Practicing Circular Stitching

My hubby got me a circular stitcher accessory for my Janome 7700 for Christmas. I had been wanting one since this machine has all sorts of decorative stitches. I had a bit of a difficult time installing it on my machine but that could have very well been weakness in my hands form the arthritis. I had found on the Bernina website a project for learning to use their circular stitcher. I don't care where I find ideas, if my machine can do them, I will try them out. So I printed out the instructions and photo of the project and went to town. What fun! You can do some amazing things with a circular stitcher, but it pays to practice. You have to learn not only how to set up the design, you have to learn which designs work well in circles and how to hold the fabric. Here is part of the sample that I made.

I decided that the smaller circle would look good with a button and since I had just found a little bag of buttons at my thrift store and one was the perfect color, I used it. I have had machines that have had the capability to sew on a button with the included button foot for at least 20+ years and have never sewed a button on with the machine before. I think I was always sure I would break a needle or in some way damage something. Instead I have either avoided buttons altogether or sewed them on by hand, making a mess of knots in the back. I do quite nice embroidery but buttons baffle me. With some directions from The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible, which is a great book on presser feet by the way, I attached that button foot and did a little adjusting and in no time I had sewn on a button. No snarls , knots or tangles on the back either. The only problem that I had was getting the button exactly where I wanted it. It was supposed to be in the center of the circle yet it is off center.

The circle that the button is in is fringe I made with the circular attachment by sewing a close zigzag at 7mm and then sewing on the far left of the satin stitch with a straight stitch. I did get a little wobbly, so yet another thing to practice. After sewing the satin stitch and then the stitch to hold them down, go to the back of the fabric and snip the bobbin thread and if you did it right, you end up with fringe which would make a great flower.