Lily & I ventured into the sometimes rocky land of metallic threads these past 2 days. I thought I'd be smart & start with Yenmet, a lusciously smooth Japanese thread, that sews like butter on my old Bernina. Well Lily is a little more finicky than Bernie. She ran just fine when I pulled her toward me, or side to side, but when it came to pushing her away, she didn't want to sew a stitch.At first I thought maybe it was the new needle I'd put in, maybe I hadn't gotten it up in all the way, so I fiddled with that. I checked the timing. I futzed & fiddled, & that seemed perfect too. I decide to sleep on it over night & start fresh in the morning. I took off the metallic & tested with cotton. Ran perfect, full speed, all directions. It wasn't Lily, the needle, it was the thread. I decided to loosen the tension. I loosened A LOT. It helped. I could now get Lily to stitch in the push-away direction, provided I go slowly.
Fast pulling toward me, & slow pushing away. I finally got into a rhythm.
I finished up about 2 1/2 yards of fabric, in about 6 1/2 hours of careful sewing. The thread never broke once, though it still skipped a stitch every now & then.
I think I may have to charge EXTRA for quilting with metallics. I do wish you could see the depth & texture in this fabric in person. It is yummy. I can't wait to get started on the dress now!
Fast pulling toward me, & slow pushing away. I finally got into a rhythm.
I finished up about 2 1/2 yards of fabric, in about 6 1/2 hours of careful sewing. The thread never broke once, though it still skipped a stitch every now & then.
I think I may have to charge EXTRA for quilting with metallics. I do wish you could see the depth & texture in this fabric in person. It is yummy. I can't wait to get started on the dress now!
9 comments:
I'd like to see it in person! It's pretty in the photos. I can't wait to see the design of this dress!
Have you tried putting some Sewer's Aid on the thread cone? I have a couple of threads that are tricky on my longarm and a few lines of SA usually fixes everything!
The dress is going to be very cooL!
Bling, bling, sparkle, sparkle. Perseverance for the name of fun and beauty. It is going to be such a cool and unique dress. How did you get into the Irish Dancing crowed? That also is pretty unique. Thanks for taking us along your discoveries.
I meant crowd, of course. Sorry about that.
This dress is going to be something else!! I hope you son't mind but I've tagged you, see my blog post for today. Playing is voluntary.
I second the recommendation for Sewer's Aid. It's a polymer lubricant that really does help.
You are blazing a new trail and we love it!
Hi Deb, Just a note to say that I received the QOV quilt today. It came in excellent condition and it is BEAUTIFUL!! I'll try to do it justice on the binding, with such a nice variety of colors it should be easy to match something to it. And I'll let you know when it is finished and on it's way to it's new home!! Thanks for letting me participate!
I wish I was up there playing with you, everything looks great. I love the "new" fabric. The bleached fabic is wonderful, how did you stop the bleaching action. I read there is a product made for it.
I won't be posting on my blog until after June 11, I didn't plan on it, but I flew to Florida to help out Melissa, she's having back problems. I left home with a lot of natural dye plants waiting to be planted but I'll finish when I get home.
oh boy oh boy....that looks pretty darn amazing!!!!
For your audience out there....
Deb's first Irish dance dress...the dancer got 3 first places in Phoenix last week. By far the prettiest dress at the competition...keeps the attention of the judges eyes. ;-)
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