Cotton and Coffee Design House

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May 20 2023

Stars Upon Stars Journey – The Start

Cotton and Coffee Design House Piecework

Wow, what have I got myself into…. the pattern is from Laundry Basket Quilts call Stars Upon Stars.

I fell in love with this pattern. It reminds me so much of a beautiful tile floor. I just have to finish this.

To prepare, I’ve been watching LBQ videos on this. It’s interesting. I had no idea they produced videos and was thrilled to view them when I was preparing for this quilt. I consider myself an intermediate quilter and I kind of have this mindset that I can do it most of the time. When I saw how small the pieces were to this quilt, I did have my doubts. But at this time in my life when I’ve made so many “easy” quilts, I thought I was ready for this challenge and boy what a challenge it will be.

To start with, I ordered her templates (at this point they have not come yet). I also started pulling fabrics. It calls for a total of over 110 fat-eight’s. When I saw the amount of all these fabrics I thought it was going to cost me a small fortune. I LOVE the fabrics LBQ sells, but when I started adding up the cost I discovered it was going to cost well over $240 for a smallish size quilt. So, instead I started digging through my stash.

I’m not the type of person who goes out and buys a lot of fabrics just because I like them. I usually use up what I buy and I usually always finish a quilt that I start. So I didn’t think I had many scraps until I started to pull them out of every nook and cranny I could find. To. my surprise I have more than enough to make this quilt. Most of the fabrics were bought within the last few years so they still seemed fresh. There are a few that I found that were more than 20 years old, but since this is such a scrappy quilt, I thought why not.

Here is some of the fabrics I’ve pulled, but after this photo, I found a lot more. The pattern calls for fat eight’s, but I figure I can use a few fat quarters and yardage to create enough of what is needed. As you can see I might be spending the next month, just starching and ironing all of this. Oh well….

November 30 2022

Which Side to Press To

Cotton and Coffee Design House Piecework

To Press Open Or To One Side....

To press open or to press to one side…. that is the question!

I’ve noticed more andmore patterns are instructing to “press as desired.” This is all well and good, but I want to know what is the BEST way to press for easy seam interlock. When I sew seams together, they must interlock for me. When I see a “press as desired” in a pattern I want to scream. To some this might mean, press open, others it might mean press to one side. But what side? So “press as desired” never cuts it in my opinion (and I’m full of those ;)).

So when would we press a seam open? On my I See The Stars quilt there are areas where I tell the maker to do this. Why? Because, when a lot of seams are all intersecting in the same spot, pressing to the side would cause bulk. Eight pointed stars are an example of this and on rare occasions, other areas might require this also. But normally, you would always want to press to one side.

Pressing to one side creates stability within the seam. If a few stitches pull out, the fabric is reinforced with the seam. When a quilt is first made, we don’t think about how it will be used. I don’t display my quilts very often and they are either given away or used heavily. Just the normal wear on a quilt will cause movement. This movement can cause stress on any seam. Most of us love our 50 wt Auriful to sew with don’t we. While that thread is a dream to piece with,it really isn’t that strong to hold the quilt together over the years. Quilt purist and quilt utility makers will always have a debate over what thread is the best to use and I’ll save that argument for another day, but pressing a seam to theside, really does matter.

Another reason it’s best to press as many seams to the side as possible is if you are going to be sending it out to a longarmer, or even quilting it yourself. Unless it’s a pantograph, custom quilting usually requires some sort of stitch in the ditch. We longarmers need that seam to be pressed to one side to find the perfect ditch to sew in. When a seam is pressed open, there really isn’t a ditch. On an open seam, all one is doing is stitching on the threads of that open seam and causing it to become weaker.

And last but not least, my most important reason for wanting to press to one side is so that my seams intersect perfectly. Not sure if I can explain this, but I roll my seams together. I do not press them beforehand and I do not pinch them tightly before sewing. I never pin and just let my fingers find the seams with the lightest of touch. Once found, I will hold them together until it gets under my needle, but I never try and flatten it beforehand.

Plotting out pressing schematics on a pattern is no easy task, but a well written pattern should always include it. “Press as desired” should never be an option and please call me out on it, if you ever see it show up in one of my patterns….

November 16 2022

What Do You Sew With?

Cotton and Coffee Design House Piecework, Sewing Machines featherweight, janome, sewingmachines

Let’s talk sewing machines….. there a slew of brands, models, sizes and colors out there today on the market, but what exactly is the best one to use? Is there a best? If you ask 10 different quilters what features are a must for someone buying a machine for quilting, I’m sure you would get 10 different answers. But what exactly do we need?

As a backdrop I’d like to give you some history of my sewing machine adventures throughout the years. Some of you might know I also run a t-shirt quilt business. We have 2 computerized longarm machines (was a dealer for 10 years). Over the 20 years we’ve operated that business, plus the 50 years I’ve been sewing overall, I’ve had just about every brand of machine out there. Okay, maybe not EVERY brand, but almost. In our t-shirt business, speed is about the most important feature needed in our shop. I have (2) Janome 1600p’s, a Janome Memory Craft 6300 for its fast zig zag stitch, a Brother high speed (for sewing zippers to the leaders for the longarm machines) and a Janome (MC400e)stand alone embroidery machine for stitching names only. These are workhorses. I’m not really sure why I have so many Janome machines. We don’t really have many issues with them, so when we need a new machine for the business, I tend to lean toward Janome. I’m really not picky at all about brand. I am dumbfounded to all the hype about one brand over another brand, but I do favor the Janome 1600p over the Brother high speed (can’t remember the model) just because I think it runs smoother. The Janomes were more expensive so I do think you get what you pay for most of the time. That being said, I’ve have had issues with all them throughout the years, but like any machine that is worked in a high production setting, problems will arise.

When I come home to sew in my cozy studio the switch is flipped on what I want to sew on. Gone are the florescent lights, the noise of the longarm machines and the rush to get the work out. At home is where I want to relax, turn on some music or an audio book and just mindlessly stitch. This is where I’m at today, but over the years my favorite features for a home sewing machine have been different. There have been times I really cared about speed and to some extent I still do. There have also been times when I’ve cared about decorative stitches and embroidery attachments. Other times, I’ve cared about the look or brand of a machine. When I was 14 I started on a Kenmore and probably owned that machine longer than any other, but over the years I have owned/own brands such as Janome, Bernina, Viking, Pfaff, Singer, Brother and Baby Lock machines. All had their strengths and weaknesses. Nowadays, I mostly come home and settle down with my all time FAVORITE machine…..a 1940 Singer Featherweight.

I can’t really describe the feeling when I’m sewing with my beloved machine. Is it because it’s so old and it gives me the feeling of an era my grandmother might have sewn her quilts in? Is it the fact that it actually purrs when in motion and this smooth, quiet sound is mesmerizing? Or maybe it’s the fact that I have it tuned up so well that it’s almost as fast as my Janome 1600p …okay, maybe that’s a stretch, but it is faster than most of my other machines. I’m not really sure what the lure is, but even though it does not have an up and down stitch button, a reverse button, no decorative stitches or a fancy thread cutter, I guess I’m just so attracted to the beauty and simplicity of it.

Featherweight machines are not for everyone because modern machines have so much more to offer. But if all you are wanting to do with a machine is to unwind and piece quilts, a Featherweight just might be for you. I’m not a collector, I bought mine to use. It runs like a champ and there’s rarely a time when I’ll sew on anything else. If you ever run across one grab it up and try one yourself. Give yourself some time with it. Sew with it, bond with it and you might just catch the Featherweight bug like I did.

This if course is my humble opinion., I’d love to hear what your favorite machines are….