 |
| Bernina's Through the Needle magazines... |
If you only know Bernina as a premium brand of Swiss sewing machines, then you're missing out on a whole lot of sewing tips, tricks and tutorials. Not only does Bernina publish a decent blog (WeAllSew) with daily ideas to inspire, but the company also put out a regular magazine called Through the Needle from 2002 through 2013. They've been made available online as PDFs.
Last year, I took the time to flip through all of them and ended up saving copies of five issues. (Link to the full collection is at the end of this post.)
The one you see on top of the pile in the picture is issue #23, from 2007. I kept it for a tutorial on how to make these wired ribbon roses.
 |
| image courtesy of Bernina's Through the Needle... |
I've made fabric (and ribbon) flowers before and the technique here is much the same.
From issue #21, the first one in the above picture, there is a tutorial complete with pattern templates to make matching mother/daughter silk slippers.
 |
| image courtesy of Bernina's Through the Needle... |
Again, I've made several pairs of slippers before, but these look a little different.
When you go through the magazines, you'll have your own reasons for saving particular issues. I do, however, specifically recommend the Special Classroom Edition from 2004 (the middle one in the picture at top). It's chock full of handy and useful information like this chart matching up fabric with needles and stabilizer.
 |
| image courtesy of Bernina's Through the Needle... |
My profile on this blog states that I will never give up my "student" status when it comes to sewing. This issue is a keeper for my sewing skills building library.
This issue also includes introductions to five machine quilting styles, such as channel quilting.
 |
| image courtesy of Bernina's Through the Needle... |
The others are outline quilting, freemotion quilting, stipple quilting, and embroidery machine quilting. As an admitted non-quilter who is sometimes intrigued by the idea, these may prove helpful at some point.
Think you know it all or have done it all? Have you done bobbin work? (Have you even heard of the term?)
 |
| image courtesy of Bernina's Through the Needle... |
This was a totally new concept for me. If it is alien to you as well, it refers to "a technique that places heavy decorative threads on the surface of the fabric, sewn as machine-fed decorative stitches or as freemotion stitches. Typically, these threads, yarns, and cords are too large to fit through the eye of the sewing machine needle. So, in order to achieve a “stitched look”, you sew with the heavy decorative thread wound onto a bobbin and placed in the bobbin case of the machine."
Because of this, you have to sew upside down from the wrong side of the fabric! Isn't that intriguing?
Anyway, enough of a teaser; I'm not going to give away the entire contents. Trust me in that this issue is definitely worth reading, even if you don't choose to keep it.
The other two issues that I downloaded were the 2005 and 2006 "special editions". Guess what they were? That's right; they're the Special Classroom Editions 2 and 3. They contain similar reference material to the 2004 issue, along with some free projects.
The 2005 edition has an informative article on button holes. Take a look here:
 |
| image courtesy of Bernina's Through the Needle... |
The main reason I kept this issue was for a substantial section on applique fundamentals and techniques. Like quilting, it's not something that I normally do, but occasionally I am curious about it and this will be useful for future reference.
Also from this issue...
 |
| image courtesy of Bernina's Through the Needle... |
... a reminder for us to take care of our mechanical beasts of burden. I don't clean and oil my sewing machine nearly as much as I should. (After some continuous sewing over the past few months, however — culminating in some "fleecy residue" from my neck cowl projects — I did manage to do a complete cleaning a couple of weeks ago.)
Finally, this overnight slouch bag project is from the 2006 issue.
 |
| image courtesy of Bernina's Through the Needle... |
Not that we haven't seen this basic style of bag before, but the zippered pocket and removable internal "pocket" makes it different.
Ready to read? The link to the entire collection of Bernina's Through the Needle magazines is here: https://www.keizerbernina.com/through-the-needle.htm
As I've said before and will continue to say: if you find something online that you value, save it or download to your computer/tablet/whatever and then back it up. Basic access or "free-ness" can change or disappear at any time.
Thank you! I’ll definitely take a look at the link. I’ve always sewn, pretty much self taught, so anytime I come across reference material I do the same as you - download and save for future projects.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Bonnie. This collection is full of valuable info for all types of sewing. I'm sure you'll find something to keep.
DeleteI subscribe to WeALLSew, but didn't know about the Through the Needle. I downloaded them all to look through sometime. Since they don't publish this anymore, I won't have to rush through them. Thanks Rochelle!
ReplyDelete