Practice, Practice

JudyL's (Patchwork Times) method of machine stitching binding onto a quilt has fascinated me. BUT. I don't ever, ever sew over pins with my Bernina 'cause if you hit one the results are not nice. What to do? I uncovered and dusted off (literally!) the old Singer treadle sewing machine.

I love this machine. It makes such a perfect, beautiful straight stitch. And if I sew over and accidentally hit a pin, the workings of the machine are simple and easy to get to so even I can fix it. There are a few rules of engagement, though, when working with a treadle.

1. Use a straight legged chair. No office chairs with rollers. That is, unless you just want to roll around and not really sew *smile*.
2. Wear shoes. Preferably athletic shoes, because the sole sticks just a bit to the treadle.

So here I was, treadling away on the bindings of two different small quilts. On the first one, I put the pins too far apart and pinned from the top side. Not good. I found out that pinning closer together is a key point in this technique, so on the second quilt I pinned about every inch. I also found that if I pinned from the back side the whole thing laid flatter on the machine bed. On the first quilt, there were a lot of places where I veered off the binding on the back which resulted in having to go back in and hand stitch it down in places. On the second quilt, the closer pinning worked and there were fewer 'skips'. But there are still issues with the second quilt.

This is just going to be a matter of practice. Lots of practice.