My Favorites - Karen

This week our featured Staff Member is doll extraordinary, Karen Smith! See what she has to say about her favorite sewing items! 

Q: What is your favorite sewing/quilting book?

A: Books are a weakness for me!  I love books and have just about every book that has ever been published regarding cloth dolls.  I also have a weakness for magazines and have just about every magazine on cloth dolls.  I think that I get the most from Patti Medaris Culea’s books.  Her most recent book is the best – it is a compilation of her first 4 books – called “Creative Cloth Doll Collection.”  It’s a wealth of cloth doll construction and everything to dress and embellish a doll.  My second favorite (right now) is “Cloth Doll Artistry” by Barbara Willis.  She has some of the most beautiful embellished dolls too.  (These can all change with my mood)            

Q: What is your favorite sewing notion?

A:  My favorite and most useful notion is the Stuffing Tools for cloth dolls.  I have both sizes – the larger one for body parts and the really small one to push stuffing into little fingers and toes.  You cannot really stuff a cloth doll without one so I always have this on my class lists and Seams Like Home stocks both sizes.  They are so useful for pincushions, stuffed animals and etc. too.  My favorite stuffing is Premium Polyfil by Fairfield. 

Q: What is your favorite sewing foot?

A:  My favorite sewing foot is my Free Motion Embroidery Foot.  This foot lets me create just about any fairy wing I design.  Also, I can add wonderful thread embellishments to my fabric before creating a doll.   I also really can’t sew a doll without the open toe foot as it allows me to see the stitching line and to sew with accuracy. 

Q: What is your favorite hand/machine sewing thread?

A:  My favorite which is really quite boring, but so incredibly useful, is hand quilting thread by Coats and Clark.  I have tried many different brands and types but this thread is the best for everything from sewing arms, legs and heads to my dolls, but also to add embellishments, beading and making wired ribbon flowers.  I can tug it fairly firmly and it just doesn’t break.  I have every color that has come out.  But it absolutely must be the “hand quilting” thread, not machine quilting.  I also like a lot of metallic threads by Madeira and Superior – they add the “fairy” touch.

Q: What is your favorite sewing blog(s)?

A:  This one is a difficult one to narrow down to one or even two.  I love Joggles – this site has just about everything a doll artist/mixed media artist would like.  This site also sends out a “mid week muse” video tutorial that is usually interesting showing techniques for new or interesting products.  I also like to visit Dollmakers Journey  -  they send out a monthly newsletter with information on new patterns and products.  They also have a sale every month on a pattern category and lots of links for upcoming challenges and etc.  I also enjoy Patti Medaris Culea’s site – she has some wonderful patterns and really good links.  But I check out many more too.

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into our gift card drawing! Thanks for stopping by!

MyFav's - Sara

Join us this week to hear about Sara's favorite items! 

Q: What is your favorite sewing/quilting book?

A: One book that is my good ole stand by for Christmas fun is New Noel. It has a few simple and beautiful Christmas stocking patterns that I have used to make stockings for everyone in my family! Also the other patterns, table runners, placemats and pillows are super fun. I know the colors they use are bright and nontraditional but I have done most of my projects in green and red and they are beautiful! Definitely my holiday go to book! Also I love the Quilter’s Academy books – All of them!!! They all have lots of useful information about quilting, sewing, sewing machines, quilting tools and other good tidbits of information. For those of us out there who are sewing and quilting and are mostly self-taught, these books can take your sewing to another level! I love the confidence I have gained in my quilting and sewing through these books and I use them as reference tools often!

Q: What is your favorite sewing notion?

A: I love my Frixon Pen! You can use the pen on fabric, on your notes, in books, patterns for super sharp and precise lines and marks. And the best part is you can erase all of your marks! On fabric to make the marks disappear all you have to do is use your iron! Heat or friction makes the pen disappear! Once you wash your project and fabric the marks will never come back! Love it! Wonder Tape is also one of my favorite notions! I use to help apply my binding to hold it in place as I’m sewing it on by hand. It makes the task a lot easier and the finished product is nearly perfect! My last favorite notion is my Mini Iron II! This specialty iron has a few different attachments and they make this iron so practical! I love the small iron tip as it’s perfect to fuse the applique pieces onto your projects! Since I love fusible applique this iron is wonderful for me but the other attachments have many other functions too!

Q: What is your favorite sewing foot?

A: The #5 Blindhem foot is one of the most practical feet in my arsenal. It’s my best friend when hemming pants and the seams are nearly invisible because of this foot! Another favorite is the #35 invisible zipper foot! I have struggled with invisible zippers many a time and this foot has little guides that the zipper coils fit right into so you can perfectly attach an invisible zipper! This foot has made my garments and projects go from looking homemade to looking flawless! My last two favorite feet have made me a successful quilter, they are the #50 Bernina Walking foot and the BERNINA Stitch Regulator! With the aid of these two feet I have been able to quilt all of the quilts I have ever made! It feels great to be able to piece and then quilt all of my projects from beginning to end. I now have a major passion for quilting, it has become my favorite part of sewing!

Q: What is your favorite hand/machine sewing thread?

A: I have recently fallen in love with metallic threads, most specifically the YLI Yenmet threads! They are sparkly, shiny and make your projects stand out! I have enjoyed quilting and machine embroidery with these threads. The trick to achieve no thread breakage is using a size 90/14 Metallic needle and loosening top tension on your Bernina. With those two tricks I have never struggled with the Yenmet thread and I am now obsessed with them! Another favorite thread of mine is Aurifil. This is my favorite cotton piecing and quilting thread. I know many other staff members have raved about it already but I can’t say enough about this stuff! My dream is to have Aurifil in every color!!! With 216 colors, it’s a big task but one I am more than happy to work towards. J

Q: What is your favorite sewing blog(s)?

A: http://www.coletterie.com/ The Coletterie is the blog for Colette Sewing Patterns. They feature lots of real sewers and other blogs who are successfully using the Colette Patterns, which are awesome by the way! There are also lots of fun and interesting tutorials on garment making techniques and step by step guides on how to put together their patterns.

 http://weallsew.com/ We All Sew is the wonderful and amazing Bernina blog. This blog has free projects, features about the new and hot ideas in the sewing world and lots of tutorials from Bernina Educators and Sewing Celebrities. I check this blog weekly as there is always something new and exciting to discover!

P.S: Don't forget to leave a comment or tell us what your favorite notions are. You will be automatically entered to win a $25 gift card to the store! 

MyFav's - Maret

Welcome to Week 3 of our MyFav's blog series. Check out what Maret has to say about her favorite sewing/quilting related items!

1.      What is your favorite sewing/quilting book?

Why are these questions so hard?!  I love books!  Nothing is more relaxing and inspiring than a cup of coffee (or red wine) and looking through the newest books. 

Right now I have been devouring Fiberart Montage by Judith Baker Montano.  Judith is our featured teacher at our first quilt retreat in Halibut Cove this summer.  Her creations are pieces of art!  Her book combines photography, watercolor paintings, fiber creations and silk ribbon embroidery…all the things I love to do!  Her older books are timeless resources for hand embroidery and silk ribbon techniques.  I love doing hand work. 

2.     What is your favorite sewing notion?

When cleaning my sewing studio, I discovered 4 Kwik Klip notions! You really only need one, but obviously when I couldn’t find mine, I needed another and another and another!

This is the best tool for closing those safety pins while pinning your quilts.  No more broken fingernails!

3.     What is your favorite sewing foot?

I LOVE the #10 edge foot.  This foot allows you to get up close and personal with the edge of your project and gives a professional finish to your seams.  I have used in on a leather bag that I made and people are amazed at the details on the seams!  It looks better than store bought.

I also LOVE the #43 free motion couching foot.  This foot is a must have for any machine embellisher!  I also LOVE  the hemmer feet, # 60, # 61 and #62.  These feet help sew narrow rolled hems on scarves and garments.  I also LOVE…oh wait, I’m only supposed to pick one favorite?!  The list just goes on and on….

4.     What is your favorite hand/machine sewing thread?

I love to piece with Aurifil thread.  It is a long staple Egyptian cotton thread that doesn’t leave tons of lint in your sewing machine.  It is also great for machine quilting because is embeds in the quilt, instead of lying on top as some thicker threads tend to do.

We are slowly bringing in more art threads to be used for embellishments.  King Tut, Masterpiece, and Rainbows just to name a few. 

I also love silk ribbon, floss and thread.  We have the ENTIRE line of Judith Baker Montano’s hand dyed silk threads and ribbons.  Scrumptious!

5.     What is your favorite sewing blog?

This blog makes me laugh!  Zombies have invaded, but at least this one has a sense of humor and “thehappyzombie.com” makes me happy.  Monica Soloria-Snow is unsupervised and armed with sewing needles.  Not your traditional quilter/sewer!  I love seeing what new tricks and techniques she comes up!

Karen Snyder is a mainstay in the quilting industry.  She is an author, fabric designer, and previous shop owner.  I had the pleasure of meeting her a few years ago and spending some time during dinners getting to know her.  Her style is more traditional quilting and her blogs are always entertaining.   Her blog, “annalenaland.com” features her sewing projects as well as her love of photography.

Okay so, not a sewing blog but a life blog…I love “hands free mama.com” blog.  Our lives get too busy and our eyes are always glued to the computer screen, phone screen, movie screen,  tv screen so much that that sometimes I want to scream! While we need to have some interaction with electronics…do remember to put them down and enjoy the moments around you.  Rachel Macy Stafford writes posts so eloquently…read it-live it.

And don't forget, leave a comment here to be entered into our $25 gift card drawing. We will randomly choose the winner next Monday!

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to come in the store to check out the items Maret mentions above!