Welcome to the first ever Sew at Home Mummy "My Favorite Things" themed giveaways!

I'm so excited about this line-up I've got for you all - these giveaways will run daily from December 1-4, with each day being sponsored by my FAVORITE companies.

I really do take serious consideration when taking on sponsors here at Sew at Home Mummy. I never promote products or companies I don't believe in and use myself, and I don't ever suggest products I'm not absolutely in love with.

So. That said. Have you ever seen Oprah's "Favorite Things" week? You know, where she gives her audience cars/cookbooks/fabulous trips/kitchen gadgets/{insert fabulous gifts here}?

I always wished I was sitting in that audience.

I thought to myself - how fun would it be to have a series of giveaways here to kick off the month of December?

So I contacted some of the wonderful companies who sponsor me, and, in the case of today's giveaway, who's products I love SO much I just had to contact the boss at Aurifil and see if he'd mind sending me some stuff to give away to all of my readers.

(THANK YOU TO MR. VERONELLI AT AURIFIL!!)

Have you ever used Aurifil thread?

If not, where have you been?

Ha ha ha. I jest! I jest!

(no. seriously. If you don't win one of these packages, please, for the love of all things quilty, treat yourself to one of these spools. I bet you never go back).

Aurifil's 50wt Quilting Threads image courtesy of Aurifil.com

Aurifil is an Italian-based thread company which produces the most gorgeous cotton, wool, polyester and nylon mono-filament threads I've ever used. Established in 1983, Aurifil is an accomplished Italian company based near Milano, with a full- grown experience in producing superior quality cotton threads for professional and domestic quilters. They make threads in all different weights, including floss, and their new, re-vamped website has fantastic tips on how to utilize each type of thread weight.

I personally use their 50wt and 12wt most frequently. The 50wt is absolutely wonderful for piecing - it has little to zero lint, and because of its finer weight, I change my bobbin so much less frequently than other 50wts. Despite being a finer thread, I don't find any difference in tensile strength compared to other brands, and, because it's cotton, it doesn't tend to 'slip' out of the ends of seams when I'm piecing like a poly 50wt would (in my experience).

Aurifil's 12wt Embellishment and Sashiko threads image courtesy of Aurifil.com

The 12 wt I use most frequently for pretty topstitching (such as blanket or zig-zag/satin stitching open edges when appliqueing or reverse-appliqueing) and when machine binding quilts (again with a top-stitch blanket stitch or zig in the ditch). I've also used the 12 wt to add a bit of texture to my straight-stitch quilted projects. It also makes an awesome, sturdy, button thread.

And - I use it in my machine. I don't hand stitch anything if I can help it. I'm
a) a horrible hand-stitcher
b) terribly impatient
...so this 12wt goes nicely on the top spool pin, a 50wt in the bobbin, a TopStitch 90/14 needle in the machine, and away I go!

Okay!

Enough of the jibber jabber! On to the giveaways!

FIVE lucky winners will walk away with some super fabulous Aurifil goodies!!

Grand Prize:
12 spool pack of "Botanical" colorway!

Prize 2:
Neutrals sample pack, floss, and Filato Lana 12 color card!
 Prize 4:
Two gorgeous spool sample packs in blues and reds, varying weights!

Prize 5:
Aurifil 50wt Color Card
Botanics 10-spool 50wt pack threads

So! How do you win?

More than one option to win:
each of these are completely optional - you can do as many or as little as you like!

1. Leave a comment below telling me:

I thought I'd write up a quick little tips and tricks post with respect to using a heavier weight (in this case, Aurifil 12wt*) thread in the top spool of your machine.

I have included affiliate links in this post to Amazon.com for your reference and pajama-shopping, couch-surfing pleasure.

If you've never tried using it, you should! It's a really great way to decorate and finish your quilt and sewing projects. The heavier weight thread is a much more accentuated stitch, and is perfect for emphasizing, especially if you use those decorative stitches your machine came with:


Here's a finished pin cushion I made recently featuring Aurifil's 12wt, which I used on the top spool of my Janome MC6500 (click to see it on Amazon) home sewing machine:

Here are just a few tricks I've learned (and thought I would share) when using Aurifil's 12wt on the top spool of my sewing machines:

1. Thread
Using a heavier 'weight' thread will accentuate your stitches on the project you're creating, and I think, make the item look more 'hand' stitched.

I like to use Aurifil's Cotton 12wt - denoted by a red spool color:

(more information on Aurifil's 12wt thread can be found on their site, {here}.)

I have also used Sulky's equivalent and had great results with that, too.

2. Threading
Thread your machine as you normally would with any other spool of thread - make sure to use the thread cap supplied with your machine if it requires one for the particular sized spool you're using.

3. Bobbin
You shouldn't have to adjust bobbin tension. In your bobbin, you should use a lighter weight thread (I use a 50wt Aurifil, and I've heard of others using a 40wt and having success).

4. Needle
You'll have more success with less thread breakage, skipping, etc., if you change your needle. Start with a new, sharp, 90/14 Topstitch/Embroidery Needle. Doesn't matter which brand. I use Organ brand needles (available here on Amazon).

These needles have a larger eye and a groove in the needle to accommodate the thicker thread:

image courtesy of Schmetz Needles

I have found that using these embroidery/topstitch needles have really been the key to my success and to minimizing thread breakage and skipped stitches when using Aurifil 12wt.

To be honest? I actually piece, embroider and quilt with these same Organ brand needles. They're all I use - for everything. They're like my universal, and I use them on all of my machines in this manner.


5. Tension
Modifying your tension to have your threads stitch correctly, not break, etc. will vary by machine - I have a little Singer 9960 and it doesn't require any change to the top tension when sewing with a 12wt, whereas my Janome 6500 requires I drop the top tension to between 0-1. You'll have to play around a bit with your machine to get the perfect stitch - but note - only adjust the top tension, not the bobbin tension. And each stitch style may require a modification in tension, so make sure to check before starting on your project.



6. Presser Foot
This isn't a necessity, but it'll sure make your life a lot easier, especially if you decide on a denser stitch pattern. Choose an applique/embroidery open-toe presser foot, like this:




Pick your stitch! Start playing with all of those stitches that your machine came with, but you never knew when or how to use. Have fun with it!


I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, and have found it useful. Most of all, if you've never ventured into the world of heavier threads I hope you give it a go - they can be a lot of fun.

If you have any tips or tricks for using heavier weight thread on the top spool of your machine, please feel free to comment below, I'd love to hear them. I hope I haven't forgotten anything, but if I have, I'll make sure to come back and add as needed.

Thanks for reading!

For the better part of the last year, I've been working on my own king-sized (105"sq) version of the famous Canadian Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) Point Blanket.


The HBC Point Blanket is traditionally a 100% wool blanket which was traded by the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1700 and 1800s to First Nations peoples in exchange for goods (like beaver pelts)¹.

Close up of the wool HBC Point Blanket Image courtesy of Wikipedia

In Canada, the blankets are available exclusively at The Bay (HBC's company) and here in the US at The Bay's sister company, Lord and Taylor. The wool blankets are gorgeous and, justifiably, expensive. You can find them in the aforementioned stores and on Amazon.com {here} (aff link).

Over the years, the HBC Point has been available in a wide range of colors, with the white with red, green, yellow and blue stripes the most popular. Image courtesy of HBCHeritage.ca

I have always wanted one but was worried about their care (being wool), how well they'd hold up under the wear and tear of a chocolate lab, and about how itchy one would be to sleep under. So, I thought I'd make my own.

The Back:

The iconic blankets have come in an array of colors and limited edition releases over the years - I harnessed this idea when creating the single-color blue backing with varying shade-stripes in Kaufman yarn dyed Essex Linen blues (aff link to Amazon.com) -

The Front:

I ended up 'pixelating' the iconic green, red, yellow and blue stripes on the front for a more scrappy look and to add a bit of visual interest but used fabrics which read like solids - brushstrokes, peppered cottons, and true solids, all in the same shade families. Each stripe has 84 3" squares, offset, split in 2 rows.


I used Bella Solids "Ivory" for the front background and Bella Solids "Nautical" for the backing background (aff link to Amazon.com for your pajammy-shopping pleasure!).

The entire quilt was pieced with Aurifil 50wt in the following colors - (aff links to Amazon.com included below for your reference)

Aurifil #2000
Aurifil #2720
Aurifil #1248
Aurifil #2710
Aurifil #6720
Aurifil #2250
Aurifil #2890
Aurifil #1135

...and was quilted with an all-over computerized pattern by the lovely and wonderful Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting.

This Canadian expat is so happy to have this little piece of 'home' on my bed!

I hope you've enjoyed my post about my now very-favoritest-quilt-I've-ever-made. If you are inspired by this creation and decide to make one of your own, make sure to message me about it! Thanks for reading and Happy Monday to you all!

¹ Hudson's Bay Point Blanket, extracted April 13, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_point_blanket

*this post contains affiliate links to Amazon at no additional cost to you. For more information, please visit my Disclosure Statement and Advertising Policies page. 

Today I had the great pleasure of doing three things:

1. Hanging out with a bunch of my Chicago Modern Quilt Guild buddies
2. Shopping. For fabric. Of course.
3. Learning about gorgeous Italian threads made by Aurifil...

Some gorgeous Aurifil swag & samples, and then I found some out of print gems - namely Vintage Modern and Marmalade prints by Bonnie and Camille for Moda!

My readers know how much I love a good IKEA hack (check out these older posts). This one is all about cushions -


Twice a year, if I'm lucky enough to escape for a few days, the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild hosts a retreat weekend in Wisconsin on the lake. It's beautiful, relaxing, and for me - very productive.

The retreat center view!

This retreat was busy for me (as usual). I had several projects prepped and ready to complete, one project being some new pillow covers for the couch in the living room.

Below I've included links to the IKEA products I used and Amazon affiliate links for your pajammy-wearing, couch-shopping reference.

For this project I used a GULLKLOCKA in a bright yellow
and a white, faux rabbit-fur IDASOFIA pillow case
both from IKEA which I cut into 2 pieces each, separating the fronts and backs, and used them as backings for my quilted pillow fronts.

The fronts were fabrics I have been hoarding for a long time for just this purpose, some mid-century inspired funky prints that add some jazz to my couch. I made quilt sandwiches with the fabrics and quilted them with bright coordinating Aurifil 50wts in Aurifil #1231* (a lime green) on the white cushion front and Aurifil #2120* (a lemon yellow) on the green print.


The funky green print I quilted in a retro cross-hatch pattern in the lemon Aurifil 50wt -


My white cushions I used the print pattern to quilt them in a wonky straight line motif with the pretty lime Aurifil -


For these covers I used FJÄDRAR down inserts from IKEA in their 16"x 26" and 20"x 20" sizes. I made my quilt sandwiches about an inch bigger in both directions, quilted it, and then trimmed them to the pillow dimension before sewing the backing on with a 3/8" seam all around so that technically my pillow case is smaller than the pillow (I like my cushions to be fluffy and not to slide around in the case). 

In the lower seam I inserted 22" yellow nylon zippers in the larger pillows, and 18" cream-colored zippers in the smaller pillows (aff links to Amazon).

The kids are super happy (and so am I!) with the new cushions - they like anything that's soft and cozy to snuggle with.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and as always, if I've inspired you to make something, make sure to message me about it! Thanks for reading. 



*this post contains affiliate links to Amazon at no additional cost to you. For more information, please visit my Disclosure Statement and Advertising Policies page.