It’s APRIL! Yay! I’m starting off circle month with some circle tools that I use and love.
First up is the circle embroidery attachment that I just got for my sewing machine. It’s genius, really. Like why-didn’t-I-invent-it-myself? genius. It screws into my machine and sews circles. Cool, huh? This is what it looks like on the machine. There’s a little pin that holds the center of the fabric in place. The fabric spins around the pin as it feed through the machine.
And here it is in action.
Are you as amazed as I am? This was the first time I’d played with it, and yes, I should have had some interfacing or stabilizer on the back. I straight stitched, added some decorative stitches, then with a little bit ‘o fusible webbing, added the brown linen. Well, how about if we add some blanket stitches around that baby?
Let me just say that my machine is not an embroidery machine. Even a regular machine can do this, as long as you have a similar attachment that fits your machine.
Ahhh – so much fun and so much success on my first try! I’m happy.
Feel free to sew along! Info on the button and flickr group are here.
Wow, so cool. Another one of those “gotta have” sewing tools.
Don’t know that attachment. My Husqvarna extension table has some holes in it and comes with the exceedinly high-tech gadget of a pin that you mount through the holes to similar effect. I’ve not actually used it, because it’s rather far away from the needle and I wanted smaller circles. You can get a similar effect buy sellotaping a drawing pin to the bed of your machine, but you have to get the pin EXACTLY in the middle of an appliqué circle or it finishes wonky.
Drawing pin = the wee round thing often used for attaching posters to walls and much used at Primary school for children’s artwork attchement.
Sellotape = stuff you use for parcels.
Never sure if these sort of terms are too British for understanding!
LOVE the loopy effect, which stitch setting was that!?
Cheers,
AJ
That is a great idea! And thanks for the translation.
I think the drawing pin you’re talking about is what we call a thumbtack. And I think that would work really great. The attachment wasn’t cheap and I do think it would be possible to make something myself that would work. Let me think about it some more…
Wow, I never even knew such a thing existed!
That’s cool! I also didn’t know that attachment existed.
OH MY WORD!!!
Please please please someone tell me Viking makes a circle attachment for my machine.
I just looked and it looks like they do! It’s a different set up (the pin goes down through the top rather than up from the bottom) but it looks tons cheaper too. My sister purchased a Bernina one to use on her Brother because the Brother attachments were almost twice the cost – weird. Anyway, her post is here: http://stardustshoes.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-circles-circular-embroidery.html.
Where can I find such a toy … er … tool? I just recently learned how to use my newly purchased quilting foot for my 30 year old Kenmore sewing machine. Can I find one of these to fit it too? Please tell me what you know …
Looky here: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02009304000P?vName=Appliances&psid=SHOPZILLA01&sName=Garment+Care&cName=Accessories&sid=IDx20070921x00003ca
I wonder if it might fit your machine? I wonder if you could make one out of a seam gauge and a flat thumbtack.
Ooooh, I’ve been eyeing this tool for my machine! Looks awesome!
It really IS fun. Maybe you can go try it out at your sewing machine shop. That’s what sold me on it.
WOW! What a cool tool! I’ll probably “need” one for my machine. Didn’t know they existed.
I didn’t know they existed either! And when I found out, it was a matter of hours before I had one.
Those sewing machine folks know how to reel us in, don’t they?
I doubt that they make them for my cheapy machine, but I wonder if stuff from other machines will fit. Hmm, just as I thought that I would just happily avoid ever sewing circles you go and show me cool contraptions like that. I just first need to get over my fear of messing with the sewing machine…
You gotta read my sister’s post about using a Bernina attachment on her Brother. It’s here: http://stardustshoes.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-circles-circular-embroidery.html
You had me at blanket stitch! I need one. I like your new circle wallpaper to go with your theme!
Awww, thanks for noticing the wallpaper!
Rulers…I quilt and make totes and therefore use rulers nearly every day. There are wonderful little things to help with the rulers. I don’t know what they are called, but they are little sticky circles made of something like sandpaper. You stick them on the underside of the ruler and then the ruler does NOT slide while cutting. They are marvelous!
yes, I’ve heard of these, but haven’t ever used them. I looked for some at JoAnn’s last night, although I didn’t look very hard. I had a friend with me and we were talking way too much!
This is so cool! I have been wondering what else you could use this for. Do you think you could use it to piece curves for a quilt? Or is it just for embellishment?
You could definitely applique circles to a quilt, but I’m not super experienced in sewing curves together. I don’t think they feed together under the presser foot so easily…I think there is a lot of pinning involved. I’m not so helpful am I??
Love that attachment! It looks super easy too!
It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Not sure how long it’s been around, but if I had been a generation older sewing wouldn’t have been half the fun!
How did I not know about this!?! I love sewing circles and, even though they don’t always turn out perfect, I do it all the time. I came here from your sister’s site, all I was looking for was a baby shoe pattern to pass on to a friend and I find this treasure for me! Ahh the internet (of course, this is also why the job of looking up said shoe pattern takes an hour instead of 5 minutes:)
It happens to me, too. It’s amazing we get anything done when the internet is right at our fingertips.
OMG I have to have that attachment! Where can I find it?
Each machine has it’s own kind of circle attachment. I would google “circle embroidery attachment” and your sewing machine brand. I have a Bernina so got the presser foot at a Bernina dealer. Hope this helps!
gee, thanks. something else i need to buy!
I have a Bernina too but the closest dealer is about 90 minutes from here. Can you tell me how much this cool attachment is going to be?? That way I don’t look so shocked when I get to the store and they tell me.
I only hope that Brother is reading this blog!
Catch up Brother!!!
Cheers.
I love the circle attachment and would like one for my 30 year old Kenmore. Where did you get the attachment? I’d love to try this!
I got my attachment at the Bernina store since that’s the brand of my machine. Try this for Kenmore: http://www.kenmore.com/shc/s/p_10154_12604_02009304000P?keyword=circle+attachment&sLevel=0&prop17=circle%20attachment
Does Elna make this attachment? If so, where can I get it!
Not sure. My attachment was from Bernina.