Pillows and Space...

Slowly I began to add a machine here and there to my sewing space. Then I reorganized a bit, and later added a nice office chair as my sewing chair. Looking for tables at a good height isn't easy. I love the 27" to 28" height and most sewing furniture is about 30". Recently I added the Arrow 603 table from Sears which is just the right height. Here is a link to the posts in my main blog on sewing and sewing machines. Included are short reviews of the Platinum 770, the Madison and the Kenmore 19233, with pictures, plus a few observations on my serger. Sergers are such fun!

Last night I made new pillow covers for our feather pillows. Had 2 yards of really dense cotton fabric called Bohemian Ticking from Home Sew. This made two pillow cover with just a bit left over. A strip about 4" wide was all that was left. I sewed up both pillows right into the new cases on the machine. That took some interesting logistical machinations. I am very satisfied and am in hopes the dratted feathers don't come out and pierce me in the night as they were doing. I washed and dried the pillows first of course. Dried in the dryer with a couple of tennis balls. It really works!

On to sewing...

First, you will find posts on my Viking machines, and my Kenmore 19233 on my main blog over at Ephemeral Wisps, but I want to talk about sewing more than that blog can really be expected to handle, so here I am over here in the pink. Since the renaissance in my sewing in 2005, I have learned to value taking my time. Sewing takes me away from the computer, and that's a good thing.At the same time, Patternreview.com takes up a lot of FUN computer time, so I am in the same boat I was before, only enjoying it a lot more! I find sewing a restful pastime, a remembrance of good things from childhood. My grandmother Lillian and my mother Isabel; the skills they tried to teach me that I so woefully did not master. I did absorb sewing though, and had them as my best teachers.I have been trying to fit the perfect pair of pants lately, though this is not an endless battle because I have found that Burda patterns, adjusted just right, finally fill the bill as well as anything I could ever hope for. Pants have been a challenge, but I can remember making many pair over the years which fit, and which were fine. As one ages, the old form changes and fitting becomes more of a priority. I look back now on some of the complicated garments I made years ago, and I am astonished! I wish I had a picture of the Vogue caftan with the piping trim all over the font opening, the frog button closures, and the trim on each sleeve and on the bottom. The red caftan I made my husband had a hood attached and string ties on the front. A hood is an interesting bit of sewing! I won't try here to go back in time for any garments but these, so hereafter what I am currently doing will be what I include as projects. I am finishing up a couple of Pointy Kitties now, and then it's on to sewing a small wardrobe of a skirt, pants and a few tops.

Honoring the Pfaff 1222E

Having finally decided to open a new blog just for ruminations on sewing and sewing machines, I am giving the place of honor to my venerable Pfaff 1222E. She has seen me through 31 years of sewing, and until my recent epiphany regarding multiple sewing machines and the possibility of owning several, she has been the only sewing machine to travel with me throughout the years. She has always been a cool, rather elite machine, well deserving her reputation for German craftsmanship and the beautiful simplicity of form she exhibits. I never named her. This machine doesn't really invite that sort of familiarity, keeping aloof and regarding my sewing prowess as not quite what she was made for. Her IDT has been wonderful, and her stitch quality fine. She is growing older now, and though she still sews with precision, she has some wear and tear on her gearing and needle-threader. I still sew with this machine now and then to keep her from freezing up, but now she has company in the sewing space. I would never exclude her from that space, no matter what other machines I have.