Sewing Machine Guide

Christmas Sewing Ideas, Faster With A Sewing Machine

Great Christmas Gift Ideas To Sew

If things are a bit tight this Christmas, why not drag out the sewing machine and make your own Christmas gifts. It doesn’t have to be a complex piece of clothing. The suggestions below are all simple and easy to make. The biggest cost will be the fabric, so shop around for remnants and discount fabrics.

Elegant Table Runner & Placemats

When you think about it, the simple table runner is just a long rectangle, and placemats are just smaller ones. If you buy some nice organza or patterned satin material in festive colours, you can whip up a unique and beautiful gift in a matter of minutes.

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A good size for a table runner is 60" long by 13" wide (or 160cm by 34cm). A good size for a placemat is 17" by 12" (or 45cm by 32cm). So for 6 placemats and 1 table runner, you’ll need around 2 yards of fabric (2 metres).
For each item you will need two pieces of fabric, so fold your fabric in half (right sides together) and draw up your pattern pieces using tailors chalk and a ruler (don’t forget to include a seam allowance).

Cut out, then sew together leaving a small gap in each piece (to turn the right way around). Turn right side out and iron (ironing the unfinished seam in place). Now run a seam around the entire outer side as close to the edge as possible. Voila!

Ladies Evening Wrap (or Day Wrap)

Summer evenings are great, but sometimes they can be a little cool. Why not make this easy evening wrap - a quick and easy gift idea for Christmas too! Or, if you have a friend with Lupus, why not make them a daytime wrap so they can be shielded from the sun.

Great fabrics for this include silk or shot silk for an evening wrap, and tight weave cheesecloth which blocks the sun but still allows for air circulation for a day wrap.

The wrap is 31′ wide by 63′ long (or 80cm by 160cm). However, our preference would be to have both long edges of the wrap as a selvedge edge, so if you find suitable fabric in a roll with a width just slightly larger than these (say 36" instead of 31 ‘), go ahead and buy it - a little extra width won’t hurt.

Before you buy your fabric, you need to decide what embellishment, if any, you want to put on the ends of the wrap. You can leave the edges as just a straight edge, you can attach some fringing or other decorative ribbon, or you can make your own fringe (if you are using a fabric than fringes easily). If you are buying decorative ribbon or fringing, you will need 63" or 160cm.

If you decide to make your own fringe, don’t forget to factor that into how much fabric you will need. An average fringe is 2′ long (or 7cm), so you will need to buy 31 ‘ wide by 68 ‘ long (or 80cm by 174cm).

Then just stitch those edges that need to be stitched. For the sides (if you have to stitch them) I’d use a really tight zigzag stitch (test first on a scrap piece of fabric). For the ends, if you are just hemming, use the same stitch. If you will be attaching ribbon or fringing, sew a normal hem.

If you are fringing the wrap yourself, start unpicking the material at one end, and continue until the fringe measures 2′ long (or 7cm). Now grab bunches of the fringing about 1/4" wide (1/2cm), and tie in a knot so that the knot is as close the edge of the solid fabric as possible. Repeat every 1/4" until you have knotted the entire edge. Now repeat with the other end of the wrap.

So, start sewing - hopefully these ideas will inspire you!

By: Diane Ellis

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Diane Ellis has been sewing since she was very young and got her first sewing machine at 6 years old (albeit a miniature one!). She sews purely for friends and family, and enjoys making her own patterns, and using her skills to decorate her home. She is the co-author of the website Sewing4Dummies.com where you’ll find other great free patterns for Christmas Gift ideas. Also, for a limited time, you can sign up for a free 6 part sewing course.

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The History Of Brother

Here’s something you probably didn’t know: Brother started out as a sewing company? Yes, you heard right. Brother had its start back in 1908 as Yasui Sewing Machine Co, founded by Kanekichi Yasui in Nagoya, Japan. And a few years later, the company was renamed Yasui Brothers’ Sewing Machine Co. The sewing machines sold and the company became Nippon Sewing Machine Manufacturing Co in 1934.

By 1954, Brother International Corporation, as they were now called, began exporting the sewing machines overseas with much success. This success continued for several years with many advances in home appliances and knitting machines. However, the Brother of today really came on the scene in 1971, when they created the very first high-speed dot matrix printer.

Electronic typewriters were next in 1985 and the focus began to shift to more business oriented products and devices. Telecommunications and electronic stationary were even on the bill as Brother progressed through the twentieth century.

And even as the company progressed into the twenty-first century, Brother was still cranking out the sewing machines under various subsidiaries including Zhuhai Brother Industries Co., Xian Typical Brother Industries Co and Brother Sewing Machine Xian Co to name a few.

In 2003, Brother began producing multi-function devices. Recently expanding into China, Brother is still in the forefront of printer sales. And you can’t forget about those sewing machines! Over the years they have produced all sorts of products such as label printers, typewriters, machine tools, fax machines and other computer products. While their products are distributed under the Brother name they are also distributed as OEM products with other companies.

By: Brenda Stoke

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

This article is written by Brenda Stokes. A longer version of this article is at Creative Ways to History of Brother Printers and main source of this article is Brother Printer Ink Reviews.

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