My very first applique attempt was just two months ago and on a regular sewing machine! Now, I can not sew a straight line to save my life with out my magnetic seam guide. My friend, Kelly, found this truly funny to say the least.  Seriously, If I drive like I sew straight lines I’d be pulled over and made to do the sobriety test.

Honest.

I’m not kidding.

I even sewed the back of the t-shirt to the applique! Yes I did. And I’m proud of it! My friend felt so sorry for me that she took over for me after that. She showed me the settings and what stitch to use and embroidered that sucker like she was spreading peanut butter on a piece of bread.

I was so envious.

My project turned out cute despite my inability to “drive” straight.  Don’t you think?   (Ahem! . . .No comments about women drivers!)                                                  

Two months ago I owned a Brother vx-1120. Ummm. . . yeah one of those. Not to put down the owners of this lovely machine, but I had a hard time learning to sew on it. Hence the reason I can not sew straight lines.That is until I got my beloved Brother He-120. Being able to control my speed was like an epiphany. You know the choir singing from my last post?

 Yeah it happened again.

Seriously, it really happened .

But then I realized it was the TV.

T-shirt $2.50

Embroidery Thread $4.95

Stabilizer $0 ( borrowed it)

Figuring out that my embroidery machine has an applique feature: Priceless! You have no idea how ecstatic I was to find out my machine did applique! It was right up there with chocolate! And I love me some chocolate. I know I’m not alone on this one.

I was amazed that I could actually do an applique and not worry about sewing straight lines. My machine did it for me (Now, if we can only make a sewing macine that brewed coffee)! I found no instructions on how to actually use this feature in the manual. So taking what I learned in my first post I searched the internet, and asked questions.  Here are a few links that I found very helpful (Thanks Ladies!):

The Domestic Diva Blog 

!Sew Mama Sew!

Sonia’s Snippets

And buying books with lots of pictures helps too. Sew for Less Bookstore has lots of great instructional books on the subject. And let’s not forget the great information found on the Sew for Less Community Forum.

Granted, back when I first learned about this feature, I had no earthly idea about stablizers and there is actually different ones for different fabrics. So I had a few mishaps which I will probably show you in my next post. . . that is if you promise not to laugh.

You promise?

Pinky swear?

Alrighty then. Stay tuned for next week’s Aha moment!