This month has just flown by and I have been meaning to post what I was up to at the start of this month. No I wasn't in the shop, but I was fortunate to be over in Hawaii attending a training course with Superior Threads. Superior Threads produces fantastic threads such as King Tuts, Bottom Line, So Fine, Razzle Dazzle and many more. They run a three day course called: The School of Threadology. Three days fully packed with information about threads. Not only was it a very informative time but very enjoyable. I never knew there was just so much to learn about threads. Many of us - I know I am definately one, who blames the thread when it doesn't work, but with simply the changing of the tension, checking of the needle and or a couple of other small things, you can make that thread work so well. It does need to be a quailty thread, bad thread no matter what you do it will always be a bad thread and most likely will stuff up on you.
The course was run by the owners of Superior Threads: Bob and Heather (mother superior) and Annie who is the creator of ByAnnie Patterns.
On the first day Bob explained about threads, wow it was simply amazing the information that he provided for us. I went on this course to learn, but didn't expect to pick up so much infomation. Many little questions were answered. In the afternoon we then went to work, working with several different threads that Superior sells. We played with tensions on the machine (you MUST play with your Tension, don't be afraid to!) this session was with Heather and Annie, while testing out the different threads. On the second and third day we worked on several small products. We played with Texture Magic - this is a product that is fun to play with and we have several samples in the shop using it. Soft and Stable was another product we got to use- this is a product that Annie has created and is fantastic in your bags, we have just gotten a roll of it into the shop and I can't wait to sew some bag samples up with it - more on it later! On of my favourite threads to play with was the Fusible Thread - yes you did read it correctly there is a fusible thread and it is amazing to work with, forget having to use a vlisofix or heat and bond, fusible thread is some much easier and doesn't give you that hard feeling to your piece, (quilters I hope you know what I am talking about), I never thought having to do applique could be so much fun.
Heather on the last day presented a show of a large collection of quilts that Superior Threads have. These quilts are jaw dropping. I am not one who likes alot of quilting on a quilst, but the quilting on these quilts were not only heavy but a credit to the quilters who quilted them.
So after three full days of learning I now can proudly say that I graduated with a PHD in Threadology. (Mum and Dad are so proud of me)
I had such a fantastic time, and was so busy learning that I only took a few photos. I did have the opportunity to get to go outside, not for long mind you and have a look around and did take some photos.
So here are some links. Superior Threads - their website is a wealth of knowledge, take some time to check it out there is alot on there, even if you don't buy their threads there is information about tensions, troubleshooting, Thread Eduction. They have many videos which are worth having a look at, sometimes it is better to see how to use a product than just to read about it.
Annie's website is byannie.com We stock a large range of Annie's patterns, also the texture magic and soft and stable. There are some samples of Annie's patterns to be found in store for you to have a look at.
Annie and Superior Threads are both on Facebook and have newsletters.
These are some photos of the samples from Annie's Patterns
Some photos of Beautiful Waikiki
