MARTHA PULLEN SCHOOL AT CREATIVE SEWING MACHINE CENTER

The Martha Pullen School was held at Creative Sewing October 21-23.  You know its a great event when the students do not want to take their breaks for snacks and lunch!  The classes this year were taught by three Martha Pullen Certified Instructors; Kathy McMakin, Connie Palmer and Peggy Dilbone.  Creative Sewing was honored to have three such accomplished teachers, designers and authors.

Instructor Connie Palmer taught the students how to make a beautiful designer child's dress using Baby Lock's Crescendo sewing machine.

  The dress, designed by Connie, features a bodice using puffing strips, rickrack and bias strips. 

Instructor Peggy Dilbone taught the students how to make a cute designer diaper bag on the Baby Lock Destiny.

  Students learned to construct the bag and embellish it with embroidery, lace insertions and scallop touches.

Instructor Kathy McMakin taught the student's how to construct and embellish a baby day gown and matching bonnet using Baby Lock's Ovation serger.

This gave Susan a chance to demonstrate her stellar ironing skills!

As the Martha Pullen School comes to a close, we are already prepared to enjoy some informative classes with Joyce Keske this Friday and Saturday, the 24th and 25th! If you have missed out on all this fun, don't forget to sign up for Sew What's New just around the corner on October 31st and November 1st!  See you then!

Quilting Expo Winners!

We wanted to share a glimpse of the fun we enjoyed at the Knitting and Quilting Expo this year! 

 We got to play with so many of our favorite machines.

BabyLock educator, Debbie Martinez stayed busy showing attendees how you can do beautiful quilting and couching with the Crown Jewel Long Arm Quilting machine.

We gave away a BabyLock Ellure in the Friday drawing. Congratulations to Scott Martin of Wedgefield, SC!

Then on Saturday, we awarded a Bernina 800DL Serger to Penny Stevens!  What a joy to see their happy faces!

 We thank all of you who stopped by to say hello and make us feel welcome!

Serger Club Video

Have you ever wondered what goes on in some of our clubs?

 Well, today we took this video at our Serger Technique Club! This video features the 1 1/2 inch Belt Loop Foot on a Babylock Evolve. This technique is just one of the many that are taught in this club. Many thanks to Miss Dot for letting us record her working!

And just as a reminder, perfect for pre-Christmas shopping- GE is offering financing to those who qualify starting Nov. 20th through Dec 3rd! Don't forget to stop in and check out our machines!

Some snapshots from our Ovation Serger Event!

Just some quick snapshots of the goings on here today for our Babylock Ovation Serger event!

A huge thank you to everyone who attended!

Install a Zipper with your Serger: A Tutorial

One thing we'd like to start having on the blog are little tutorials for our readers, so today, we are going to get started with something amazing! Installing a zipper with your serger!

Many of you know that if you purchase a machine from Creative Sewing, you actually are able to have FREE access to our monthly clubs! One of these clubs is called Serger Technique and you can gain a WEALTH of serging knowledge in it! We would LOVE to have more of our faithful customers attend this club! We taught this zipper skill in this club this week and everyone was amazed at how easy it was to do!

Installing zippers with your serger is a perfect thing to do when needing a zipper in a pillow or a bag, it's not used quite as often in garment construction, but could be in some cases.

For this tutorial, you will need:

• two scraps to practice with
• a cording foot for your serger
• an extra long zipper (you always want MORE zipper than you need) 

Make sure you start with your needle all the way up. We are serging with the incredible BabyLock sergers, so there is usually an added ease of use with these machines than others. You will need to practice to make sure your serger is set at the right settings for your machine.

Ready to get started!?
Snap that cording foot onto your machine and set your machine to a 4 Thread Overlock. Length 2.5 - 3.5; Width from 6.5 - 7.5. If you are using one of our amazing BabyLock sergers, then you will also need Stitch Selector A.

Your zipper will guide through the cording groove.

Next, lay your zipper on the right side of your fabric, right sides together. You can leave a little seam allowance if desired, but it is not necessary. If you do, your knife will trim it off!

Next, feed your coil through the cording groove and serge your zipper in place.

Next, flip your zipper around the opposite direction and repeat these same serger steps!

And that is IT! You've installed a zipper! Perfect for bags, purses, and the like!  It's so fast and easy, you will definitely want a serger, if you don't have one!

It looks so well done and professional inside, serging really takes your hand-made item to the next level!

This was one of FOUR techniques covered in the FREE clubs that Creative Sewing offers to customers that have purchased machines! Please be sure to sign up for this monthly club and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge and skills that can be gained through it!