Friday, January 20, 2012

The Day I Was Braveheart

 I've never seen Braveheart but I imagine if your name was Braveheart, you would therefore be brave.
 Was he an indian? 
All I know is I've seen Mel Gibson dressed up as a warrior.  
So he must be brave. 
Are you still with me? We've only just begun.....to live. 
Karen Carpenter is my celebrity crush.  I dream I sing just like her in the shower. 
Once upon a time (by the by, have you seen that TV show?) 
Corrie and I went to quilt market.  
I'm not really into thread.  I've never given thread much thought.  
I'm too busy thinking about how I sing like Karen Carpenter.  
Corrie and I were leisurely strolling by a booth and there was a lot of thread. 
 We listened politely.  
I recall the man said something about putting this thread in my machine. 
It was perle cotton.  Really?  
Presencia Finca Perle Cotton No. 12
I got a little excited.  He gave us both some thread to take home. 
I immediately put it on a shelf when i got home and thought "I'll never use this" and there it has resided.  
 
Until Braveheart took hold of me.  
I was working on this pillow and it needed some quilting. 
The thread on my shelf just happened to be pink.  
Perfect!  
And I think someone told me I could put it in my machine.  
So I threw caution to the wind because that's what brave people do.  
Threaded my machine.  Didn't touch the tension. 
Didn't change my needle. (size 80/12 universal) 
Left regular thread in the bobbin. 
I increased my stitch length to a 3. 
And I put metal to the pedal.  Pedal to the metal? 
Not sure which but I pretended I was driving like Braveheart if he had a sewing machine.  
No one attacked me.  
There was no war paint needed. 
It was perfect.  
I love every single stitch. 
Adds a wonderful look.  
 
In your travels around the world wide web, if you've seen folks sewing with this in their machine, I'd love to see what they are able to do.  There are probably all sorts of good tips out there.  
No great tips here, except be brave.   
I don't think I would try free motion quilting with perle cotton. 
That would take bravery that I don't even know about. 
 

51 comments:

  1. I experimented a little with Perle cotton last winter. It was scary but I liked the results. Here's a link to the swap project I did (don't ask why I forgot to take my own picture!). The pot holder on the left was stitched with Perle.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/22332522@N06/5518426817/

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  2. What thread did you put in the bobbin?

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  3. sorry, I reread the post and found the answer... lol

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  4. I had no idea that perle cotton could be used for machine sewing. Thanks...I may try this out!

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  5. Oops! I forgot to thank you for the giveaway of a charm pack that I won from you yesterday. Thanks so much...I can't wait to see the fabric "in real life"

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  6. Would not have thaught to use perle cotton on the machine. I like the look and will give it a try...luv the pink. Thanks for sharing...have a great weekend.

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  7. I had no idea! Now I want to get some perle cotton!!! eeeks!

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  8. I really like the stitching, works perfectly w/ your project. Wow, that's a cute doll too. ;) I need to go find my thread. We're going to be carrying some Finca, don't think I've told you that.

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  9. Well... Who knew??? It looks great - thanks for the awesome tip!

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  10. Wow. That is cool and I cannot wait to try it!

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  11. Currently I'm big stitch hand quilting with it. The sewing machine, you say? Gotta try it -- while singing Karen Carpenter songs...I have her LPs...oh boy dating myself!!!

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  12. Gosh I forgot to say your pillow is gorgeous and I love the stitching!!!

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  13. Who knew?? I wouldn't think it would even fit through the needle. Huh. Pretty pillow and please, continue to sing. I love Karen Carpenter. :)

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  14. I think it turned out great looking!

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  15. lol! That is really pretty, I'd probably save it for an extra special project, since it is a little more pricey than some Gutterman. The longer stitches really make it stand out too!

    And, I'm probably the only person in the world who can't stand Karen Carpenter. My husband listens to Karen Carpenter Radio on Pandora on a daily basis and I have to leave the room. Maybe he does it to get me to go away??? hee hee!

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  16. You ARE brave. And inspiring. I wonder if my machine can do that.

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  17. Great results. It has that hand quilted look, which I like, without the hand quilting, which I do not like to do. BTW, I love Karen Carpenter. My favorite is Close to You.

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  18. Interesting. I don't know if my machine would like it though.

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  19. First off, I love love the orange, and wow...who would have thunk it?

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  20. I've never heard of this technique--interesting! Seems odd that regular bobbin thread worked with it.hhmmmm
    Your project looks great! And oh-so-in-tangerine-style!

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  21. This is great! I'm going to try it!!

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  22. Your pillow looks great! Thank you so much for sharing about this thread.

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  23. Braveheart indeed! Love the pillow. Since I'm not Brave (at heart or anywhere else) I probably will not try it, but for hand quilting it looks amazing too! Thanks for sharing.

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  24. dear william wallace, you are a genius. it looks like i am not the first one to see/know this! i love the look of perle cotton as quilting...this needs to top my TO DO list STAT!
    beautiful work!

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  25. Hi girls, i'm happy to write to you. before I have to say that I follow your blog because your work is very wonderful and I love crazy and colorful patchwork like yours. When I feel down I have to look your colors! Excuse my bad english, I'm a lazy italian girl... I want to say to you that I use this perle cotton so much for sewing a decorative lines and stichery. The italian's name SETA FARO and is so shine and strong. With the machine I use stich 4 and a different color down-side in the bobin. I buy so much of this cotton in a closed shop... wow so much colors and a little price. I send to you some pictures... if I can... where your e-mail? kisses
    Graziana

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  26. OMGoodness really I have to try this out..I would have never thought of it... great News
    Thanks and hugs
    Susan

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  27. I have skads of pearl cotton - I MUST try this, Miss Desiloo! Love the pillow!!!

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  28. Pretty pillow...thanks for the thread tip. I only think about thread when it gives me a problem, I must admit.

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  29. What an amazing thing to find out about and I do love the way it looks in quilts. I would have to be really brave to use this and so would my sewing machine! "Good on ya!" - thats aussie for well done ;) (p.s. Braveheart was a Scottish warrior based on a real person - William Wallace)

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  30. what size needle did you use? This looks great

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  31. I use the Presencia for my hand-quilting...never thought of using it this way! Awesome! Thanks for sharing your story of bravery - I will try to be brave and give it a go! :)

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  32. 1st DES I can't believe you have not seen BRAVEHEART...it is worth seeing..close your eyes for a couple scenes...but the rest oh my....now to PRESENCIA FINCA..wellllll you know how I feel about this thread, I will never ever use any other. I have a bit in my stash and I savor it like a fine wine. YOUR stitches are beautiful, it really is wonderful for your machine, for embroidery, for hand quilting. ( which is what I use it for) LOVE THIS ...I am SEW glad to hear you girls are going to be carrying it...good move...every quilt project I have made has presencia threads...and yes DES you are brave...and funny too

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  33. That looks awesome! I've always wanted to use the thicker threads but had no idea you could use those with your machine!?! I thought you would have to hand sew to get the thick thread to work and I am much too lazy to pick up a hand needle. Thanks for creating a new thick thread obession over here.

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  34. This weekend, I bought some Finca Perle 12 to collect (let's be honest about our intentions ok?!) but decided that I didn't have enough and wanted to get more for my collection. I came across your post which is just perfect. I think I might throw some in the Bernina and cross my fingers!

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  35. No way! No no no way. See this is my reward for reading blogs today. I can take 3 giant steps with no mother may I. Seriously no different needle! That is amazing. And no special bobbin. My next baby quilt I, Nanette Merrill, Will be braveheart II. Thankyou. (bowing)

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  37. I just read your post and have to try this thread!! I have a pink quilt that needs to be quilted and am going to give it a try,wish me luck.

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  38. I've never heard of your blog before Nanette posted it. So excited to learn this tip and find your blog! Can't wait to quilt something with the Perle cotton I bought not knowing what to do with it.

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  39. I've put pearl cotton in my bobbin for bobbin drawing but had no idea you could use it as the top tread. I'm going to have to try this.

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  40. I love perle cotton thread and have only ever used it for my handquilting! Imagine ... in a machine! :o) I really need to try this. Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us! :o)

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  41. Thanks for being brave for us! Fabulous results.

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  42. I have some of that thread. I am going to be brave and give it a try. thanks for sharing.

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  43. Thanks for sharing about the thread. Looks amazing.

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  44. I've used it to recreate hand embroidery. A machine blanket stitch was used for flowers and to secure turned motifs & straight to recreate the hand stem stitch. Keep experimenting!

    Debbie Glenn

    http://www.loveandstitches.com/122_files/122.jpg

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  45. Bravery is the whole thing! Fabulous results!

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  46. Fabulous project! What is the weight of the perle cotton? It can't be the regular can it? 8 or? It looks somewhat thinner. Thanks for sharing- I will have a look around for some lighter weight perle- I hope you have not started me up on another obsession!

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