Sewing Machine Advice

Parent Cafe
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<p>Wow, this is very exciting—so many quilters here! One good video that really helped me with machine quilting and finishing was Ricki Timms’ “Grand finale” DVD. He shows some great tricks for quilting large projects on a conventional home machine, while virtually eliminating the risk of puckering on the backing (the secret: basting with water-soluble thread), and without having to “package” the quilt in order to make it fit under the needle. He also demonstrates free-motion stitching, and machine trapunto that look amazing, none of which is done on a long arm machine. Hey, are any of you quilters coming to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival at the Hampton Convention Center next month?</p>

<p>Oh, and my machine is a Janome—a $900 machine that I got on sale for $700. I’m very happy with it. The quality is quite good for the price.</p>

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<p>I’ll be there with my credit card in hand! I LOVE the MAQF. </p>

<p>YOU need to make a trip to the Quilter’s Umlimited Show June 6-8, 2008, at the Dulles Expo Center. It’s a nonjuried show (unlike MAQF) but with so many textile artists and professionals in the 1400-member QU, the quality of work easily rivals MAQF.</p>

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<p>My wife has an older Bernina and a new Viking for embroidery and quilting.</p>

<p>Both are excellent makes. Make sure that your sewing shop has all the attachments and programs for your machine. Many machines also have to be cleaned and otherwise periodically serviced, so you want a vendor that’s been around a while which gives good support. A “factory” store, so to speak.</p>