She brought along her own machine and lots of attachments explaining their many uses. We've all got those feet that sit in the drawer scowling at us and daring us to take them out - which we're too scared to do!!
She had lots of tips for when you're free motion machine quilting including wearing gardening gloves to stop your hands slipping about on the fabric. Of course everyone is butting in with lots of questions and their own ideas - it was that sort of evening, and a great idea from Iris was to put wedges under the back of the sewing machine to tilt the extension table towards you. This saves an aching back and you can actually see what you're trying to do! Chris coped with our many interruptions with patience and humour. Her main message was "practice, practice, practice!" and we would all get the hang of it.
This is one of Chris's samples, measuring approx 8" across, of background machine quilting with an apple and pear in relief.
Chris stressed the importance of cleaning your machine regularly - it's amazing just how much fluff collects, but I'm always so keen to get sewing in those precious few spare minutes, that this always gets neglected. Also to change your needle often - if stitches are going wrong sometimes this may be all you need to do!
Lots more tips and laughs later and the evening ended far too soon. Chris does an all day workshop on getting to know your sewing machine and can be contacted through Soft Touch in Tavistock, Devon.
Here are two fun wall hangings that Chris brought along to show us.
Thank you, Chris for such a good evening.
The next Flowerpatch Quilters meeting is on 11th June when we will be joined by Marilyn Hornby of "Patch Flora" with her Show and Tell.
Happy Sewing - Anita
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