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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:

  1. 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

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

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  3. 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!

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  4. 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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