gloriastitches

Bernina's sewing machine feet are unusual and work only with Bernina machines, plus quite expensive but built to last. There is a way to expand usage of the machine without paying a small fortune for their feet---and it may already be in your household. Here are pics of my Bernina 910 (mid 80s), my Riccar (late 70s), and my White 4042 (early 2000s)  Click to see larger pictures. Though the feet for the Riccar and the White look very much alike they are not exchangeable for the most part because the needle opening in the feet are either too far forward or too far back.  However,  they can be used on the Bernina! Here's how: You will need a low-shank adapter.  They come in a choice of for snap-on or for screw-on feet and are available for old stye (OS) (through the 1630--am almost positive on this model) and for new style (NS).  If your feet have red, then they are new style.  (approximtely after '98).  The adapters are in the range of ...

Alternate title:  How I Spent My Friday Morning In the process of trying on my newly sewn pants with its generic trial waistband, I went into the closet to get the portable full-length mirror.  Something grabbed the waistband on the way out.  It was the groove/hole for the latch on the doorframe.  Oh, no, I thought, and checked the pants and nope, no hole and no pulled threads nor snags.  Whew!  However.... ....one of the straight pins holding the band on had gone AWOL.  I made a quick check of the area and no pin in sight.  I checked on hands and knees next, using my super light, running my hand through the carpet fibers---and still no pin.  Since it's a low pile it would  be easy to spot. Then I spotted the white pin head about three feet away, but that's all it was---the pin was not attached!  I continued to check carpet in all areas I thought the pin could possibly go;  I checked my person;  I checked my newly se...

In case you haven't heard the ol' Big 4 are now what could be called the Big 1.  The business which had bought out McCall's has purchased Simplicity. Thus, the pattern companies will be in competition with each other within the same company.  This is nothing new in business as General Mills, Procter and Gamble and others do the same thing. So, how will things change?  We don't know, but my guess is that it will be "business as usual" with each pattern brand name keeping its own policies and fit as usual.  Perhaps if one of them falters in sales, it could be eliminated. It's sad to see this happen as people may like a certain brand over the others, so let's hope that not too far down the road they don't merge into one brand. As of last year it was KwikMcVogueRick, now it's going to be SimpKwikMcVogueRick.  Sigh. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171103005428/en/CSS-Industries-Acquires-Simplicity-Creative-Group

There, their, and they're  are three different words, pronounced the same but spelled different.  They are homonyms.  So, where to use which? Since I'm good with helping others with word associations I have been asked to please share. There :  notice that the word here  is in t here.   So, it's not here, but there. Their :  notice that the word heir  is in t heir.   So, they (each being an heir)  inherited the house and it is now their  house. They're:   notice the apostrophe.  This means that a letter---or letters--has been omitted.  In this case the letter a .  In full it would be they are. Other words with apostrophes are jack-o'-lantern, o'clock, O'Leary, ma'am, etc. which indicate that a letter--or letters--has been omitted. Thus, there :  not here, but there.           their : each an heir so their house.           they're :  omit...

  I wanted to gift a knitted scarf.  Finally, a project!  I'm not certain where I got the stitch pattern, probably from a friend.  It is an easy one. I casted on 26 stitches with size 8 needles with Red Heart Soft.   It is approximately 5 1/2" x 36" and be wrapped one more time around the neck. The pattern is  Row 1:  *k2, knit into back of next stitch, purl 1*, until the last 2 stitches, k2. Repeat this row the entire length you want the scarf.  It took roughly 3 oz. I'm not certain what happened to the color with the first two photos.  The photo below is more what the color looks like which is Grape.  OK, so it's not much as far as making things this year, but I'm going to do my best to get a lot more accomplished in 2017. Happy New Year, everyone!

It is rare for me to post about a recipe but it's rare for me to be sewing these days. :(  This is my husband's grandmother's recipe and has been tried and eaten by at least three generations. 2 cups sifted cake flour 1 t. baking soda 1/2 t. salt 1 t. cinnamon 1/2 t. allspice 1/4 t. cloves 1 cup seedless raisins 1/2 cup shortening 1/2 t. vanilla (adjust as desired) 1 cup sugar 1 egg, beaten slightly 1 cup thick, sweetened applesauce Sift first 6 ingredients together; stir in raisins.  Using large bowl cream shortening, vanilla and sugar together thoroughly.  Add egg; beat until light and fluffy.  Add dry ingredients alternately with applesauce, beating after each addition.  Pour into greased pan, approximately 11" x 7". Bake @ 350 degrees about 45 minutes I haven't made this in awhile; perhaps it's time. :)

Knitting--(large) stash of yarn, patterns, and supplies-- Check Crocheting--(large) stash of yarn, patterns, and supplies-- Check Cross Stitching--(large) stash of yarn, fabrics, patterns and supplies -- Check Sewing--stash of fabrics, patterns, notions and supplies-- Check Misc. crafting--stash of supplies-- Check Since I've been purging the above in the past year, I've asked myself why I have so much of everything.  How did it happen and why? Some of the reasons are --get excited about the craft, find all kinds of projects I want to make, so buy the supplies --find supplies on sale or have coupons for a large percentage off so must purchase while on sale. --much like the person who has "eyes bigger than their stomachs" I have plans greater than that for which my energy or time allows. --realize what's missing from my supplies and buy to fill in the gaps --cannot resist when people give me large bundles of items for free--free is good. Probably the...

Traditionally Ukrainian Easter is celebrated a week later than that of other Christians, so this year it is April 12. My mother decorated eggs. Most of hers are now gone.  They would be several decades old. The ones in the center are larger and are of wood.  I believe that they are painted, which was done in only the last few decades.  Well, they don't break!  Click on the pic for a larger view. The ones from the past are done by the wax method and take hours and hours for just one egg.  The one example of my work when I was 4 years old is long gone.  It was a masterpiece.   By the way the tradition began pre-Christianity. You can do a search for more info and how the eggs were made. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pysanka

In an old McCall's magazine, Fall-Winter '55-'56 was an article about the latest features on machines. The newest innovation was the automatic zigzag, which could do all that straight-stitch and manual zigzag machines could, plus do embroidery pattern stitches automatically. They had discs or cams to be inserted or some were built into the machine. Above are the machines they highlighted.  Unfortunately they don't mention the model # and that is not always visible on the machine. If you have an older machine but don't know when it came out, perhaps it is shown here.  These machines would be from 1955 or possibly 1954.    The year could certainly be a place to start to find out more about your machine.

Over the years I've come across those who were not aware of some of these functions of the Pfaff 1475.  They may be available on other models, but the 1475 is the one with which I am acquainted.  There are still a lot of this model in use. When using the single needle foot and/or plate, there is a chance that the operator will forget and tap in a stitch which has width.  This is not good for the machine and could cause the timing to be off.  There is also the possibility that the needle could break and hit the operator in the eye.  Ouch. There is a security measure:  touch the twin-needle button, (#29) which is lit showing it has been engaged.  It will prevent any stitch from sewing which is not a straight stitch. The presser bar lifter has several positions: up (foot lifted), down (foot engaged) and darning.  In the photos, shown are up and darning. When darning position comes in handy is when threading and using the threader. ...

The sliding buttonhole foot is one type of buttonhole foot.  It came with my Pfaff 1475 (on right) I obtained late 1991 and with my Riccar 808E obtained late 1978. (on left) The red arrow indicates where the buttonhole will begin.  As you stitch the slider moves and the calibrated lines will help determine the buttonhole length. How is this buttonhole length determined?  Many times I've read to put a tape measure around the button.  What?  A better idea would be to put a string around the button, then measure the string. I have a different way of doing it which I have been using since the early 80s. An old piece of scrap fabric was used upon which I stitched buttonhole to the lengths of each red mark and the half red ones. It doesn't have to be anything fancy.  This was done on scrap fabric and buttonholes were mainly for length, not beauty.  After all,, no one else was going to see this but me. Ha! Just slip the button through the b...

Pattern Making Systems allow a person to make just about any garment to his/her size.  The two most popular are Lutterloh   www.Lutterloh.com  and Sure-Fit Designs.  SureFitDesigns.com  . There have been others along the way. The American Way to True-Fit Patterns  was apparently connected to Lutterloh in some way.  Recently I found the same outfits in same pose, in a Lutterloh manual for sale at ebay. There was a True-Fit (Lutterloh) in Florida, but that has been inactive for a few years. I've been told that Sure-Fit developed as a result of Dusan's Magic Fit but am not certain. on this. Using a special tape measure, you measure yourself, then make dots to correspond with the numbers given on the pattern, in a radiating fashion, then connect the dots. This is the pattern for this outfit.  (I've covered the numbers, because of copyrights.) This True-Fit (manual only) was $2 at an estate sale.  The original credit card...

For several months I kept getting disconnects on my laptop.  Sometimes hours would go by and I stayed connected; sometimes I would get disconnected several times in an hour.  It got to be quite annoying.  Was it my laptop, my browser, my ISP (DSL), my modem/router? The laptop was ruled out since I was able to stay connected when on a wired connection with a different ISP (cable). The browser was ruled out because somehow it was updated to IE11. The ATT Boards, where several others were complaining, suggested checking the phone line filters.  I made certain they were functional, clean, and the little metal part was intact. Others suggested to re-set the modem which helped a bit. It was down to my ISP or the modem/router which is now 4 years old.  The thought of waiting for a replacement and being without the internet is not a pleasant one. Then I read somewhere to get a replacement for the surge protector.  It was worth a try, especially sin...

You know "knit" but "tink"?  Spell tink backwards.  Knit.  Tink is used to mean "to un-knit", or, to undo the knitting. Most sweaters are made by knitting the back, the front, the sleeves, then sewing them together.  This is a top-down raglan, meaning all the parts are knit at the same time, then separated at the underarm.  Thus, the neckline needs to be started with the desired size.  I was fairly pleased that I had to tink the neckline area only twice. Things were going along swimmingly; i.e., no errors, until the contrast stitches on the body of the sweater.  I didn't want to make a sweater that was plain (stockinette stitch).  When I saw the sweater in the mag with garter stitch at the neckline and in the body, I knew that was what I wanted to do. The beginning of the sweater (the neckline) of my sweater is worked flat, meaning a row is worked, then turned, then a row is worked, and turned, and so on.  The stockinette stitch is ...

The  Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting by Sarah Veblen came out early this year. My shelves are filled with design, fitting, and sewing books, but this book is on my "Best Ones" list.   It so reminds me of a college level sewing textbook from the early 50s I have, where there are photos of exactly how to fit---and on the person.                                                              She covers bodices, including princess seams; sleeves of various types; skirts; and slacks.  The slacks fitting is limited.  Maybe she was limited to x number of pages and was left with only a handful for the slacks fitting.  I suppose it is possible that ...

            It surprised me a little that some didn't know what a (toilet) tissue topper is.  Why?  Well, I'm usually one of the last to know about something, so I figure that, because I know, then surely the rest of the world knows about it.  LOL.  Not true, apparently.  (regarding my being one of the last as well as anyone else knowing.)   I've seen many in my life and there are many shown in crafts magazines.  This topper is a combination of several sources, including me.   I like the idea of an extra roll being handy, but not blatantly, so the guests won't wonder where a fresh roll is, should they need it.   This one is crocheted, but I have seen some knitted or even done in needlepoint.             You need to use a washable yarn such as acrylic or cotton, and a hook size of your choice, but I wouldn't suggest a huge one as it will make...