I Digress

Please excuse me while I digress a bit with this post. It all started when I was in junior high...

Sewing that is. I've always enjoyed it. My mom got a Singer when I was in junior high and I thought I was in heaven. I even took tailoring in high school and made a suit and my winter coat. Sewing; always enjoyed it. I wanted a sewing machine for high school graduation, but I got a ring. A lovely ring that I still wear, but I couldn't sew with it.

After I graduated from college and got my own apartment, my mom gave me her sewing machine. Gasp!  I couldn't believe my luck; a machine of my own. Woo hoo! I still sewed apparel. I remember making my Easter dress that year.

As life got busier and I met a guy, I started to sew less and less. Now the primary use of the sewing machine cabinet was to hold the television. So I ended up marrying the guy and a few years later we bought a house. Since we didn't have kids, I needed a way to meet women in the neighborhood.

I was put on a waiting list to join TWIG; a little branch of Children's Hospital. Women would craft all year and then the big fund raiser was a bazaar at the fair grounds every November.This gave me the chance to meet like minded women who enjoyed sewing, wood working, painting etc. It was a great organization raising money for a great cause.

One of the projects I worked on was machine applique on sweatshirts. It was the first time I'd sewn for a very long time. And it was very fun. Then after a friend drug me to a quilting class at JoAnn's I was hooked. I even chaired a project with my TWIG where we made holiday wall hangings with log cabin blocks.

Since then I've made queen sized quilts, table runners and wall hangings. I still enjoy sewing and I'm constantly on the look out for new techniques to try.

Imagine my joy when I saw that our local sewing shop, Sew to Speak had a  class on sewing with knits! I hadn't sewn with knits since, well...since last century! So my friend Sally and I signed up.

I went to the shop to pay my fee and look for fabric. Have you noticed that a lot of fabric designers are now turning their designs into knits as well as 100% cotton for quilting? Well,April Rhodes, designer of the Arizona fabric line is the daughter of the owner of the shop, so they carry the whole line (what a surprise!).

I picked out Tomahawk Stripe in Night. It's a lovely weight knit and while I didn't want horizontal stripes, this design doesn't read like a true stripe (at least that's what I tell myself).  The pattern used for the class is the Renfrew t-shirt. It comes with three different sleeve lengths and three different necklines. Awesome!

I'm really pleased how it turned out and I learned from it. For example knit fabric stretches more in one direction than the other. Make sure that extra stretch is horizontal rather than vertical. Not something I had realized but Pat, our instructor pointed out.

If you enjoy quilting consider extending yourself and learn another way to express yourself. There are a lot of techniques out the so give it a try and learn something new; you could be pleasantly surprised!