November of 2015 is when we purchased my new sewing machine. Guaranteed lessons could be given at any time by appointment. With it being a 120 miles round trip, I haven’t as yet asked for a lesson. I easily learn by reading and by trial and error. There have not been very many projects that hit the circular bin due to operator error.
Just yesterday I was sharing the time I spent on getting conversion printout charts for my files in regard to the best thread colors to use when embroidering. Obviously, we would be traveling back and forth to the sewing machine shop for the machine to have regular checkups and have the firmware updated, so I began using the brand of thread that the shop sold. Isacord it is.
PES is core-spun threads by the Mettler manufacturer. This chart can be scrolled through until all 14 colors have been shown and ideally identified by a code.
Sometimes in the homes of retirees, it gets quiet. It gets really quiet when Dennis is under the weather. It is no more than right that when he is resting in his recliner that I keep the noise and commotion down to a dull roar. As I was cleaning up some fuzz and threads in the sewing studio I picked up the huge manual that came with the sewing machine, mainly to dust it off. In the quiet of the house I sat down and began going through it, page by page by page. Hump . . . I don’t ever remember seeing that little symbol on the sewing machine. What? It does what? At the time the embroidery unit is ready to begin stitching there is a panel of the colors as it works its way through the design from the first to the last color. The colors represent the code number of choice from the origination of the design pattern. For 22 months I have been needing to take the time to look up conversion charts for each and every embroidery project that was not a product of Bernina and then having to find the Isacord color closest for a match. Apparently Isacord is “in like” with Bernina.
There in all its glory is the correct code and the name of the thread color for my Isacord thread.
Well, shucky darn. I put my pointy little pencil on that semi-circular design and there is a built-in conversion chart for 35 different brands of thread. It was a good thing I had my mouth shut or I would have dropped my teeth. I felt elated, I felt embarrassed and I felt a bit ashamed. So . . . .why can’t this sewing machine wash my windows? The saving gift of hours of time that sometimes made the difference of “do I really want to stitch it out when I could find an easier design?” I love reading. Why hadn’t I read the manual from cover to cover to begin with. In all honesty there was, and is, so much detail in this machine, I learned and dealt with the situations as they arose. Today felt like Christmas. Yesterday I was at a point that the color charts almost had me whipped. Today was just the right time for me to get better acquainted with my purchase.
There are some things in the horizon with the embroidery aspect of the machine that I will attend a class or two. It will involve software that will enable me to choose any pattern that I currently have and add script. It will all be laid out on my laptop as a total project, loaded onto a flash drive and then loaded onto the sewing machine. Currently, I have had to measure once, measure twice to make sure the script is centered above the design while the hoop is on the embroidery module. Currently I have limited fonts and can only do one line at a time. The number of fonts in the new software is endless and the number of lines of script will only be limited by the size of the hoop that I choose per project. There was a trial that I could download for a month. I worked with what they allowed and it was pretty amazing.
I enjoy pushing my limits in life. I enjoy trying for new adventures . . . and I do mean try hard. This has been another satisfying day in the life of the retirees here on Stauffer Avenue. It would be better if Dennis could just shake this summer cold before the weather becomes colder.
off kilter. I apparently had not tightened the screw sufficiently holding the two portions of the hoop with the towel being held taught in between them. The stop button was pushed and I just sat and looked at the project for a while. The last few minutes of the project and it was bad. I was determined not to scrap the entire thing. I have learned that you never, ever take the project out of the hoop as the registry can never be duplicated. With the towel still in the hoop and tightening it, I could only hope. I took the hoop off of the machine and slowly started picking out way-ward stitches that had begun as the fabric had slipped. Good grief. So many tiny stitches and so close together. Ugh! I got all the stitches out less one grouping that threatened the fabric with a possible hole. When the hoop was put back on the machine, there was no way the word “Cookie” was going to be stitched where it rightfully belonged. There had been too much slack in the fabric by that time. All I could do was forge ahead and let the stitching continue.