Brother SQ9185 Sewing Machine Part 1

Pic 1

Welcome to my second blog post about my sewing machines. This one should be a lot easier to write about than the last one (Brother LS2350) because I use this one a lot more. What is there to say about this machine except that I absolutely love it!! The Brother SQ9185 Computerized Sewing and Quilting Machine was the second sewing machine that I got, after my LS2350, in Christmas 2013. I got this one because I really wanted to try and free-motion quilt and my other machine just wasn’t cutting it. There is only one itty-bitty thing I don’t like about this machine, but I’ll hit on that later on.

Pic 2

The first thing I love about this machine is the cluster of buttons and their duties on the front of it. There is the Start/Stop button, Needle Up/Down button, and the Backstitch/Reverse button (pic 2). I love the Start/Stop button and this is what I use when I sew – mainly because I have no idea where my pedal went.  The arrow pointing up is the Go arrow – when you push this button, it is the equivalent to pressing the pedal with your foot, until you press again which is when it stops. The curved arrow is the Backstitch/Reverse button. You hold this button down as much as you want to backstitch and when you are done, just release it. The third button, which looks like a pen and paper is the Needle Up/Down button. This button is surprisingly helpful. The fact that this machine is computerized, it will always end sewing with the needle in the down position. This is helpful for if you want to change directions when you are sewing, you can leave the needle in the down position, raise the presser foot, and then rotate your fabric and you never lose your place. When you are done sewing, just press that button and it will raise your needle for you to release your fabric (you can always twist the knob on the side of the machine to raise the needle as well).

The arrows that are above the cluster of buttons with the slide underneath is the speed for the sewing machine – > is the slowest and >>> is the quickest (pic 2). This is a neat feature because you can have the slide under the > (1 arrow) and press the pedal down as hard as you can and you will never go faster than that particular speed. I typically keep the slide in the middle, unless I am sewing basic fabrics for a short distance, then I may speed it up just a tad. I never sew with the slide under the >>> – it feels like the sewing machine is going to take off and fly out the window.

The next thing I want to talk about is the screen (pic 3). This screen can tell you lots of information and the possibilities are endless for what stitches/lengths/widths you can do!! First off, the letter “J” that is shown above the “00” is the foot that is to be used for that particular stitch. If I remember correctly, that is the basic foot that you use for most sewing. Each foot that comes with the sewing machine is labelled with its own letter and depending on which stitch you want to do, you may have to change that foot.

Pic 3

The 4 buttons under the “00” let you pick which stitch you want to sew with (stitch listings are shown in pic 4). The 4 buttons act like up and down buttons – the 2 top buttons are the up buttons for the ones and tens place and the bottom 2 are to go down in the ones and tens place. If you wanted to sew a blanket stitch (12), you would hit the top left button once to give you and 1 and the top right button twice to give you a 2.

 Pic 4

As mentioned before, about the 1 downside to this sewing machine…. if you will look at the picture of the stitches available, you will see that “00” has the stitches on the left side and the “01” has the stitches in the middle. I find it very odd that the default location for the needle is on the left side and not centered. The main time this causes an issue is when I turn my sewing machine on and I have my 1/4 inch foot on (shown below). The 1/4 foot has one tiny hole that the needle goes into ensuring that you have a 1/4 seam allowance at all times, but it requires the needle to be in the center position. About 95% of the time (when I’m using this particular foot), I forget about this default setting and start sewing and my needle gets stopped by the metal foot, causing an awful sound and an error message on the screen. Basically how I fix it is just change the stitch to “01” and then start sewing again. Below (pic 5) you will see how the needle completely misses the hole.

 Pic 5

The other group of buttons is the stitch length and width. The “2.5” is the default length which is a good average length, unless you are basting something (pic 3).

So I really didn’t think I was going to have to split this up, but it’s looking like I’m going to. Don’t worry, there is still plenty of stuff to talk about in the next post, like the drop-in bobbin, thread cutter (not automatic), and the feed dog drop.

Until then, enjoy this 900 word post about my very dear sewing machine.

-Brittany

Contact Me

So there are a couple of ways that I can be contacted. As stated in my first post, at this moment I don’t have a lot of social media sites public, but they have been created. I am also hoping to figure out how in the world to get those widgets to pop up so you won’t need to resort to this tab.

Facebook – Designs by Britt

Pinterest – Designs by Britt

Email – designsbybritt89@gmail.com

I should have more coming soon.

Look for the symbol:

~Brittany

 

 

LS2350 Brother Sewing Machine

Well folks, this is my first blog post, other than the test one my husband and I posted about my faux countertops that we’re still trying to figure out how to move to DIY. Anyways, I wanted to talk a little bit about the sewing machines that I use – well used – so I decided to go ahead and split them up since I don’t have that many and I like what I use.

The first one (as you can obviously see in the title) is the LS2350 Brother Sewing Machine.

(Ah ha!! First picture post on my own!! WHOOP)

So this was the very first sewing machine that I got as a Christmas present in 2012. I had never really sewn before but secretly I wanted to learn how to do it. I’m not sure if I actually asked for one or what, but somehow my mom and Josh (husband, I’ll eventually stop clarifying who he is) collaborated together and decided that he should get me one. I think he got it at a black Friday sell from Walmart for very cheap – maybe $40(?). Let’s just say that he was very surprised by my reaction when I was ecstatic when I opened it. Although I couldn’t wait to dig in, I was terrified because I didn’t know what in the world I was doing. Finally after about 2-3 months, I drug it out of the box in an attempt to sew with some fabric that Josh’s sister had brought back from Africa. The very first thing I created was a pillow case that could probably fit a body pillow in it.

 <– Score, two for two!!

Of course, I have the excess folded in so it looks like a normal sized pillow case. I thought I was the best seamstress in the world after sewing this pillow case. If it wasn’t for that awesome sewing machine, I wouldn’t have been able to create this perfect masterpiece.

A little bit about the machine….

Well phewy, now I can’t get the picture to upload… grrr…..

Oh well, I guess you’ll have to picture it in your head

For my first sewing machine, I thought this had all of the bells and whistles that a sewing machine could have. I couldn’t believe that you could move a needle to the right or left or keep it centered depending on what your sewing with just a flick of a lever. (Later on when I learned how to sew zippers, did I really fall in love with this feature.)

Good news, I figured out how to post pictures again – it’s not the fancy one I made in Paint with pink arrows pointing to different things, but these will work.

Next up is the stitch length and width. Again, I thought I was the bomb dot com, doing all these fancy zig zag stitches. I remember running in Josh’s office with a scrap piece of fabric showing him what I had done and he was so proud. (I’m sure I also sent pictures to my parents and brother and sister because we are that type of family). These knobs work exactly how the picture shows. To make a wider stitch, you turn the knob on the left and for a longer or shorter stitch length, turn the knob on the right.

Next is the bobbin winder. I fortunately learned how to do this before resorting to winding it by hand. This was very tricky for me because I forgot to push the piece that holds the bobbin (the tube sticking up inside of the bobbin in the picture below) over to the right to engage the bobbin winder instead of the feed dogs. A special thanks to the guide Brother gives you with lots of pictures – as well as YouTube. YOUTUBE IS YOUR FRIEND!!!!! If you want to know how to do something, just YouTube it and someone has already shown the world how it’s done. If I was that experienced, I would put a fun hyperlink thing that says “click here to see how” and have it transfer you to a video that shows you how to do it, but unfortunately I haven’t gotten that far yet (however I did figure out the Strikethrough though).

So the caption on this talks about the Free Arm for sewing cuffs and sleeves, but I see it as the magical hidden compartment that hides the bobbin, which is in the picture below with the finger. Let me tell you, that bobbin holder is WEIRD!! It is so tricky to figure out, considering I had never used a sewing machine before in my life. To this day, I still don’t know which way to put the bobbin in – whether it’s clockwise or counterclockwise. Right now I have a drop bobbin and it is GLORIOUS. I’ll talk more about that later on though on my post about my current sewing machine.

Although I ended on a negative note about the bobbin, this is an excellent sewing machine to start out on if you have never sewn before. It isn’t pricey and it gets the job done like any other sewing machine would. I may come back later on and update some of the information about it as it comes to me. For right now I’ll leave you with the anticipation of my next post which will more than likely be about my current sewing machine – Brother SQ9185 – although I could do my iron…. We shall see!!

-Brittany

 

 

 

Faux Granite Countertops

I’ve always been a “do it yourselfer”. When Josh and I moved into our first house, I was so excited because I could do whatever I wanted to to it. Obviously there were some unrealistic things – well to Josh anyways 😉 – but it was still ours to play with. The first thing I wanted to do was a little something with the kitchen. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew there was SOMETHING. It was then that I discovered faux granite….. in other words…. paint. I then started looking for the perfect tutorial that walked you through the process step by step about how to execute this task. I know there were several and I can’t think of them off the top of my head (I can barely remember how I did it myself), but I’ll walk you through the steps I took to make them look like this.

Step 1 – Look around online or in stores for different designs that you’re interested in having your counters look like. My main stops were Lowe’s and Pinterest.

Step 2 – Barricade your kitties from the kitchen.

Step 3 – Clean the the counters really good (I didn’t do it like crazy clean, but enough so you are satisfied). Also, go ahead and tape off the sink and wall.

Step 4 – Prime the counters. I used the Bulls Eye 123 Primer and I just rolled it on using a baby roller. This can be found at Lowe’s and maybe Walmart. I can’t remember if I did 1-2 coats of it – I mainly eyeballed it (let’s remember, I’m not a professional)

Step 5 – Chase the kitties from the kitchen when they get past your barricade.

Step 6 – Once the primer has dried, go ahead with your first color and start sponging it on. I used three colors: nutmeg brown, black and an off-white color. I used basic acrylic paint that you can pick up in the craft section at Walmart (I’m a DIYer because I like stuff CHEAP!!). I also used the sea sponges that come in a multi-pack like the ones below. When dipping the sponge into the paint, don’t overdo it or you’ll get giant blobs of paint, which you do not want – less is more in this case. Also, the more pores that are in the sponges, the better.

I used the Nutmeg brown first and stamped/sponged all over the counter. If it doesn’t look like enough paint, don’t worry you’ve got 2 more colors coming (I know this seems like an obvious statement, but it really does look pretty bare after the first step and you’ll forget about the 2 additional colors).

Step 7 – Scold the kitties for breaking past the barricades and tracking paint all over the wood floors in the dining room.

 

The culprits…..

Step 8 – After you have done each color, one at a time, inspect your work and look for any bare spots that could use more color. I did brown, black, off-white, then brown again. It’s not imperative for the paint to be dried between each color – at least it wasn’t for me, if they mixed a little bit, who cares, its just creating a new color for the mix of colors that is already there. Make sure it doesn’t look super repetitive, random is the answer.

Step 9 – Next up is the polyurethane. (A lot of people sand their counters a little bit before this step, but I skipped it.) I’m pretty sure I used the Rust-Oleum brand (water based I think). Before you do this, MAKE SURE ALL PAINT IS DRY!!!!!!!! The technique that I used was to pour the product on the counter and then spread it out with the paint brush.

Step 10 – Keep the kitties out for the counters can dry. I don’t remember how long it took, but you best believe I went in there every couple of hours touching it – but I don’t recommend it.

Step 11 – ENJOY!!

Sorry I don’t have pictures from the actual process. Overall it took about 2-3 days to complete this project and I’m so glad that I did it!! I think that the final product looks awesome – even up close!!

I hope y’all enjoy this and feel free to comment with any questions you may have.

-Brittany 🙂

Intro

Hi folks!!

My name is Brittany Thompson and this is my very first blog post!! I’ve been wanting to do a sewing blog for a while now, but I never got the guts to do it until now – however at this point I haven’t clicked “Publish” yet, and I’m as nervous as all get out.

Anyways, a little bit about why I am starting this blog…. This blog is being created so that I can show the world what I am capable of doing. I have been sewing since 2012 and since then, I have absolutely fallen in love with it!! I really enjoy sewing handbags and quilts due to them being a “one size fits all”. However, that doesn’t stop my JoAnn’s $1 pattern sale collection from building up in my sewing room. Up to this point, I’ve just been sewing gifts for other folks for Christmas and other occasions, but I would really like to branch out and share what I have learned to those other folks that are just getting started out as well.

For all you millions and millions of people who I am sure are reading this (HA!), here is what I intend to do with this blog. First of all, I’d just like to find a place where I can talk – well write – all I want to about sewing – and other things I am into like Harry Potter, Fairies, and corny jokes. Being a 26 year old female in law enforcement, there aren’t a lot of folks that I can talk to about sewing (or my other interests) – other than my husband who supports me (and my weirdness) 478937%.

I also intend to show what products I have on Etsy. No, this isn’t going to be a “BUY MY STUFF” type of thing, but if you’re interested in what I have come up with then feel free to check.

As stated previously, I’m totally into quilting as well. 5 years ago, I never thought I would walk into a quilt store and then walk out because the quilt patterns were screen printed on rather than being manually pieced together <– see? stuff like that doesn’t get me on the cool kids list at work. This will give me a chance to show what I have done and what current quilt projects I am working on (I may or may not have 5 in progress at one time).

Something else that you can look forward to seeing is my love for DIY. My mom says it’s because I’m a Virgo and I just want to do stuff myself. I haven’t gotten the chance to repaint any furniture yet, but I did give my ugly white counters a face-lift when I painted them to appear to be faux granite.

One last thing that I’m probably going to throw in here because – heck, some people may just be curious – is my low carb diet. My husband and I have been cutting out carbs for the past 4 months and have lost a combined total of over 50 pounds!! That is without any extraneous exercise. I’ll  put that in a little tab of it’s own so y’all won’t be forced to look at it.

Please bear with me as I try to navigate the waters of small homemade business and blogging. Hopefully my first official blog post with go up sometime this week, I’m thinking of going ahead and talking about my sewing machines – which ones I have and what I like/don’t like about them.

Well I guess that is about it for now. As of this moment, this is the first thing that is being published – Etsy and my Designs By Britt Facebook page should be launching very soon – but I want to make sure I’ve got all of my stuff together before it all goes public.

Anyways, catch y’all on the flip side.

-Brittany