Create your own #BearBat Plush Toy!- WIN A FREE Sewing Machine!

29smp bearbat plush contest

Create your own #bearbat Plush Doll and you can win a NEW Sewing Machine!


Official Contest Rules:

  1. No Purchase Necessary. Download the official #bearbat pattern here:
    https://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/media/email/2016-web-september-national-sewing-month/batbear/bat-pattern-complete.pdf
  2. Cut out and create your #bearbat plush pattern!
    1. Be as creative as you’d like when selecting your fabric types and colors!
    2. Decorate! Use buttons, ribbons, anything! Make your bat bear uniquely yours!
    3. 1 entry per person, get your children and grand children involved!
  3. Take pictures of your completed #batbear plush and submit before October 21, 2016!
    1. Email pictures to: Contests@sewingmachinesplus.com
    2. Include your name, city, email, and phone (optional) and a brief description of your #bearbat.
    3. Voting will start October 22, 2016 via Facebook. So follow SewingMachinesPlus.com on Facebook to vote!
    4. The winner will be announced October 31. 2016!

Materials You Will Need:

materials you will need

  1. Pattern: Download PDF patter here https://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/media/email/2016-web-september-national-sewing-month/batbear/bat-pattern-complete.pdf
  2. Material – We used felt but you can choose whatever you like.
  3. Sewing Machine
  4. Scissors
  5. Pins
  6. Needle
  7. Thread
  8. Polyfil Stuffing
  9. Any other buttons or accessories you might want to add.

All of these materials can be found at your local craft or hobby store.

Let’s Start!

Step 1: Download the #bearbat patter and print out 2 copies. One for directions, the other for cutting patterns.

Step 2: Cut your patterns out, then place and pin to your material.

pin your patters to your material

Step 3: Cut your patterns out leaving 1/4″ seam allowance. We suggest using Karen Kay Buckley’s Perfect Scissors to help with tight curves and turns.

cut out your shapes

Step 4: Mock your pieces up, cleaning cut edges as needed. At this point, you may want to change up material in different areas depending on the type of look you are going after.

mock up shapes

Also, you can replace the heart shape on the belly with whatever shape and design you would like. I decided to create a button pocket in the middle of the heart.

heart shape

Step 5:Fully assemble your front and back piece.

BACK: Sew you ear and wing pieces together and turn inside out, then stuff with Polyfil. Next, place the back side facing up and pin the ears and wings onto the back piece keeping your 1/4″sew line and border in mind.

FRONT: Place the front body piece facing up. Place pin your eyes, snout, nose mouth and belly shape in place then sew then onto the front piece keeping your 1/4″ sew line and border in mind.

front and back

Step 5:After your back and front pieces are fully assembled and sewn on, with the backside facing up on the bottom piece, place your front piece faced down on top of your back piece and sew a 1/4″ line around the border. MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT SEW THE BOTTOM EDGE.

Pulling your plush inside out from the bottom, your ears and wings should pop out, and the bottom should be open, leaving an accessible area to fill with Polyfil.

front and back

Step 6:Fill the head and body from the bottom using Polyfil and sew the body shut. You are now finished with your #bearbat.

finished

Memories: USB Drives and Sewing Machines

Memories…

Original Article by Scott Goodman

USB memory drives are ubiquitous and fit into many different devices. Just before the turnof- the-century, our hobby underwent a major paradigm shift in user accessibility. For the first time, embroidery machines became unleashed from proprietary cartridges that were costly and limited. Users could access thousands of free designs from internet sites like AnnTheGran (can you hear the dial-up?). Pre-USB machines used floppy disks, or worse, serial cables that required technical settings of baud rates, IRQ interrupts and other “buzzkilling”, mind-boggling concepts that disenfranchised the masses from joining our embroidery party.

Early USB thumb drives had capacities measured in double-digit megabytes. This was a huge advantage over floppy disks where even a 32MB device could hold the data of 30 floppies. Moore’s law has caused 8MB thumb drives to have the
same monetary value as the vegetable brush that Fuller Brush salesmen gave to our moms as a door opener. USB drives come in many different capacities, shapes, and types. While it would be fun to share ideas about shapes (piggies, thimbles,
kitties and sometimes black rectangles), capacity, format and type can cause concern.

Regarding which drives work and which will not, Anders Andersson, from Husqvarna Viking’s product development department, clarified the concept with great eloquence and simplicity: (Please read this with a Swedish accent) “If
it works…it works!” Other companies have shared ever-changing, impossibly long lists of recommended brand/style/capacity that work with various models, spewing reams of organized data on brand, model and size of known acceptable/ non-acceptable memory devices.

Here are some general guidelines and possible solutions for USB drives that cannot be accessed:

Smaller is Better.

Most embroidery machines lack the horsepower to efficiently display files on a well-laden thumb drive. It could take several minutes to find that special file on a large capacity stick. Use your computer, find the file and transfer it to your reasonably sized “work” USB drive.

Mac Attack.

Mac users can inadvertently name their files in strange and unusual ways. Apple’s Hierarchal File System formats USB drives quite differently from PC formatted USB drives. Files copied using Finder can change names in a way that is invisible to the user but confusing to your sewing machine. Characters in file names may be different in style and
length than those found on a conventional PC. This may freak out (technical term) your embroidery machine. Borrow a PC computer and try simplifying the file names to old-school DOS style names.

Plain Vanilla, Please.

Devices like “Cruzers” may contain pre-installed programs that will automatically execute on your PC while befuddling some embroidery machines.

Format may be an issue.

You can format or re-format a USB drive. Most sewing machines prefer FAT32, the most common format.

Now you see it, now you don’t?

Certain brands will only recognize the right sized designs. Your machine may be limited to 4” x4” designs. A larger design will copy to a USB drive and will be visible on your PC, but invisible to your sewing machine. Some embroidery software requires a designated page or hoop size. A small design, saved in a larger hoop size, will be undetectable when browsing or accessing fi les in a smallformat machine.

Be sure to un-zip your embroidery files.

Remember dial-up? My first computer modem displayed letters slower than I could read them. Today, streaming video rivals broadcast television. Time + space = money. Zipped fi les save storage space and download time by defl ating (compressing) the file for transmission; requiring you to infl ate (decompress) the zipped fi le after downloading. Embroidery machines do not speak Zip. This might seem obvious, but many embroidery CDs contain PDF fi les showing thread colors, size, etc. Your embroidery machine does not speak PDF, either.

AirStitch for the iPad
allows you to download,
unzip, view, convert, email
embroidery fi les and even
print templates using an
Air Print enabled printer!

The future?

You can expect USB drives to go the way of CD-Roms and fl oppies. I am living in the cloud. My stuff exists…somewhere. I access it…anywhere; on almost any device. We are slowly migrating from traditional Mac/PC computers. I recently downloaded AirStitch on my iPad from the Apple App Store. From Brian Bailie (the creator of Designer’s Gallery and Embrilliance) AirStitch allows you to download, unzip, view, convert, and email embroidery fi les. You can print templates using an Air Print enabled printer. Store your designs in the “cloud” by sending to and sharing from DropBox. Using AirStash, you can send embroidery fi les from your iPad, directly to your embroidery machine,. Maxell AirStash is a device that can be purchased from Amazon, Best Buy and others. The AirStash is a WiFi enabled device that looks like a USB drive and plugs into your embroidery machine. Using the magic of WiFi, you can transfer fi les directly from iPad

The AirStash is a WiFi enabled device that plugs into your embroidery machine. Allowing you the ability to transfer fi les directly from iPad to your AirStash connected embroidery machine.

Seams Amazing Video Channel

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Hand Cranked Singer Sewing Machine

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When he was young, 11-year-old Brian Hurita hand-stitched his own Foreign Legion hat. It was rewarding to him so this Southeast Portland resident grew up mending his clothes by hand.

Then he inherited his first sewing machine — a 1954 Singer Model 66. It’s not his favorite, however. He prefers a 1930 Singer that uses a hand crank to operate.

More details are in the complete article:
Singer Sewing Machine 160th Anniversary Has Fan Sew Excited.
by Nancy Haught,
October 19, 2011
The Oregonian.

Stitches Revolutionary Diet Plan

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Most diets are easy to start. But the longer the diet, the more difficult to follow. Stitches Revolutionary Diet Plan actually gets easier as you follow it. Remember to consult with your doctor or other medical professional before beginning this or any other diet plan.

Breakfast

  • 1/2 grapefruit.
  • 1 slice whole wheat toast.
  • 8 oz. skim milk.

Lunch

  • 4 oz. lean boiled chicken breast.
  • 1 cup steams zucchini.
  • 1 Oreo cookie.
  • Herb tea.

Mid Afternoon Snack

  • Rest of package of Oreo cookies.
  • 1 quart Rocky Road ice cream.
  • 1 jar of hot fudge.

Dinner

  • 2 loaves garlic bread.
  • 1 large pepperoni and mushroom pizza.
  • 1 Double Gulp regular cola.
  • 3 Milky Way candy bars.
  • Entire frozen cheesecake, eaten directly from the freezer.

 

The Craft Directory

Have you ever wished there was an Internet search engine dedicated to craft information? The Craft Directory – Arts and Crafts Search Directory is better than a search engine because the various web sites are placed in categories to make life easy.

What categories? Here’s the list:

Angel Crafts
Antiques
Apparel
Applique
Art
Basket Weaving
Baskets
Beadwork
Body and Bath
Books
Bridal and Wedding Crafts
Calligraphy
Candle Making
Card Making
Ceramics
Children’s Crafts
Clock Making
Collectibles
Craft Charities
Craft Malls
Craft Projects
Craft Shows
Craft Supplies
Crocheting
Cross Stitch
Decorative Painting
Decoupage
Digital Scrapbooking
Doll Making

Drawing & Sketching
Egg Art
Embroidery
Fabric
Floral Crafts
Food/Recipes
Free Stuff
Furniture
General Crafts
Gifts
Glass Art
Gourd Art
Graphics
Home Decor
Jewelry
Knitting
Lace Making
Leather
Macrame
Magazines
Metal Crafts
Miniatures
Nautical Crafts
Needle Felting
Needlework
Online Craft Instructions
Origami
Paper Crafts
Patterns

Pets
Photography
Plastic Canvas
Polymer Clay
Pottery
Quilting
Resources
Rubber Stamping
Rugs and Rug Making
Scale Models
Scrapbooking
Sculptures
Seasonal Crafts
Sewing
Soap Making
Software and Computer Crafts
Spinning
Stenciling
Stitchery
Stone
Tapestry
Tatting
Teddy Bears
Tole Painting
Weaving
Wholesale Crafts
Woodworking
Yard and Garden

Virtual Cat

Sometimes you’ve just got to take a break from your project to regroup, refresh, and relax.

If you don’t happen to have a cat handy (they tend to wander away at inappropriate times to take inordinately long naps until they hear the can opener), you could play with this virtual cat instead. Just move the mouse pointer nearby and see what happens.

Quilting Videos by Kaye Wood

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If you’re looking for some quilting tips and tricks, take a look at the videos available at Kaye Wood TV. Lots of topics are available:

  • Four PatchHearts
  • Squares Galore
  • Spinning Diamonds
  • Twirling Stars
  • Trees With Ease
  • Other Side of the Fence
  • Blazing Stars
  • Stitch Knit Hems
  • ABC Quilts
  • Dalco Dimensions
  • Mariner’s Compass
  • Everyone Can Quilt Promo
  • Fussy-cut Diamonds
  • Kaleidoscope
  • Pointed Fans
  • Perfect Y Seams
  • Mitered Bindings
  • Hexagon Cut and Sew
  • Flying Geese

Kaye Wood’s Primary Website has a schedule of appearances, a blog, a page of freebies, and information on her TV show "Kaye’s Quilting Friends".

Disclaimer: Not affiliated with Kaye Wood Inc., an independent company.

Garment Designs: Serendipity Studio


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Sewers will find designs for dresses and tunics, skirts, bags and jackets. Embroiderers will find seven categories including the four seasons, hearts, Americana, and the Lone Star collection.

Felting enthusiasts will be delighted to discover five punchneedle embellishment projects.

Designer Kay Whitt released her first design in 2001 and continues to add to her collection. Available projects are online at Serendipity Studio.

Disclaimer: Not affiliated with Serendipity Studio, an independent company.