Day 7 - behind the sewing machine

 Today in Textiles class had my first practical encounter with an electric  sewing machine, the Bernina.

 There were quite a lot of practical things to manage - the health and safety factors were highlighted and I found that there are two lots of thread involved one from the top and a second source from the bobbin underneath.


We identified various parts/options, for example there were two 'Feet' we used one for straight lines and one for freehand. 

With the straight foot we could have the machine pull the material through but with freehand we managed the material ourselves.

The machine


Foot for 'freehand'

Foot for Straight lines









It was good to be able to produce results immediately, as well as thread we were able to experience applique, where other material was ironed on using adhesive on a transfer and then secured with thread.

Straight foot with thread - threading was a time consuming 
thing for me - 



An example of applique














A line taken for a walk 






Material is kept taut by hoop when 
the 'freehand' foot is used


 

Didn't realise until after class that I liked the reverse 





 As usual we had the chance to look at each others work and review our experiences with Libby (our teacher) .

Takeaways for me around Libby's points were :

1) I now see Textiles as another medium which can be used within projects to offer another texture.

 2) I am interested to see textiles used alongside other materials to contrast the particular characteristics (e.g. against Metal to highlight the  softness of a fabric).

3) Within the timescales I'm quite enthused that so much could be accomplished and that we had something to show and discuss as a group.

 

 



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