Friday, October 10, 2008

Maintenance time

I am on call for work today and hope it is quiet so I can just sew. If all goes well, I have big plans for some relaxing paper piecing. I have a 6" block to sew for guild meeting on Tuesday, and I'd like to sew the October BOM from Carol Doak's yahoo group.
But first, I have to do some maintenance on my machine since I've been working it so hard lately. I take the throat plate off and get some Qtips in there to get all the dust out. I know lots of people use "canned air" to clean their machines, but I have heard such mixed opinions about it, that I am hesitant to use it. See how dusty it was in there?!? And of course, I will change the needle, which I routinely do after every project that I machine quilt or after I've sewn a quilt top with lots of piecing.
And then, of course, my baby needs a drink, so I will oil all the little holes as instructed in my owner's manual. In my 8 years of running my Brother 1500 almost every day, it has never given me any grief, so I take really good care of him!
Have you tried the Best Press Starch alternative? Many of the quilt stores around here are selling this product now and I thought I'd give it a try. I bought a bottle of the lavendar scented starch and tested it when piecing my mystery quilt. I don't like when bulky seam intersections don't lay flat, so I tried this product on those spots and it worked like a charm. No white flakes on the fabric, and nice crispness on the newly flattened seams. It also comes in 'unscented' for those who have issues with that, but I enjoyed the lavendar scent - it was light and pleasant, not at all overpowering. I'm sure I'll get my money's worth out of this product. Have you tried it?!?

4 comments:

Kathy said...

I LOVE the Best Press. My favorite is the Lavendar, but I bought a gallon of the Ocean Breeze (got a deal on it!) and it is nice too.

I hope you have a relaxing weekend and get lots of sewing done!

Dionne said...

Wow! I am so impressed. I would probably save a fortune if I did all that stuff myself. No I'm lazy and go in for a tune-up every 3 months or so.

You're my inspiration!
Cheers,
Dionne

Julie said...

Haven't tried this yet. Sounds like something I need to seek out.

Libby said...

I've not tried Best Pressed yet . . . still stuck on regular old starch (the kind I mix up myself *s*) I have 10 bobbins for my machine that I fill all at one time. When they are empty, that's when I know it's time to clean out my machine, change the needle and oil. It's a plan that has worked well and is easy to remember.