Visiting with the Columbine Quilters in Colorado, I got to admire the many talents of one member in particular, Pam Ballard. Pam brought her spectacularly unique sewing machine to my workshop, and I’m so glad she did…
This sewing maven graciously allows me to share her method to machine embellishment:
- Tape over all openings to prevent paint from seeping into the machine workings.
- Dilute nail polish (in this case, a chartreuse color) with acetone (nail polish remover) in order to lighten it. Apply with a sponge in up and down movements.
- Use Sharpie Poster Paint Markers (not permanent ink) to doodle and draw.
- Pam just reminded me: take your machine outside and spray with clear acrylic sealant to seal the poster paint markings. BTW, this is the reason for the poster paint markers—the permanent ink Sharpies would bleed, she found.
- E6000 glue is her recommendation for adhering tiny jewels and other bling.
Nail polish in different colors applied to various presser feet makes the one Pam wants to use stand out in the drawer.
Pam will lend other workshop participants her tools, knowing that as they are clearly identified with her colors and glam touches, she’ll get them back. Also when traveling, Pam stores the spools and coordinating bobbins in translucent pill bottles…a clever organization system if ever I saw one.
No doubt by now you’ve noticed that Pam is partial to a certain color palette. She made the Wonky Nine-Patch blocks in my workshop, and plans to combine them with her hexies in a complex master-work of an art quilt.
Little gators are her mascots and muses!
Is this not smashing?! Would you ever consider pimping…er, primping your machine?