Sewing the easy way!
Now that you know how to set up your machine and you gave it a test spin, you're ready to put it into action.
Away we Sew!
Today, I'm going to show you how to sew a zig-zag stitch, nice and straight! Sewing looks even better if your paper looks like fabric! This gorgeous patterned paper pack is by K & Company. It's called Hannah by K-ology.
I used two coordinating pieces of this paper and some fabulous card stock by Prism. I must have been living under a rock because when my friend Tami Mayberry emailed me and asked me what I thought of Prism paper, I told I liked it. I thought I had tried it but I was wrong because I would have remembered this and I would have told her I LOVED IT!!! Tami had the wonderful people at Prism send me a sample pack and let me tell you, this card stock rocks!!!
I love the texture. I don't know if you can see it in this picture but it has a orange peel texture, like the kind of texture you find on the walls of high quality homes. I really think it's fabulous!
So, with these three pieces of paper and a beautiful piece of Prism green card stock for my base, I began my card.
Here are the measurements for my two pieces of card stock that I sewed together.
My plain piece of card stock is 1/4" larger all the way around. The patterned paper is text weight, not card stock weight. I would not recommend sewing anything thicker than this together. You could break your needle.
I used mono-adhesive tape to attach these together and then I was ready to sew.
If you look in the middle of the presser foot, you will see a split right in the middle of the foot. Line the edge of the patterned paper up in the center of the split in the presser foot. As long as the edge is always in the center of that split in the middle of the presser foot, your stitches will be perfectly straight. And, it will give the appearance that your zig-zag stitches are what's holding the two pieces of paper together, (not the mono-adhesive.)
Here is a view from the side so you can see how far back the paper is under the presser foot.
You can see that the needle is level with the very back of the paper and will come down right at the very edge.
Once the paper was loaded where I wanted it and I lowered the presser foot, I turned my stitch dial to the medium zig-zag stitch- stitch G.
Then, I sewed right to the edge of the other side of the card stock.
Before I trimmed the thread, I pulled more of it out of the machine like this.
Then, I trimmed the threads.
When you have loose threads, you need to secure them so they don't unravel. Don't just cut them close to the paper. They will quickly unthread themselves and not look very nice. There are two ways to do this. (There are actually more than two ways but I want to show you these two ways right now. I will show you other ways in a future tutorial.)
The first way is to tie them off.
I turned the paper over and I tied two knots over each other and then I cut the threads close to the knot.
The second way if to tape down the loose threads.
Run a strip of mono-adhesive just under the stitches and press the loose thread into the tape. Trim the thread just beyond the taped down part.
After I finished sewing all four sides and securing my threads, I mounted the piece onto my green card base.
Next, I used the coordinating patterned paper and made a strip to go across the middle. I sewed down each side and secured my stitches.
Then I assembled my card. I used stamps from the "Spring Holidays" stamp set. I love this pot of clovers. I don't make a whole lot of St. Patrick's Day cards so I didn't design a set specific to that holiday.
These clovers can be colored to look like potted geraniums for summer cards and a pot full of clovers can be sent anytime you want to wish someone good luck. This stamp set is so versatile that way! And I love the saying, "Feelin' Lucky?" That can mean a whole lotta' things. LOL!
I used Copic Ciao markers from Box C to color this card. Then, I added a little glimmer to it by coloring on top with my new Copic Spica Pens! I love these pens. Sometimes you don't want glitter. You want shimmer. It's different. It's a tad more elegant. I really love the look. I don't know if you can see it enough to realize just how beautiful it looks, but here is a close up shot. That little bit of shimmer really makes a difference.
We just got a shipment of Copic Spica pens and we will be adding them to our online store in a couple of days. I'll keep you posted here on my blog when they become available for purchase.
So now it's your turn. Take this challenge:
Try sewing on a card. Upload it into your gallery at Splitcoaststampers and use the keyword SEWGKD so we can all go and see each other's projects.
I will be back again soon with another tutorial on how to change the needle and how to sew straight stitches and square corners.
Oh and guess what I did! When I ordered that sewing machine for our winner of the last contest, I put two in my cart! You know what that means... and it's coming soon!
Hugs,
Gina K.
Away we Sew!
Today, I'm going to show you how to sew a zig-zag stitch, nice and straight! Sewing looks even better if your paper looks like fabric! This gorgeous patterned paper pack is by K & Company. It's called Hannah by K-ology.
I used two coordinating pieces of this paper and some fabulous card stock by Prism. I must have been living under a rock because when my friend Tami Mayberry emailed me and asked me what I thought of Prism paper, I told I liked it. I thought I had tried it but I was wrong because I would have remembered this and I would have told her I LOVED IT!!! Tami had the wonderful people at Prism send me a sample pack and let me tell you, this card stock rocks!!!
I love the texture. I don't know if you can see it in this picture but it has a orange peel texture, like the kind of texture you find on the walls of high quality homes. I really think it's fabulous!
So, with these three pieces of paper and a beautiful piece of Prism green card stock for my base, I began my card.
Here are the measurements for my two pieces of card stock that I sewed together.
My plain piece of card stock is 1/4" larger all the way around. The patterned paper is text weight, not card stock weight. I would not recommend sewing anything thicker than this together. You could break your needle.
I used mono-adhesive tape to attach these together and then I was ready to sew.
If you look in the middle of the presser foot, you will see a split right in the middle of the foot. Line the edge of the patterned paper up in the center of the split in the presser foot. As long as the edge is always in the center of that split in the middle of the presser foot, your stitches will be perfectly straight. And, it will give the appearance that your zig-zag stitches are what's holding the two pieces of paper together, (not the mono-adhesive.)
Here is a view from the side so you can see how far back the paper is under the presser foot.
You can see that the needle is level with the very back of the paper and will come down right at the very edge.
Once the paper was loaded where I wanted it and I lowered the presser foot, I turned my stitch dial to the medium zig-zag stitch- stitch G.
Then, I sewed right to the edge of the other side of the card stock.
Before I trimmed the thread, I pulled more of it out of the machine like this.
Then, I trimmed the threads.
When you have loose threads, you need to secure them so they don't unravel. Don't just cut them close to the paper. They will quickly unthread themselves and not look very nice. There are two ways to do this. (There are actually more than two ways but I want to show you these two ways right now. I will show you other ways in a future tutorial.)
The first way is to tie them off.
I turned the paper over and I tied two knots over each other and then I cut the threads close to the knot.
The second way if to tape down the loose threads.
Run a strip of mono-adhesive just under the stitches and press the loose thread into the tape. Trim the thread just beyond the taped down part.
After I finished sewing all four sides and securing my threads, I mounted the piece onto my green card base.
Next, I used the coordinating patterned paper and made a strip to go across the middle. I sewed down each side and secured my stitches.
Then I assembled my card. I used stamps from the "Spring Holidays" stamp set. I love this pot of clovers. I don't make a whole lot of St. Patrick's Day cards so I didn't design a set specific to that holiday.
These clovers can be colored to look like potted geraniums for summer cards and a pot full of clovers can be sent anytime you want to wish someone good luck. This stamp set is so versatile that way! And I love the saying, "Feelin' Lucky?" That can mean a whole lotta' things. LOL!
I used Copic Ciao markers from Box C to color this card. Then, I added a little glimmer to it by coloring on top with my new Copic Spica Pens! I love these pens. Sometimes you don't want glitter. You want shimmer. It's different. It's a tad more elegant. I really love the look. I don't know if you can see it enough to realize just how beautiful it looks, but here is a close up shot. That little bit of shimmer really makes a difference.
We just got a shipment of Copic Spica pens and we will be adding them to our online store in a couple of days. I'll keep you posted here on my blog when they become available for purchase.
So now it's your turn. Take this challenge:
Try sewing on a card. Upload it into your gallery at Splitcoaststampers and use the keyword SEWGKD so we can all go and see each other's projects.
I will be back again soon with another tutorial on how to change the needle and how to sew straight stitches and square corners.
Oh and guess what I did! When I ordered that sewing machine for our winner of the last contest, I put two in my cart! You know what that means... and it's coming soon!
Hugs,
Gina K.
Oh my goodness...that is so pretty !! I guess I'll have to get brave and try to sew on a card!
You make it look sew easy!
Thanks for taking so much of your valuable time to show us step by step!
Hugs!
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Love this tutorial - you make it look so easy! And what a great finished product! You are so crafty!
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I had to change majors because I couldn't sew in college. (I was Interior Design major.) Maybe all I needed was your kind of instruction.
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At first, reading through the demonstration, I thought the dark thread was just for the sake of being able to see the stitching in your tutorial. At the end, with the completed card... awesome.... the contrast looks fabulous! Great card! I love thread on paper. I'm going to have to find some prism paper. I've been reading about it today and your article's timing is great... I definitely need to see if I can get some!
Thanks for all your informative and inspiring words.
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Amazing tutorial; thanks so much Gina!!!
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Great tutorial!
TFS!!
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Your card is just beautiful. I appreciate all the tutorials you have put together for sewing. I know it takes you time to do them. They are just wonderful!
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What a great tutorial...how many places can you go to and get Home Ec. classes made simple? I am wondering though..I guess I don't pay attention to the terms of how to describe paper though..what is "text" paper? Is it different than copy paper? I know what Cardstock weight is but some papers are reeeealy thin and some are medium and some are thicker like the SU cardstock.
But thanks so much for taking the time to post so many pictures and closeups of "how to". You da Bomb!! Barb S.
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Awesome design and info! Love you card
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Wow! This inspires me to pull out my sewing machine for something other than sewing a button back on!
Thanks for all the great tutorials.
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Gina, your tutorial is fantastic!! Your card is beautiful -- I love the combination of colors, and the stitching is perfect!
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wow, gina, you are very very thorough. I'm going to bookmark this and plug in my machine...
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GORGEOUS card, Gina! My sewing machine is still in for repair, and you're making me miss it something fierce with your great tutorials!
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Gina, I LOVE reading these tutorials on the mini sew! Too bad I dont own one though.......These really make me want one. It's just not in my budget right now.((Sigh))
Thanks for teh Tutorial,
Monica
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Ooooooo.......that is so awesome!!! The dp really does look like fabric....and the zig zag stitch is so fun!! Yep....sewing on my cards is definitely something I've got to learn!! Thanks for another FAB tutorial!!!
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I am so loving your tutorials! They rock! ...now if I could only figure out how to get the zig-zag stitch to work on my machine! This is beautiful! Thanks for sharing and have a great night!
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Gina these are great tutorials. And the photos are right on. You are also
unbelieveably generous, if I am catching the drift of your double purchase. Wow is all I can say.
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Awesome directions, and such YUMMY paper. I have a sample of the Prism paper from Cardmaker magazine. It is very nice indeed! Love your card and all the details. The stitching is absolutely perfect for this sketch. Thanks so much for showing us. Love these tutorials!!
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OMG u mace this loc so ez i can hardle wat to get a sewing machine for mi self thanc u for giveing theze to me so i no that i can du this b for i ordr won for mi self u roc i have strtid saveing for mi machine have a grate da
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Your card is beautiful. Before I actually read your instructions, I got out my brand new Janome mini sew and sewed a couple of pieces of cs together. I would put it on SCS, but it is my card for a shoebox swap i am going to and I don't want to show it just yet. It took me awhile to figure out how to sew a perfect zigzag line. After a few tries, I finally got it right. Thank you for all of your tutorials.
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Awesome tutorial, thanks Gina! The clovers are so cute, too.
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Just fantastic, Gina! I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. I guess I have no reason not to take mine out of the box now!
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Yeh! I'm getting so excited reading this! My Sew Mini shipped today from Hancock Fabrics!! Thanks so much for the heads-up on the great special they had.
I thought the dark thread an odd choice, until I saw the finished product...YOU ARE AN ARTISTIC GENIUS, GINA!!!!
Stopped by the store and love all the new paper prints you've stocked! Will you be carrying Prism paper too?
Oh! If anyone has the CardMaker mags Mar'08 edition, there's a sample piece of Prism Prismatic card stock in between Page 18 and 19. And Gina's right again! It's AMAZING!!! Where do I get my hands on some??
Hope you get to the bottom of the pain your daughter is experiencing. I don't know how you keep it all together, creating great stuff like this for all of us when you are having such issues. I'm praying for her.
Thanks for all that you do, Gina!!
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cute card. great tutorial.
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Hi Gina,
Though I stay in India...I dont get such sewing machine..it will defficult to buy such an expensive machine here.
But I want to thank you...for being so nice ..that so so many pple will be able to make such pretty cards...using sewing machine
As I'm sure there are many pple who dont know..how to put such things into action..!!
Wow..three cheers to u & to ur blog..which provide us with such fablous tutorials...
I hope I win this sewing machine next time..I'll look forwards for makin those beautiful cards..
I'll definetly mail u aagin...as I have many stuff which my Dad got in his U.S. trip..might be u can take up on ur blog & makes us understand how make best use of it..
Thanx again
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OMGosh! I've been aching to try the Prism papers! Arrgggggh! Are you going to carry these in your store? Love your 'toot'!
~Tex
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I've been sewing on my cards for quite a while now, but I still learned a lot reading your tutorial. Thanks, Gina! You're the greatest!
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Your tutorials are amazing! I can't thank you enough. Plus, your blog candy is out of this world. I hope I can be a lucky winner soon
~ jess k
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Gina, are you sure it was an accident you bought 2? LOL I think you are just very generous!
I love your tutorials for using it.
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Thanks for the tutorials. I really "need" a sewing machine now. I just wish we could get the Sew Mini in Canada
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You make everything look so incredibly easy! Thanks for taking the time to do such thorough, informative and interesting tutorials! You help us all tremendously!! TFS
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oh...you make it look so easy. I can't wait to try sewing on a card. Thanks for the tutorial!
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Well my DH yes you read DH threaded my machine for me! lol and I did it... BUT guess what my paper is so light that you can't see the stiching! LOLLOL!! hmmm lets see what he will do when I ask him to change thread!
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Thanks so much for this wonderful tutorial. I'm a quilter/sewer, and it's different on paper! Thanks!
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Great tutorials Gina! I just got my JSM and I love it! I will upload a card as soon as I get a chance...it's been so much fun to sew on cards!
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WOW, Gina, another great card with sewing! I LOVE it. I've been using Prism for since last summer and I LOVE it!!!
Oh and thank you for more awesome tutorials!!
Where do you get the energy??!!
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Lovethat paper Gina! I think another trip to the store is in order. Hopefully it won't be snowing this time!!
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Thanks for the tutorial Gina! I have never sewned on paper but I'll try soon (now if I could only locate the pedal of my sewing machine....)
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I recently read your tutorials to help getting this machine working. Thanks for the writeup! Maybe someone here can help with a problem. As we sew, things are going fine, then THUNK! It comes to a stop and we have a wad of threads underneath. After looking at things, it seems like one of the threads is sorta frayed. Is the machine not grabbing the loop? We are using Coates thread and it seems to work fine until that point. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Scott
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Thankyou so much for writing these tutorials. I just purchased this machine today and have already begun practicing with it. I think I'm really gonna enjoy owning it. It's just gonna take some practice. Anyways, have a great wknd. and thanks again!
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Thanks Gina, for this very informative tutorial about sewing on cards. I have been quilting for years, but just wasn't sure how to sew on cards. Now I know, thanks to you.
Trish in Wisconsin
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nice
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I am fascinated with all these patterns and I want to go far with it. I am trying to create patterns that would be applied on my furniture, I want to make it all special and homey but I think I could also use the advise of an interior designer on this one. It's quite a challenge for me...
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I found your site on delicious today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later ..
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