Free Motion Embroidery

My Singer sewing machine broke before Christmas-the curtain I made for the front door finished it off. Something went wrong with the bobbin holder and I couldn't fix it. It may be able to be fixed by someone else so is still here at the moment. I think I will freecycle it. Andy has very kindly bought me a new machine. It is a Janome. Not one of the computerised ones but a better machine than my broken one. I bought it specifically for doing free motion sewing. I could not get the old one to do it, as the feed dogs didn't drop and the special plate I bought didn't seem to work. When I got this one home I was so excited, but then disappointed to find it did not have a free motion foot! I was a bit annoyed at the lack of sales advice in John Lewis, as I asked the woman about the feed dogs, and said what I wanted to do, and she didn't tell me I would need to buy another foot. A bit of research and I found the one I needed for not too much money. 

The photos are to help me put the other foot back on and see how it all goes together. I do these things then forget immediately how it went. I watched videos of how to adapt your free motion foot to make it easier to see what you are sewing and to stop it bumping up and down too much but I will leave that for another day. I am just happy that it works.

I had a go of this type of sewing on Anne's machine last year and loved it. Her machine runs itself without the need for the foot pedal so that makes it extra easy to concentrate on your hands. However, I have not found it too difficult to do using the pedal. This is my first little sampler.

I then went on to this. It works best when you can get a smooth rhythm going. It is a bit like dancing. It is all going well and you are in time to the music, then suddenly you have lost it and are dancing horribly out of time. (That is my dancing anyway!)

Next came weird mushroom girl. She looked all wrong until I made her head go under the mushroom.

It is hard to do tiny pieces and areas like the face. It is like drawing but with much less control.

I am pleased with the writing. Not so sure about the face!

Next I used up some yarn ends in a random collage which I turned into a heart.

Looks a bit like rock strata. 

I have not made anything since the heart. My next thing to make is a butterfly for one of the groups in the nursery I am working at now. I also need to make a caterpillar but that will be made from pom-poms.