This is my post for the first week of the Studio Shots - Tuesday collaborative blog project.
My sewing table sits in the northeast corner of the studio. Right now I have a Baby Lock Ellegante, a Pfaff Creative 1473, and my serger, a Pfaff Hobbylock all sitting on it. I'm in the process of sewing a pink elephant leg. The other legs and body parts are waiting in their baggies. A clear 1/4" presser foot helps to help keep an even seam allowance when doing small curves.
Cut pieces for a turquoise teddy, lavender rabbit, and a reddish teddy are also on the table in their baggies. (There is an ongoing quilt project for our bedroom at the back of the table. ) The baggies keep the pieces for each critter all together so they don't get lost or dirty. As I work on the critters, I tend to add eyes, joint discs and cotter pins, sewing thread, and pearl cotton for noses to the baggies so they serve as little work kit containers.
I love my Baby Lock machine and use it for most of my sewing now. It has a start/stop button so you can sew without using your foot. This is helpful if you have bad knees and it's painful to push the foot pedal. It does only give you one hand to control the fabric with, though.
The other great feature of the Ellegante is the presser foot up button. When it's activated, the needle goes down into the fabric every time you stop sewing and the presser foot comes up allowing you to turn the fabric freely. This saves so much time because you don't have to raise and lower the presser foot manually every time you have to turn the fabric. It's great for sewing curved teddy parts and for doing applique.
Some work in Progress - two teddy heads, an elephant head, body parts in baggies, some pearl cotton for noses. My favorite Fiskars Softouch Micro-Tip Scissors are very sharp and comfortable to use. I use pliers for bending cotter pins for joints and pulling needles through the mohair. The hemostats next to the pliers are for stuffing as is the little pointed wooden stuffing tool. Here I am trying out some eyes and pearl cotton nose colors for the peach teddy.