Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show-November25-28

[Christie]

The machines are set to 2.5 when you switch them on and I assumed (wrongly I now realise) that everyone used that size of stitch.

[Offcuts]

I think...........!!!! I think that people should be taught using the foot control first because not many people have the hand button on the machine that they already have or go on to buy. It is a useful skill to have full control with the foot control. Also I don't think 4.5 size stitches are strong enough. Stitch sizes vary with different makes of sewing machines. I find 3 is right for the Berninas and 3.5 on the Brothers. The factory setting is 2.5 on the brothers and it is easy to forget to alter it.

[beattie]

My apologies! I was wrong! I realised as I was making a bag while waiting for tea to cook, that I was thinking about the Brother machine I use at home, which is different! Whoops, sorry Chris! I DO usually change the stitch length to 3.0 on the MARX Brothers - particularly if the machine is having trouble making headway on the handles. My comment on longer stitches for thicker materials stands, though probably 4.0 would be too big in most situations.
Mea culpa, *calls for the sack cloth and ashes..*

[Christie]

Apology accepted Beattie

I have downloaded some photos to flickr and then done what I thought I had done with Offcuts the other day, that is

clicked on the photo, right click on photo then choose medium 500, right click again and choose copy image address

then I pasted in to my message and just got the link not the photo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What have I done wrong? can someone help please?

[Offcuts]

After you rt clicked and got copy image address you click on img once. 2 img should appear with the cursor flashing between them Then you go to edit and left click on paste. (and be careful not to put your memory stick into the cd slot! )

[squeak42]

Hi,
at home I have a Brother as well and I do vary stitch size depending on which bit I'm sewing and it depends on the fabric as well - some may get a bit more backstitch than others......
A lot of people were quite amazed how easily the fairly lightweight machines went over folded handles. My Brother is quite heavy and it coped very well last night making "snow socks" - Google them - I made one pair last year and they are amazing!

Squeak xx

[Christie]

Thank you Offcuts I forgot that bit!

The first photo is of one of the students who made a bag on Thursday. The fabric was given to us that morning by a lady who made a morsbag last year and then came back this year and brought some fabric and thread for us as a thank you.


Lots of concentration going on here.

This is Nick who works for a company in Leeds which sells Brother industrial and embroidery machines. He did his best to get the poorly Brother machine working and then offered to embroider a Christmas tree on some fabric for us. It takes the machine about 6 hours to complete the design. I made a morsbag with the fabric and he was so pleased with it that I gave it to him!

[beattie]

They're all gorgeous! And the bags are pretty lovely too!!

Nick spent six hours embroidering the bag??! I know the machine chunters along in the background and you can do other stuff at the same time, but....

Glad you got posting pics sorted Christie They're GRRReat !

[Krisaby]

What lovely pictures! And what lovely people too which adds a special touch. Aren't people a joy sometimes?
Lots and lots of gold stars all round.

[Christie]

Yes Beattie it took six hours! He started it before I got to the show on Sunday morning. I watched it doing the one that is on the machine in the picture and it seemed to be programmed and did it without any further human help.

Yes I agree Krisaby people are lovely. We had lots of very fashionable young women on Thursday and Friday. They were keen to see Gok!

[sazziej]

Great pictures Christie, thank you for sharing them.

I love seeing all the happy faces of the people after they've made a bag.

The embroidered bag is just delicious!

[Tintinabulation Wells]

lovely pictures, It's good to see that the Morsbag image can be trendy. I must show these pictures to my Great Nieces .

[Offcuts]

They are very trendy. To quote Kirsty Allsop in her homemade house programme 'Sewing machines are flying of the shelves at the moment' she did some free machine embroidery this week. It was just like drawing with a sewing machine.

Great pics, Christie. I shall have some more when I retrieve my camera stick from the bowels of my computer!

[Christie]

I feel partly responsible for your mishap Offcuts because at Harrogate I put your memory card in my laptop to download your pics so I think I put the thought in your head!

I loved the embroidery that Kirsty was doing. I think it was the same technique used by the artist at Harrogate who made brooches (Squeak bought one) and pictures for children.

The number of bags made over the 4 days 128. Not bad considering that for 3 of the days we had 3 machines rather than 4. We all agreed though that our main aim was to get the morsbags message across, rather than rush through making lots of bags. I certainly think we achieved that.

[Offcuts]

Don't feel partly responsible, Christie, I am just a twit! I have found one pair of glasses that I had lost. They were at the girl's school so thats a good thing!