to work with Singer. I'll do anything but singer. I'm not that crazy about viking but I will even surrender to them just to get my foot in the door. I will report on thursdays outing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)