The Sewing Sphere
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New machines!

For the past couple of weeks, I had been fighting oil spots on fabric every time I stitched a seam on Janet's old Mitsubishi industrial at the studio and I couldn't figure out why or where they were coming from. (I think all the rubber seals and gaskets are just old and wearing out or something.)

So instead of calling the repair guy and spending $400+ to try to fix it, we decided it was time to upgrade to a Juki DDL-8700 with a quiet servo motor like I have at home. And because I had been planning to eventually get another one for myself to have at the studio anyway, we got two, traded in the Mitsubishi (which covered the delivery charge), and had the guys from Sunny Sewing Machine in Dallas do all the heavy lifting up the studio stairs!

They were delivered yesterday, which was almost exactly four years since I brought my Juki ("Thor" ) home on June 1, 2019 after sewing on the same model at the opera for a few years. It's always interesting to see the tiny changes made from year to year. Thor was made in China, but these two new machines were made in Vietnam. And the ruler printed on the table surface has changed somewhat.

Sadly, that means that Gandalf and his desk came home with me again, but honestly, I prefer sewing on an industrial, especially for work stuff.

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Studio video tour!

I spent the day priming things for paint and then I remembered to shoot a quick video. #SewingStudioBuild

00:03:06
Paint!

I started cutting all the edges while Janet was away yesterday morning. When she got back after lunch, she pulled out a roller and started filling in. I'll put a pic below in the comments. #SewingStudioBuild

00:02:15
Time-lapse floor install (part 2)

We broke for lunch and then came back with a portal ac unit plugged in to an extention cord from the house. Can't wait until they finished hooking up all the electrical and we have the mini split cooling the room for us - it was stupid humid today! #SewingStudioBuild

00:03:11
Ruffle tail

I draped a really rough half-scale ruffle tail for one of the debutant dresses Janet & I are making. I just eyeballed and freehand cut a scrap of (un-ironed) muslin in a spiral and pinned it to my little dress form to make sure it was long enough to reach from hem to waist. Then I marked the folds and traced it onto graph paper and cleaned it up. The graph paper makes it easier to copy at 200% and tape the pieces back together.

I'll transfer the enlarged frankenstein paper pattern to brown paper when I'm back at the studio tomorrow or Friday and then make it out of the real fabric.

#ruffle #fiestabuild

February 14, 2025

I made 2 of these valentine garlands. Found the tutorial via Instagram and thought it would be perfect to send to Ashley, my daughter in Oregon, and Madison, my birth daughter in North Carolina.
Pics are from Ashley.

What I did at work today

My hand hurts! I spent all day trimming net away from embroidery and weeding out sections that were too dense for what I need this fabric to do.

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