Featured Forum Member

Every couple of months, we feature a star forum member, someone who's been around the blog, oops, we mean block, and always has helpful advice and kind words for everyone on the forums. This is a different way to get to know those in the Janome Forum community.  Check back in a couple months and see who's next! 

Meet Digimad from the Janome Forums-

Hello Maggie! Thanks for talking with us. Tell us a little about yourself. Where do you live?
I live in the County of Northamptonshire, England, in a small country market town, called Towcester.  It's situated on the old Roman Road known as Watling Street. The Roman’s version of a motorway, Iter 11, it runs from Hadrians Wall through London and passes right through the middle of Lactodorum (now Towcester, pronounced toaster).

How do you spend your days? I've been retired since 2003.  Prior to that I had enjoyed a wide variety of occupations, my favourite being a Primary Sector class room teacher.  I studied Art before I married, specialising in Print Making, using etching as my preferred medium. In my 40s I returned to university to study for Bachelor of Education honours degree. Returning to education later in life is something I'd recommend to anyone.  I had to work part time to help out financially as we also had two children at university. It was big stretch for a single income, but my husband was adamant I should do it; he understood my love of learning.
 

 
Tell us about your family.
I have 4 adult children: 3 sons and a daughter.  I have 1 grandson and am looking forward to more. My husband died in 2003, just as I retired.  We had just started remodelling our home in preparation for me to indulge myself fully in my hobbies. He took as much pleasure from it as I did, and told me “that spot is better for sewing in because of the light,” “this is the perfect corner of my library for sewing related books.” (Picture: Son sewing on MC10k.)

How did you start sewing?
My husband was a British Service man in the Royal Air Force, and in 1964, a year after we had married, he was posted to Cyprus.  I had to wait to follow him with our first child. When he left I had been a huge 189 lbs, but when I joined him I was down to my pre child weight of 116lbs. Unfortunately, my wardrobe was for a 189lb figure.  Before I married I was used to having my clothes made for me. My mother disapproved of ready to wear clothes, as they weren't designed to last, and unfortunately a Corporal’s wages weren't designed to cover bespoke garments or hand made shoes.  I arrived in Cyprus with very little more than the clothes on my back; and I was expecting to arrange for a local seamstress to come and measure me then make my wardrobe. Reality forced itself on me in the shape of an all-dancing-all-singing electric sewing machine, my husbands answer to the custom made wardrobe. To say I was stunned is an understatement!  I was the girl who had taken four years to produce a very scruffy cookery apron and cap; the girl whose needlework teacher reported that “there was very little likelihood of Margaret mastering the skills required for the simplest of sewing tasks.”

Who turned you on to sewing?
Well, it has to be my husband.  We purchased one ready-made linen dress, then descended on a wonderful fabric shop in Limmasol.  I chose a lovely navy silk with small white polka dot, a very stiff Organza in white, a zip and a Vogue dress pattern- a very chic slim sheath with wide off the shoulder white boat collar. I didn't know patterns came in sizes or even what size I was.

What were your first projects?
The Dress, and I didn't need instruction sheets, and what were all those strange symbols and lines anyway. Any fool could see you placed the pattern pieces to use the minimum of fabric. As for inserting zips- easy peasy- just lay it on the fabric and stitch, sleeves were just the same, just cut off the surplus bits until they fitted the armhole. As you can imagine my first dress was an unmitigated failure, but the knowledge that if I didn't learn to sew, I would be reduced to my birthday suit, was a great motivator. My Greek non-English speaking neighbour, in return for being allowed to use my then TOL machine, taught me the basics of garment sewing and pattern draughting.

What do you prefer to sew now?
I still like garment-making.  I enjoy creating toys from the first rough sketch to the finished item.   But they’re not children's toys;  they’re more like fabric sculptures.  I've recently finished all the drapes for my daughter’s new home.  Prior to that I designed, draughted the patterns and created the costumes for her sixth form drama group’s exam presentation, the Wizard of Oz. That was a lot of fun and headaches. (All of these pictures are of those costumes, except my cat stitchout.)I live 120 miles away from the teenagers I was creating the costumes for, so there was no chance of having fittings. I do a lot of machine embroidery now.  I got sidetracked by learning to digitize, and I find it very relaxing. I've always done free motion embroidery, as that was the only needlecraft I would entertain at Art School, and I loved the freedom it allowed.  I'm a great admirer of the Singer Art Embroidery Ladies.  I doubt I'll ever see free motion embroidery work of that standard again in our hemisphere.  Incredible when you realise they only had treadle machines to begin with. I've seen stunning examples of it from Asia and the Far East, but nothing to match them as yet here.

 What kind of Janome do you have?
I bought myself two Janome machines in 2003, the 10000 combination embroidery and sewing machine, and the MyLock 644D. The latter was a real eye opener, I wish they had been around when I first started to sew, though perhaps not- it was hard enough trying to unpick that first zip I'd stitched to both the front and the back of my first dress. I use my serger, or over locker as they're known here in England, for just about every thing.  I'm trying to teach it to cook at the moment.
I upgraded my 10000 to the version 3.  It wasn't my first domestic embroidery machine I'd had, but it is the most consistently reliable one. I like its stitch quality, and the standard of the normal sewing mode on it is excellent. It’s quiet, feeds beautifully, works for hours without complaint, (though now and again I do have an issue with the canary that lives in the fly wheel end of the machine.  A quick trip to my dealer sorts that out; he must feed it or something because when I bring the machine home, the bird is silent.)   I looked at the 11000 and was tempted, but unfortunately my pension doesn't stretch far enough, so I'm hanging on to my wonderful 10000. Maybe when I win our lottery, who knows.

Do you have any pets?
I have a charming Heinz 57 female cat call Microwave, she's several shades of cream, ginger and brown, very sweet natured, which is just as well as I can get very sour if a project isn't going the way I want. I also have a Marine Coral Reef tank; I only keep soft corals, and a small selection of fish and crustaceans. I'd love a really big one, but maintenance would be a problem- an overweight female wouldn’t look good swimming around cleaning the inside of the glass. Then I have my outdoor fish.  I did have a beautiful pair of Koi Carp but they got savaged by local cats.  I have several ornamental carp and a couple of fish, but I have no idea what type they are. They obviously like my pond as they keep breeding.

Why do you like the Janome forums? I like the generosity of the members.  There's a nice sense of concern for every one. Some forums I've joined and then left can be very impatient towards new members. I hate the attitude of "Look it up in the archives" or the inference the questioner is somehow sub intelligent. There isn't that kind of behaviour here. Sometimes it's very difficult to frame a question when you haven't got the jargon and don't understand what it is you want to know, so a little patience and support goes a long way. I know I was a beginner once; I still am, as non of us knows everything, I've been grateful for an extended hand on many an occasion.

Any other forums you participate in? I subscribe to Threads, a lovely group of sewists that seems to have a sharing ethos as well.  I belong to a few Yahoo groups, mainly concerned with my other hobbies, fish keeping, and machine knitting, digitising, and I run my own little group.

What else do you enjoy doing? Do you watch TV? Movies? Books?
I have a 42" Plasma TV, and it gets turned on for about an hour a day while my son watches a motoring program. I find it's a thief; it steals time that could be spent playing in my workroom. I like the odd trip to the theatre, as I enjoy live stage productions. I took some of my friends to see a Pantomime as part of their Christmas present recently; one had never seen a Panto before. She soon joined in the audience participation, booing the baddy, cheering the goody, weeping with laughter at the dreadfully corny jokes, screaming at the goody "He's behind you" as the baddy entered the stage area.
I go to the cinema about 2 or 3 times a year, the last time was to see the film version of Mamma Mia as I couldn't make it to the stage version. I loved it. I read a lot, everything from how to build your own jet engine to War and Peace, my reading taste is very Catholic.  I collect children's books, a hang-over from my classroom days, and also from my experience as a print maker.  I appreciate the skills of the old engravers and lithographers. I collect paper sculpture, pop up books, and craft related books, I have a complete set of wood working books by Time Life publications, "The Art of Woodworking" and their "The Art of Sewing". Numerous craft, sewing, embroidery, knitting hand and machine magazines. Dozens of cookery books, fiction and non fiction books, DIY books, even one that explains how to kill, bleed and skin an OX.  Well, you never know- I might need to know how one day.

What influences your sewing?
That's difficult to say, at first it was necessity, then good old economics, and then sheer pleasure. When I sew I can switch the outside world off; it's the best stress buster I know.
I'll see a piece of fabric, if it "talks" to me I'll start doodling wonderful amorphous shapes designed for someone 6' tall and slim.  I'm 5' 2. and a 1/2", and fat, but that's fine.  Often the fabric suggests so many possibilities it returns to the stash, and a less exotic piece comes out then just sits there patiently waiting for the scissors to start. Those become the functional tops and skirts, maybe a jacket. I have some wonderful fabrics collected from different countries, colours that are jewel bright and vibrant, but those conjure up designs that are best left in my minds eye.
My son got married last year, and I needed something to wear.  Out came all my boxes of fabrics and were arranged in piles of possible colour schemes and shapes. All the jewel colours got put away and a milk chocolate Georgette, chiffon and bitter chocolate silk were chosen to disguise the bell shape figure. It wasn't cowardice; I just I didn't like the colours as much as the ones returned to my stash. I knew that once cut, all the wonderful possibilities became just two, success or UFO.

Do you have any favorite foods? Anything I don't have to cook, prepare or wash the dishes after. If pressed I'd have to say fresh fish, squid, octopus, mussels.  I like my meat slow cooked and meltingly tender so steak is never an option.  Fresh vegetables, no take-aways, or processed foods. A meal cooked from scratch using all fresh produce is quicker than phoning out for a pizza, and so much tastier.

Do you have any advice to new sewists just getting their feet wet? Sit and play with your machines, get to know them and their foibles, as they have them. Learn how to change the needle until your hand knows exactly where the needle recess is. Thread up your machine slowly, take a look at where the thread is going.  Why does it go that way and not another?  Practise taking the bobbin out and putting it back in. Fill half a dozen bobbins, as you can never have too many bobbins prepared. Look at your machine needles; use a magnifying glass if you have one, and look at the inscription on the shaft. When you see a pattern that calls for a specific needle size, you'll know where to look. Learn how to use a tape measure correctly.  One of the first shocks for a new garment maker who has become used to ready wear sizing, is how big they really are. “But I'm only a size 4”, when the tape measure and sewing sizes disclose they're actually a 12 or in English sizing, 16. Don't tighten that tape measure trying to decrease the number, you are only fibbing to yourself.
Stitch 6 inches of every stitch on your machine, changing the feet when needed; listen to your machine, it will talk to you. Finally, don't be scared, be a child again and ask questions, lots of them. Join forums like this one; find sewing books with decent illustrations showing how to do different techniques, and make your iron your ally. Proper pressing, can make a mediocre garment change from home made to, “she must have bought it”. Remember everyone started from scratch.

Anything else- random or not- that you'd like to say?
Yes, I attended Art school, and my goal was to graduate as a Craftswoman, (not Crafts person).  I am so unhappy at how the term Crafts has been denigrated and misunderstood nowadays. Any one who sews, knits, crochets, embroiders, quilts, digitizes for creative outlet, whether for pleasure or business, belongs to that illustrious movement of Craftsmen or Craftswomen. You join the ranks of sculptors, painters, wood carvers, jewellers, glass engravers, print makers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, the list goes on. You are artists, and you have creative skills not afforded to everyone.  Be proud of that.  A hand-knitter or machine-knitter is every bit as skilled as the engraver, just in a different discipline. The home dressmaker has their skill set, the quilter making a quilt for a grand child has their skills.  Acknowledge them, and if you hear someone say "Oh they're Crafty" take it as the greatest compliment you could ever be paid, because you have creative skills.

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