A Long Line of Makers

I was thinking of my father and this father's day. I remembered that he did a lot of making things when he was young. I have on my dresser, one of the lead soldiers that he made when he was a child. He had molds, he melted the lead and poured his own toys. As a child, I played with them, setting them up and shooting them down with a popgun that my grandfather found corks for. The corks were too big and he had to trim them down.

The concept of dealing with melting and cooking things to create toys was a part of my own childhood. I had a Mattel "Thingmaker" when I was young. I put liquid plastic into a mold, put the mold onto a heating element and cooked the plastic into either monsters, or flowers, or Peanuts characters. There was a risk of getting burned, and I probably did, though I don't remember it. I never owned an Easy-Bake oven, but my best friend, Becky, did.

So, not only did I grow up making things, so did my father before me.

Stabilizer Basics

New machine embroiderers are always asking, "What stabilizer should I use?" Usually, they are overwhelmed by the variety of responses they get. One person loves a stabilizer that another person hates.

My advice is that a newbie should get three stabilizers. One cutaway, one tearaway, and one wash away. All should be light weight. That's it! No iron on. No heavyweight. No medium weight. No heat away. When a heavier weight stabilizer is needed, use multiple layers. When floating, use 505 adhesive, pins, or a tack-down stitch.

Why do I suggest this? Because it makes it a lot simpler for a newbie. I teach newbies that a tearaway should be used for wovens and a cut away for knits. Wash away is for topping. There's so much to learn and remember about machine embroidery. Sixty-eleven different types of stabilizers are sixty-eight too many.

It Ain't Broke, So I Don't Have to Fix It!

I had a slight problem with the new embroidery machine. It gave me an error message. I knew there was an easy fix for it, but couldn't recall exactly what it was. No panic. I looked for an instructional video on line and had to push a few buttons on the screen and slowly turn a knob.

POOF!

The Avance was right back to work.

While I was looking for the video, there was a subtext running through my head. A similar error on Mama Bernina, and she'd be in the shop for a week or two and it would cost a minimum of $100. My worst case fear was that I'd have to load the Avance into my truck and drive it to Tampa.

I'd heard really good things about these machines. I'm inclined to believe them now. 

New Career!

I have started a business. Studio PALS, LLC. I bought an Avance commercial, 15 needle embroidery machine. I've gone through many hours of training on it. I got digitizing software to create designs to use. I've had many hours of training on that, too. While I don't feel cocky, I am confident that I can produce a quality product. Go me!