Twin Needle Stitching Research Done

      I finished the research into the question of whether my Singer 3400 XL or my Bernina 1530 will do twin needle stitching and the answer is, yes.  They both do this stitching.  The both have a general purpose needle plate so the opening is wide enough for the twin needle and they both have presser feet that accommodate the twin needle.  The only thing I will have to fiddle with is that the Singer only has one spool pin (the Bernina has two), so I will have to place a spool on the lone spool pin and one on my thread holder.  I did some practice stitching.  The blue stitching is the Bernina and the red stitching is the Singer.  I will make a note of these findings in the owner's manuals along with notations about the feet, needle plate, stitch length setting, and spool pins.

    I started the stitching at the normal 2.0 setting but the stitching came out much nicer at a longer length setting, I think I ended up at 3.0 or 3.5.
 

Twin Needle/Stretch Stitch Research on My Sewing Machines

    I pulled out the owner's manual on my Singer 3400 XL (computerized, 2001) and the Bernina 1530 (computerized, 1992) this morning so I could research twin needle stitching and stretch stitches on these machines.

    I read a LOT of quilting, sewing, and crafting blogs and lots of those blogs are about garment sewing, which is something I did when I first started sewing in my teens when I was taking a sewing course almost every semester in high school.

     All the reading about garment sewing reminds me of the first sewing machine I ever owned.  It was given to me for Christmas or my birthday (my birthday is a few days after Christmas so they kind of run together) when I was about 15 years old by my oldest brother.  It was a Singer (I don't remember what model) that did twin needle stitching and it also had a stretch stitch which was super cool.  I wish I still had that machine but I don't.  I lent that machine to someone who broke it and I couldn't afford to get it fixed so I threw it away.  Shame on me.

   My brother did have an ulterior motive for giving me that sewing machine.  He wanted me to make a few things for him.  I made curtains for his room, I made curtains for his van, and I made his girlfriend a really cool stuffed teddy bear made from fake fur.  He supplied the money for all the materials and I did all the work, measuring, shopping, cutting and sewing.  It wasn't a bad way to spend my free time in high school.

   So, back to the research on my current machines.  My Singer 3400 XL doesn't have anything in the manual about twin needle stitching, but I may try it after I check my needle plate to make sure I have enough room for the twin needles to pass through.  The Singer does have a lovely stretch stitch as well as an overcast stitch and and an overcast foot.  My Bernina 1530 manual does not mention twin needle stitching, but after I check my needle plate, I may play with this carefully.  It does have a couple of stretch stitches.

   My hands on research will continue this evening and I'll give you results tonight.

Happy New Year!

    Here's to a happy and healthy New Year to you all.

    I spent New Year's Eve with my pets and my projects.  I set up the embroidery machine, which runs great right out of the box.  My testing would have been complete if I had stabilizer for my test.  The doubled cotton fabric did not work.  My upper thread broke twice and I think that was the machine's way of telling me it was not happy.  I turned it off and I'm waiting for stabilizer supplies before I test her again.  She needs a name and a home.  I can work out those two questions while I am waiting for supplies to use her and finishing quilting the Pretty in Pink quilt.

   The Pretty In Pink quilt is pin basted and ready to be quilted.  Here is a sample sandwich I did with the Bernina 1530 and her new walking foot.  These are pictures of the both sides, but for the life of me the stitching is so sweet, I can't tell the top from the bottom.  I should have used different fabric or thread for one or the other.  Oh, well.  All in all, I'm very happy with that Bernina walking foot purchase.

 

   I'm off to finish cleaning my oven (I sprayed cleaner in it two hours ago and it's time to wipe it all out) and then I can start quilting.  See you soon.
 

Testing, 1, 2, 3, Testing

    I bought a brand new walking foot for my Bernina 1530 a few weeks ago and I'm just getting around to testing it.  I want to use the walking foot on the Bernina to straight quilt my Pretty In Pink quilt when I get my batt.  Here is a picture the pretty little walking foot installed on my machine and a picture of my the front and the back of the sample I just stitched.  It's perfect.

   One note about the walking foot and why I wanted to test it.  Last year I bought an off brand walking foot for my Bernina 1530 from an ebay seller.  I was saving over $100.00 and I thought it would be fine.  The motion of the off brand walking foot was not smooth and although the stitches made using the foot were fine, I wasn't happy with how the machine was running.  So I had some extra money a couple of weeks ago and decided to spring for a Bernina brand walking foot.  I am so glad I did.  There is a world of difference in the two walking feet, the Bernina brand foot runs smoothly and you can see how even the stitches are on both sides.  I'm glad I bought it.  I do a lot of straight line quilting and will probably get a lot of use out of this beauty.  

   One other test I did was to make a 5 Minute Block (the pattern is from Suzanne McNeill).  I'm thinking about using this block for a scrappy Christmas quilt, but I couldn't decide if I would like making it, so I had to try it.  Still not sure about it.  But here is my test block.  It was a fun block to make, I probably need more contrast in my fabrics.