All in all a thumbs-up Freemotion Embroidery class.

Hello hello, I've been at it again - meeting some lovely ladies whilst teaching them the ways of freemotion embroidery at Millie Moon. For a little while now I've taken a break (only a very little one - a smudge of a break) from creating with freemotion embroidery, so it was a lovely change to my day to be passing on the skill to keen sew-ers along with showing off my lovely collection of Anchor Embroidery threads, taking my stork scissors out of hiding and demonstrating the ingenuity of the magic marker pen which I can almost guarantee an'ooh' and an 'aaah'. (All tools that can be found in your Millie Moon Shop.)

In the class I introduce you to the tools you will need, show you how to set up your machine and demonstrate a few different exercises to build your confidence and knowledge of freemotion embroidery. You will also aim to finish a picture in the class which you take away with you.

What is freemotion Embroidery?? - I hear you cry. Well in essence (also known as freehand machine embroidery) is a technique on your sewing machine that uses your creativity ability to embellish and decorate by drawing. This is not to say you have to be great at drawing to get the best out of the technique - if you like shape and colour or just sewing you should give it a try.
So anyone can have a try?
If you can already sew and are quite happy and confident with a sewing machine then you can try freemotion embroidery, but I wouldn't say this technique is for everyone. Its a technique I have learnt over the years that firstly you have to have patience (and lots of it at times) and also to keep experimenting and playing at - the more mistakes you make the more you learn and the more rewarding it becomes. A lot of my mistakes involving freemotion embroidery turn into happy mistakes. 
Do I need a special machine?
No, not at all. A household domestic sewing machine would work fine just check that the dog feeds (the zig zag teeth underneath your needle) can be lowered or you have a metal/plastic plate to go over them: to disengage them.

When teaching a class in freemotion embroidery - I do love it when a. the students really enjoy themselves and get excited about the technique and the time just flies away with you and b. you see a definite style appear within the way the student creates and manipulates the technique. Its very rewarding and all in all the class becomes a thumbs-up class. Have a look what some of you creative types have made in pass classes (sorry if your picture is not on here- I'm a bit rubbish at recording things) - 

If you fancy a taster at freemotion embroidery my next class is in the Millie Moon Wells shop on Sunday 25th August.......ooops that ones booked up now. Let's try again the next one is............10th November in Frome 

Also keep a look out for Freemotion Embroidery Christmas baubles 17th November in Wells and Freemotion Embroidery birds which will be making an appearance in the next batch of workshop.

Hopefully see you soon (perhaps on a freemotion embroidery class),
Angela

What do I do with a layer cake?

Two cut Quilt

Hi, this is Becki and I have been tweeting about my layer cake quilt. The tweeters have asked for it as a blog post so here we go. 

We often get asked what you do with a layer cake? A layer cake is a MODA name for a bundle of 10" pre-cut squares. A MODA bundle contains about 42 squares, easily enough for a single quilt. A Riley Blake bundle has about 24 squares. In this demonstration I am using a Riley Blake bundle called 'Sunny Skies". 

This is a quick 'two cut' quilt. 

Cut you entire stack into two. 

1 section 6" and 1 section 4"

Flip your smaller sections pile upside down 

and then join the pieces back together

 taking from the tops of the piles.

Cut these blocks in half to create your '2nd cut' 

Flip and turn one pile, then taking from the tops again join back together.

Thats it! now lay out your blocks turning them 90 degrees as you go, putting them in any order you like.

Sew your blocks into strips

And sew your strips together. 

Add some sashing or a boarder if you like then quilt or tie. 

Good luck and enjoy. 

Becki x

Moda Layer cakes and Riley Blake bundles available in our shops and on our website www.milliemoonshop.co.uk. Free postage. A FEW sale ones left. Maybe a christmas quilt for next year?