The Sewer and The Machine

They are inseparable, an idealistic picture of teamwork.

In September, I won a brand new Janome DC2011 from Sew Together in Advance, NC as a prize in the 2011 Triad Quilt Shop Hop. I got the call while I was driving home from work, and I thought it was a joke. Then, when it hit me, I pulled off the side of the road and cried. I had been sewing on a 20 year old hand-me-down Kenmore that my mother had passed along. I had never owned a new machine before.

With the machine, came a class from Sew Together on how to properly use it (another first for me). Over the years, I had learned through trial and error how to make my Kenmore function properly and keep it running. In the class, I learned all the things I was doing wrong. I learned how to clean my new machine correctly, to keep it running better, longer. I learned how to use a zipper foot, how to make a button hole, how to put a button on with the machine! I learned how to use different feet, different stitches, and all of it I learned how to do correctly.

Recently, someone asked me if a new sewing machine made all the difference in my work. I said absolutely not, I am still the same sewer I was on my Kenmore. While that is true, the machine itself has not changed my sewing, the classes certainly have. I have more confidence in my work now. My stitches are cleaner. But the biggest change I’ve noticed in myself is that I enjoy applique. In fact, I’ve come to love applique so much, that I’ve decided to undertake a project which is almost entirely created by applique.

Now, I just have to steel myself for that project.