jcaroline's blog

March of Tools- Cutting

It's the last day of March of Tools, so I'll finish up with my cutting tools. First, I love my Fairgate Rulers available from Southstar Supply, which I use constantly with the Fairgate L-square for cutting fabric square.  I have the 36", 60" and 72".  I use the 36" and 60" the most.  I have purchased a metal L-square at Home Depot.  My complaint with it is that it is steel, so it is heavier than heck and my magnetic pin cushion gets attracted to it constantly.  The Fairgate rulers are aluminum, so nice and light.

I've had people comment on my cutting mat and yes, I love it as well.  But, I just noticed they only carry the 12" x 18" and 18" x 24" now.  Oh no!  Must hunt for big cutting mats (mine is 70" x 48").

I also love my Omnigrid Ruler.  It is light, easy to handle and see-through.  I use it a lot in conjunction with my Fairgate rulers or alone when cutting small shapes.

And finally, what did I do before I discovered Olfa's rotary cutter?  Used a lot of dull scissors, I'm sure.  The 45mm with the ergonomic handle is my favorite.  I've tried a much more expensive rotary cutter and I didn't like it.  When the blade is dull, you just pop in a new one.  And since the blade retracts when you let go of the handle, I don't nick myself as much.

And I couldn't let March of Tools end without reminding you that we always offer a 50% discount on tools (up to $20) on jcaroline creative! if your order is at least $50.  Enter coupon code "tools" at checkout to receive your discount.  Makes some of those tools that are a little expensive, perfectly reasonable!

March of the Tools- Mechanical Fabric Pencil

Yes, you read correctly.  My exciting tool today is a pencil.  But not just any pencil, mind you.  A mechanical pencil, so it never needs sharpening.  Plus, it is designed to be used on fabric, so the leads are strong.  Plus, the leads come in white and black.  Plus, it has an eraser on the end.  Plus, refills are available for both leads AND the eraser.  Seriously, I just got this and I think I'm going to enjoy it very much.  By Collins (a division of Dritz) and it is about $12 at your fabric store.

April 6, 2009 Update:  Just added them to our store here!

March of the Tools- Mac Users might even be jealous...

Mac users, this isn't for you.  (Finally- I feel they get all the neat stuff, don't they?)  Anyway, as I long time PC-user and long-time lug-a-10-lb.-17-inch-laptop around, I decided I couldn't stand it any longer.  I wanted something compact to check and send emails, Twitter, read blogs and general web activities (which encompasses virtually everything I do on the computer these days).  Yes, the IPhone helps, but apparently my thumbs are unusually large and typing an email on it is quite a challenge.  Leads me to reply with expressive emails like "Sure", "Sounds Great", "Ok", which actually get 'auto-corrected' to "Sue", "Sounds grrr", "Or".

Voila!  Dell now has a Mini-Laptop that is 9" x 6".  That is smaller than my Filofax, my friends.  It also weighs about 2 lbs.  It fits in my purse.  And I. LOVE. IT.  Did I mention the price?  This baby starts at $249.  I loaded mine up for a whopping $349.  I got mine in red, but it comes in pink, white, black and some other designs.

I also got mine with the Ubuntu Linux operating system instead of Windows XP home, which I credit with making it boot up super fast.  However, if you are not technically inclined, stick with the Windows operating system.  It is more difficult to install things like Flash Player and Acrobat Reader on Ubuntu versus Windows.  And it is easier to find help for Windows issues.  But if you love typing at the command line, go for it!

Dell basically stripped out the accessories that add weight and cost to a laptop- most notably a CD-Rom drive.  It does have 3 USB ports (so you can add external anything), a video port, an Ethernet (LAN) port and a headphone jack.  The keyboard keys are full size- they are just closer together.  And several of the ancillary keys (parentheses, apostrophes and such) are in odd places and/or require use of the "Fn" key.  I am having to learn to stop hitting Enter when I mean to use the apostrophe.  Makes for some bizarre tweets.

And unfortunately, I introduced my daughter to www.pbskids.org games on it, so I'm finding my time on it being jeopardized.  But for the money, it doesn't make me nearly as nervous as when she is banging on our other computers.  I think I would rather buy her a mini than a Nintendo. Hummm....

So snatch yourself up a Mini, find free Wi-Fi and any place is your office.

March of the Tools- I Spy an Eye-Fi

My husband bought Eye-Fi cards as stocking stuffers for various family members last Christmas and the cards are awesome.  The Eye-Fi is an SD card with a Wi-fi transmitter for your digital camera.  So when you shoot pics on your digital camera, you can wirelessly transmit them to your computer or your favorite web site (www.flickr.com, www.picasaweb.com, etc.)  No more taking out the card, finding the card reader (wherever that thing might have landed), going through Windows Explorer, moving the files, etc. etc. etc.  Seriously-- you just turn on your camera within range of your internet router and it moves the files to wherever you specified in setup.  No more wandering around with 400 pictures on your camera that no one has ever seen.  You could be uploading new products to your flickr site as quickly as you take the pictures!  You can choose from 3 different types of cards, depending on what you want to do.  The Eye-Fi Home uploads to your home computer, the Eye-Fi Share will upload to your home computer AND favorite photo site (that's what I've got), and the Eye-Fi Explore lets you upload through various Wi-Fi Hotspots and Geo-tags your photos.

You can get the Eye-Fi cards at retail stores and online.  Now I'm just waiting for the Compact Flash version so I can inundate the world with photos constantly!

March of Tools- Part I

Heather Bailey did a feature last year called the March of Tools, oddly enough, in March.  In this feature, she paraded out her favorite sewing and designing tools, complete with pictures and why she liked them so much.  This year, she invited other people to join in.  So here is my first contribution to the parade:  my steam iron.

I'm not going to get any awards for photo styling, but how much can you do for this ugly thing?  It is the Hi Steam MVP-35 and I love it.  It is a workhorse-- we have two here-- one is about 8 years old and the other is a much more sprightly 5 years old.

It gets very hot, produces an incredible amount of steam and will ruin you for those "over-the-counter" irons forever.  Now, it is not inexpensive, but if you are sewing every day and you go through one to two irons a year, this doesn't take long to pay for itself.  And unlike some of the plastic retail versions, there is nothing on this that can be melted-- trust me, I've tried.

If you are lucky enough to have an industrial sewing machine supplier in your area, they should have this or a similar item.  Otherwise, an online search will uncover several vendors.  The advantage of a local supplier is, of course, repair.  I have had to take mine in occasionally (like every three years) for various things, but they have always been fixable.  The steam iron is heavy, but a piece of PVC pipe or fabric tube will prop up the iron holder on your ironing board. 

In this system, a boiler actually creates steam under pressure (like a dry-cleaner uses), so the steam is not dependent on the heat of the iron.  So don't ever refill the iron after it has been hot-- it spews like Old Faithful.  The rule here is to fill it in the morning before it has ever been turned on.  And the only time you will get water instead of steam is if water cools in the line from the boiler to the iron.  To prevent this, I usually shoot a little steam away from my articles before I begin pressing.  And water WILL NOT drip out of the iron as you iron.

Again, this tool is not for the every now-and-then sewer, but if you sew for a living, I don't think you will regret this purchase.

Blog Slowdown

My Google RSS feed page of craft blogs has not changed in days!  Lots of bloggers on summer vacation and not writing!  However, I haven't written in days and I have no legitimate excuse.  Lots going on at jcaroline-  we got in Amy Butler's Nigella fabric, which I was told we wouldn't get even one piece until September and we got almost all the pieces last week.  I did get it on the web and I am going to create some color boards (where we show you combinations of fabric, trim and ribbons) with the gorgeous stuff this week.  I have to apologize for my color boards- I did a few over a year ago. I think they are a great idea and people even commented about how much they enjoyed them, but I didn't keep it up.  I will be better about it!

My niece, Mary Louise, is in town for two weeks and being the creative photography type that she is, she already helped me get a ton of new trims on the web (that have been sitting waiting to be photographed for six weeks now?) and will help me with color boards this week. 

Last week my new Sewist 521 sewing machine and MyLock 204D serger from Janome arrived.  I will be doing some sewing projects for their new website, so I'll let you know when the first one will be up.  There is nothing better than a new machine to improve your sewing!  I have only spent a couple of hours with the sewing machine, but I already love the top-loading bobbin with the clear cover (you can see when your bobbin is running low), love the buttonholder (very easy), and that your "default" settings (stitch length, stitch width) aren't reset when the machine is turned off.  (Especially important since my old machine would come unplugged unexpectedly and it reset your current stitch settings.)  I have also never had a machine where you could drop the feed dogs, so I'm most excited to use that feature.

We also got in a bunch of cool buttons last week.  Those will be on the web shortly (courtesy of Mary Louise).  And some 100% wool felt.  And some new Alexander Henry.

I Bought a Bodkin!

Thanks to Amy Karol's Bend-The-Rules Sewing (posted here), I discovered the bodkin and I like it!  In her discussion of tools, she talks about a bodkin which allows you to pull elastic through casings- basically tweezers that clamp together.  I had always used a safety pin (my mother's idea), but used a bodkin today and it made life much easier.  So I sent my mother one as well.  I had never heard of nor seen one, but I added them to our site today.

And I finished a project today (hurray)!  I made a top and pants for my daughter out of Chocolate Lollipop fabric.  I copied a top she had from the Gap that I liked and that fit.  The pants are the standard elastic waist pattern (thus the bodkin) that I've used before. I am going to put these patterns on the web.  I have no idea how to size them for anyone else (she's wearing 18-24 months), but they will give you a starting point.  And check out the flower buttons!

(7/25/07:  The top and pants pattern and instructions are finally on the web.  Hurrah!)

My Newest Sewing Tool

I've never had glasses (I apologize to all those that wake up in the morning and can't read the clock), but I had to break down when I realized last week that I am threading the sewing machine by feel and that I can't rip out stitches without ripping fabric.  The eye doctor suggested that it is caused by my eyes being 40 years old (which I don't understand because my body and mind have not degraded at all in their 40 years).  So yesterday I picked up my new reading glasses and am now figuring out when to look over or through the lenses, when to move my head or just my eyes and where to keep the glasses when I'm not looking through them.  The maintenance has begun.  However, I have ripped out two seams with them and I am amazed- the thread really does look different than the fabric.

Meet Mona

I've gotten all the new fabric on the web, put a bunch of stuff on sale, so I'm hoping to have some time this week (oh, it's Thursday already) to work on some sewing projects.  I'm inspired to sew more apparel, which I haven't done in ages.  Therefore, when a certain unnamed craft store (okay, Joann's) had their dress forms on sale, I felt I needed one.  So this is Mona, before any fitting adjustments.  I'm a little scared to measure myself and adjust her accordingly as I may have to strap hams to her rear end.   But it will be nice to have a  cooperative model and will prevent me from sewing in my underwear between fittings, which is not appropriate here in the office.  (Really not appropriate in the privacy of my home for that matter!)

I already feel a bond with Mona as she will share my sewing triumphs and disasters.  Hopefully, next time you see Mona she'll be clothed!