Thursday, March 26, 2015

Christine's #Tulapink Machine Cover

My friend Christine LOVES Tula Pink.  She often gets the collections when they come out.  She also LOVES hexagons, English Paper Piecing.  She works on them constantly, and often has 2 or 3 different projects going.  Last year, on one of our sewing days, she showed me this pretty Hexie fabric she made.  We had just unpacked her new Juki sewing machine, and were discussing what to do with the pieced rectangle she had, and knowing it was Tula fabric, I suggested a machine cover.



Do you cover your machine?  Many recommend it if you don't sew daily.  I don't often cover my Viking.  It's used very often, and is not near a window.  Although it can get a little dusty, the plastic will not be affected by UV light.  You've seen some plastic items turn yellow from sunlight, right?  It's not really good for it.  It can make the plastic brittle, and who wants that ugly discoloration?  I do recommend covers if your machine will be out near a window.  Christine had just gotten a desk to set her machine on, and it's right under the window in her dining room.  So, the idea of using her Tula fabric as a machine cover was perfect.  She wanted the machine to be available when she had time to sew.  Before she got the desk, she needed to clear the table, set up the machine, and then take it down again for meals.  So, she didn't get as much sewing time as she wanted.  Now, she can sew, just by turning the dining room chair around.

I offered to finish the machine cover for her, as a birthday gift.  She had the yard of fabric that I used for the back and sides, and I added the lining fabrics and batting.  I opted to applique the hexagons onto the strips on the side to make the piece wide enough for her Juki, and added the piece for the back.  I quilted the pieces for the body and sides using Aurifil 50wt thread in a dark olive green.

I did a feathered heart over the center front, and feathers and stipple around the sides and back.  I want the quilting to be dense enough to help this stand up.   I may add a fabric handle at the top to make it easier for her to get it off the machine, but I'll talk to her about that.  I used my serger to finish the inside seam edges, and binding from the yard of Tula fabric for the bottom edge.

Here's the inside, and a peak at the quilting.


So, here it is on my Viking.  It fits well.

Hmmm, maybe I need a Tula cover for my machine, too.  Christine's birthday is just a few days after mine.  I hope she loves it!

And if you need a cover, there are lots of tutorials on the web for making one.  I do plan to make one for the vintage machine (first photo) but that's a smaller machine than the Juki.  I need to come up with a cute idea for it.  Measure your machine's width, height, and depth, and have fun!



Thanks for visiting.
Maryellen

1 comment:

Sally said...

Love all those hexies!!! Great project!