Two Words

Box Feed! If I had just two words to say about the JUKI Exceed F600 sewing machine - it would be - Box Feed.

I'm talking here about how the sewing machine pulls the fabric under the needle. There are 'feed dogs' - I think the name comes from the 'metal teeth' that come up from underneath and grab the fabric. Combined with the action of the pressure foot, the feed dogs pull the fabric under the needle. Home sewing machine feeding systems use an oval motion to pull the fabric under the needle. But industrial sewing machines use a Box motion which has more contact with the fabric, so the feeding system is stronger and more consistent. OK, so what's the big deal?

Straight seams! Right now straight seams are a big deal! I've been piecing some tops to use in the next Line Dancing DVD. Two of the quilts tops involve lots of strip piecing and I was struggling with puckering, particularly at the start and stop of the line. I just put this down to 'user error' on my part and tried to fiddle with the tension without much success. I tried to iron out the puckers which only worked up to a point. In the end I was frustrated by the distortion and put the project to the side.

This is why I am so impressed with the JUKI Exceed. Right from the start, my seams were straight, perfectly straight. I rang up my sewing machine guy and started waxing lyrical about my sudden new found ability to sew straight seams and he began explaining how the box feed works. Now I feel great. Those wonky puckered seams were not my fault. The sewing machine guy explained that the puckering is due to a hesitation - caused by the oval feed movement. It just takes a bit longer to get hold of the fabric and this is what causes the puckering. The box feed used by the industrial machines has a firmer grip on the fabric so the feed is steady and even, creating a beautiful straight line of stitching.

I was really enjoying how easily those initial blocks came together. Later as I was piecing entire sections of the quilt. I was impressed with how easily the machine handled the heavier weight of the entire quilt. The even and consistent feed meant that my quilt came together straight and square.

JUKI sewing machines are the only domestic home machines with a Box Feed. I've been using the JUKI TL 98P for years on my New English Quilter frame. And the JUKI TL 98P also has a box feed system. But as I drop the feed dogs for free-motion quilting, I'd never used it! So I'd never realized just how great the box feed system was. Now I do!

Yesterday I finished piecing Emily's quilt for University. Today Emily is quilting it!

New Tools

Emily is off to University in a weeks time. So I thought that we'd better start on her quilt. We'd bought the fabric while we were at the Festival of Quilts.

I ordered some new tools from Creative Grids. It is such a pleasure to be using a new rotary cutter and ruler!

For the piecing I decided to try out a new sewing machine; the JUKI Exceed F600. We have the machine on loan for a DVD film shoot. But it was still in the box. A customer earlier in the week was raving about how fantastic it was for her dressmaking alteration business. So I decided that it might be fun to try it out for this project.

I do use the JUKI TL 98-P on my New English Quilter frame. And I love it! There is nothing else in the UK market that comes close to its performance on a frame. But I've found that I need 2 machines. I need a designated frame machine as I don't want to be taking a machine on and off the frame. And I need a machine for piecing and binding and general mending and sewing. Yesterday, I decided to try the JUKI Exceed F600 for piecing Emily's quilt. First I had to get it out of the box and set it up.

I am not one of those people who have a natural affinity for machines. So I opened the box with a certain amount of trepidation. I don't really enjoy reading directions. I was a bit worried that setting it up might be too frustrating. What a pleasant surprise! It was easy. The set-up from opening the box to sewing the first seam was less than 30 minutes.

The manual is brilliant! I'm not a 'read-the-manual-from-cover-to-cover-before-I-start' kind of person. I am not proud of this personality quirk. And I have a great appreciation for the people who do read the directions. I'm married to one and some of my kids are so inclined and they get me out of all kinds of trouble. Anyway, I need a manual that is clearly set out so I can find just the bits I need when I need them; like how to thread the machine. This was easy to find and very clear. There were also very clear diagrams on the actual sewing machine. Fantastic.

There is even a needle thread-er which I was able to work on the very first try just by following the pictures on the sewing machine! This was a total first for me! I tried and failed to use a sewing machine needle thread-er years ago and never tried again. I can't tell you how impressed I was. Yes, I was doing the 'happy dance'. My kids were even proud of me.

I have a sizeable collection of the larger thread cones. I use these for machine quilting but some of the ranges are ideal for piecing too. Thread is always less expensive yard for yard on the larger cones and I didn't want to be limited to using the smaller spools. So I set up a thread stand just to the back of the machine. The larger cones are cross wound which means that the thread needs to come off the top of the cone. So I ran the thread through the extended guide on the thread stand and then followed the thread guide directions on the machine. It worked just fine.

I also like to use pre-wound bobbins in the JUKI TL98-P when I machine quilt and I was delighted to find that the pre-wounds also work in the Exceed range.

I'll be posting more about this JUKI Exceed F600. Here are a few points to sum up the first impression. This is a well thought out machine. I would go so far as to call it intuitive and girl friendly. It was easy to set up. Easy to thread. Easy to get started. Because of that I got to spend lots of time piecing. This sewing machine is very very nice to piece with. But I'll post more about that tomorrow.

Pantographs

A pantograph is an instrument for copying a drawing on a different scale using a system of jointed rods. It was a drawing room activity popularized by the Victorians. Now machine quilters with quilting frames use pantographs to copy a line design from a piece of paper onto their quilt tops.

It works like this. The line design is placed on the table beside the sewing machine. There is a stylus attached to the sewing machine carriage. The stylus can be simple like a metal rod or high tech like a laser. As you trace the design on the paper with the stylus, the sewing machine 'draws' the line design on the quilt. It's not quite as easy as this sounds.

What makes a line of stitching look good is the smooth flowing movement of the sewing machine on the New English Quilter carriage. This is true for free motion quilting. It's also true for copying a line design with a pantogaph. It's difficult to maintain the smooth flowing motion when you are trying to follow a line exactly. Try slavishly to follow a specific line, whether a pantograph design or even a line design marked on your quilt top, and your movements can become slow and jerky. This is turn gives an uneven and jerky line of stitching.

Following a line is a bit like riding a bike; you need a certain amount of speed to stay on. If you are too timid then you're more likely to fall off. The way round this is to practise tracing the design with the stylus over and over again. Practice is necessary to create a bold and flowing line of stitching and practice will give you the confidence to maintain the necessary speed. So you treat the pantograph design just as you would a free motion quilting design; practise tracing the pantograph design over and over again. These repetitive movements will develop your kinetic 'muscle memory'. Spend a full 10 or even 20 minutes on this 'brain patterning' activity before you start stitching and you pantograph designs with be much smoother.

There are many places on-line to purchase pantograph patterns. Try Golden Threads. It helps if the line design is not too complex. It's better to attempt something simple and execute it well. So start simple!

This is Karen - and the pictures above show Karen's pantograph practice. Looks great to me!

New Retreats

We've found a brilliant new venue for our Machine Quilter Retreats! The Petwood Hotel in Woodhall Spa. Our retreats provide an opportunity to focus on machine quilting using our table top frame in a gorgeous rural setting, tucked away from the interruptions of daily life. The Petwood Hotel is our lovely new venue, giving us more room to spread out, so our numbers have now expanded to 12-15 participants! Follow the links for dates and pricing.

The theme of these retreats is FEATHERING! We have three teachers – Martha, Trudi and Anne, so there will be plenty of one-on-one attention. All are welcome, whether you just need some help getting started or inspiration to move up to a new level.

The food will be delicious, the rooms comfortable and the conversation rewarding. Please come and bring a friend!

Husbands are welcome too. Especially if they have any interest in WWII history, golfing, hiking the grounds or just reading the paper by the fire, there is plenty to keep them happy while you’re busy quilting.

Lucie and Jenny

Lucie Summers and Jenny Spencer are another award winning mother daughter team. Lucie is a British fabric designer going exciting places and Jenny is a long arm quilter with a magic touch. Last year they took first prize in the Group Quilts category with this 'Portholes' quilt. I caught this photo while they were hanging out with the Fat Quarterly Crew at the Festival of Quilts last week.

Here's a detail shot from the 2010 show. I love how the quilting design plays off the quirky fabric. Jenny came to my stand last year and took me to see the quilt. I'd sent her the Rainbows thread for the quilting. She certainly put it to good use!!

This year Lucie and Jenny came out with a Highly Commended in the Two Person quilt category for this 'Hexagons and Stars' quilt. Once again I love the way the design in the fabrics and the line designs in the quilting so compliment each other! You can visit Lucie on her blog and also at her etsy shop: Summersville

Winners!

Bronwyn and Lucy are here representing the group from Girl's High in Sleaford who won third prize for this fab fair ground/carnival quilt. Bronwyn, an art teacher at Kesteven and Sleaford Girl's Grammar School was the organizer and Lucy one of the many contributors. The girls were so keen they gave up their lunch time to work on the project. Bronwyn used a quilt-as-you-go method to make the best use of limited time. This enabled the girls to work separately on individual panels and join them together to create a vibrant interpretation of the fair ground theme. Clicking the image should give a better view of the quilt.

This quilt took third prize in the Secondary School's Competition at the 2011 Festival of Quilts! Not bad for a first try!! It's so fun when the winners are people you know! I'm looking forward to what they come up with next year.

Festival of Quilts 2011

The Festival of Quilts was great! Emily said " I love the Festival of Quilts! It's like a four day adrenaline rush."

Many people tried a machine quilting frame for the first time. It was fun having two frames on the go this year.We had the 4 foot Art Quilter set up so we could demo some art quilting and the 6 foot frame was set up so anyone could have a test drive.

The JUKI part of the stand was looking very posh. You can see Anne's retreat project on display. Many people enjoyed trying out the new Exceed range - fantastic for general sewing and piecing. The JUKI TL 98P is still our favourite sewing machine to have on the frame.

It was fantastic to have Trudi Woods and Emily Milne and Anne Smithies helping out. Here you can see Trudi and Emily getting the stand ready before the show opened.

Bunting was big, but our deck chair stripes were hard to beat. Some of our visitors gave us the 'best bunting' award.