Saturday, October 29, 2011

being afraid

Why is it that so many of us are afraid of our quilting tools? Not the sharp rotary cutters and hot irons -- that's the kind of fear that makes sense. I'm talking about the fear where you're afraid to take your new toy out of the box.

I've got a basting gun I've never tried, and a Cricut I got for Christmas last year that I haven't even touched. And then there's my Featherweight -- I'm beyond scared of breaking that! What if I can't get them to work?

I've been having trouble with the bobbins on my Janome for a couple of years now. They just don't wind properly anymore, even after I've had my machine serviced twice in the past year. I have to turn the speed down and hold my breath and sometimes rewind the same bobbin four times just to get one I can sew with.

This week, I finally broke down and bought a Sidewinder. If it saves me even a fraction of the time I spent fighting with the bobbin winder on the Janome, it'll be an absolute Godsend. But anything to do with bobbins stresses me out lately.

If I didn't need something to blog about this morning, it would probably still be in the box.



It wound my bobbins -- now I guess the question is whether they'll work for free motion quilting. Are they wound evenly enough? I think I've forgotten what a properly wound bobbin looks like.

4 comments:

beaquilter said...

Hey,
I have the side winder too, but I broke it!! fixed it twice, then gave up, I long arm quilt, so when I wind bobbins it's 8 or 10 at a time..... bought the K-KRAFT winder- it's $100 but well worth the $$$, I'm a tool/gadget girl, no afraid to use mine :-) Got the Go cutter a year ago and have used it a lot already.... hmm what else? well my long arm of course- that WAS intimidating :-) but after 2 or 3 practice quilts I was ready for customer quilts! my next BIG wish for a gadget is a FANCY embroidery machine- now THAT I would be afraid of.... I have an old mickey sewing machine that embroiders too, so I retired that one from piecing and just embroider labels with that one! have a janome for piecing. I LOVE all my gadgets :-) and of course my sweet honey who actually buys most of them for me! LOL

Camilla said...

Why afraid of the Featherweight? It's probably simpler and sturdier than the Janome.

Sarah Craig said...

Don't be afraid of your featherweight - they're almost impossible to kill! And I speak from experience, as mine has survived three generations of young girls learning to sew on it! Find a good repairman and take some time to sit down with him or her and learn what you can do real damage to - as far as I know, it's only the plate the feed dogs come up through, and that's easy to avoid if you know how it works. Parts are a little more expensive because that's the only machine they fit on, but I think you'll find you don't have to replace anything very often! It's a wonderful machine and you will love using it!

Molly said...

When I got my new machine I didn't touch it for a week. Now I have a accuquilt go baby cutter under my bed .... unopened.

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