TILT!

Today was a fun day!  I had finished my Valentine sewing so it was on to St Patties Day!  I have been looking forward to making a bowl out of this shamrock glittery fabric but I have been struggling with the angles on the bowl sides.  My new machine which I purchased in August does everything beautifully and I am VERY happy with it except the I cannot get a steep angle when I want to make a bowl with straighter sides.   It has to do with the distance between the needle and the side of the machine.  With my Pfaff, it is less than 2".  With my new machine it is aprox. 2 -1/2".  So, today I got out my old machine and that fabulous rainbow fabric and focused on cutting the fabric in strips that would best show off the change in color and also focus on making a bowl with steeper sides.  

First, I completely wrapped the fabric around the rope before I started since this bowl was going to be made completely out of one fabric.  MAN, that was a lot of wrapping but it was nice to sit down at the machine and completely make a bowl in one fell swoop without having to start and stop at the machine to add strips.  YES, my new machine is more powerful , faster and more reliable when sewing through rope but I was VERY pleased with the results.  Also, I was taught to ALWAYS wash the fabric before using it to pre shrink it but since these bowls will never be washed, no need to do that.  I found the fabric nicer to work with since he had a bit more body to it due to the sizing still being in it and also, it was not raveling as much so it made a much cleaner looking bowl.   From here on out, if I am purchasing fabric stickily for a bowl, I will not wash it ahead of time.

My favorite fabric store is having a 20% off sale over the next to weeks so time to make a list and check it twice. I was asking my FB friend Holly today what day she would be going to the sale.  She is an avid quilter.  She informed me that she has so many quilting projects going that she is going to have to pass this year on the sale. She is obviously showing a great deal more self control than I.  I call it an occupational hazard, but a good kind!