Tuesday 21 June 2011

I'm self taught :)

With the sewing machine and so often have to refer to my friend google or the handy piece of paper below that came with Janine (the Janome)

It's the trouble shooting part of the manual. It's taught me about tension a,d how important it is to keep your machine free of fluff. I defluffed Janine the other day when I found some paintbrushes in the big tidy up - she (not surprisingly to some) works much better now :)

Are you self taught at anything? Do you resort to google (or Twitter) for handy hints? Any tips you think I might need about sewing machines?

9 comments:

Dolly Cool Clare said...

I am exactly the same! I have my mum's 80s Frister Rossman that I used to play on when I was a kid - and now its mine what I use for business! No one ever really showed me how to use it (My mum can't sew - goodness knows why she had a machine!). The 'troubleshooting' bit is well thumbed! I recommend that you oil it as directed in the manual, as well as your defluffling. I forgot for ages and it became squeaky, oops! :)

Anonymous said...

Yep me too on the sewing machine count- and very recently at that! Also I taught myself how to quilt, crochet, use Photoshop, bind books... pretty much everything really. I think Photography is the only thing I've taken a course on though I'm planning on doing a shoe making one in the new year and a sugarcraft one in September.

louisa @ TheReallyGoodLife said...

Oh I'm self-taught at so much stuff - from soap making & baking to crochet and all sorts of computer stuff (including Photoshop [well, the GIMP] and web development).

I do like doing courses but haven't the money to pay for courses in everything I want to try so very much rely on good old Google, the library and charity shop books. I love all the free (or very cheap) information that's available out there these days :)

Sally said...

Me too, apart from a recent one day training course at Bernina a couple of weeks ago where I picked up lots of tips. I never realized I had a needle threader! Cleaning the machine was definitely a good tip, I was a amazed how much quieter and smoothly it ran with a bit of oil on the necessary bits. I have to say I'm referring to the manual far more often now! I find Google and UTube brilliant for finding out I want to learn, I learnt to crochet from UTube. xx

Girl_Industries said...

I think there would be a huge demand for a basic sewing machine maintenance course if any crafting stores wanted to put one on. I did a few sewing lessons at school (one of which ended up with me in casualty), but most of the emphasis was on 'how to sew in a straight line'. I would love to know how to get the best out of each of my sewing machines. Both were inherited so didn't have manuals with them. The big old Singer that my friend found in her loft hasn't even been out of its case yet!

My bugbear at the moment is that I can't even work out how to change the feet from just looking at them, better get myself on YouTube to find a tutorial.

WendyCarole said...

My mum taught me to basic sewing knitting and to use a machine but other stuff I have picke dup along the way. Still determined to teach my self to crochet one of these days.
My best machine tip is don't fiddle with the tension unless it is absolutely necessary and change your needle frequently it amazing how quickly they blunt.

Anonymous said...

Apart from a very brief lesson in 'push pedal, stop pushing pedal', I'm a self taught seamstress too - Google has been my friend on many occasions, especially when it comes to my serger!

trash said...

Fairly self-taught on parenting and totally self-taught on dog training.

Jennifer Rose said...

taught myself to draw, if that counts :) i will resort to google if I can't figure out a certain way to do something, and forums if I can't remember a certain artist's name.

my machine hadn't been defluffed until hubby did it lol