There was another new sewing machine at this year's Bernina University, but it didn't get nearly as much notice as the new Series 8 machines. The White Pearl is a special edition activa 230 designed by Niklas Jacob, a Danish industrial designer. Each hand-painted and numbered White Pearl is part of a limited edition of 3300 machines (that's world-wide, not just in the USA). They won't be available until September, but be sure to stop by your local BERNINA store to take a look at the cool swirling floral design. The White Pearl shown here is set up with the Needle Punch Accessory Set.

I've just returned from the Long Beach Quilt Festival where we showed the BERNINA 830 for the first time to attendees at a Consumer Festival. There were lines of people wanting to see the new BERNINA baby - many who had watched the webcast. If you missed it, it's now online for all to see at www.bernina8series.com, or just click on this link. It was gratifying to hear that people enjoyed the webcast; many of you listened so well that you could recite the BERNINA 830 features to me!

I was thrilled to hear your reaction to the machine. The favorite features were size, automatic threading, multi spool holder, jumbo hoop, and jumbo bobbin. One thing that you seemed very surprised and relieved about is that your feet from your current BERNINA machines will fit the BERNINA 830!!!

Joanna Wild, my colleague from the BERNINA factory - and a very talented person who made the gown you see in all the advertisting - and I demoed the machine over and over to groups of people. On the first day of the show I must have threaded the needle automatically over one hundred times. It is a good thing it is so easy to do - and that it works every time. (Click on the button photo to link to the auto-threading video.)

To be able to finally show the BERNINA 830 to you and to have the features validated by your excitement is so reassuring. The reason the machine is so wonderful is that it is the realization of what you have been telling us you wanted and needed. it is truly your dream machine!

By now you've all heard about the new BERNINA 830, which made its debut earlier this month at BERNINA University (Bernina of America's annual dealer convention) and made its first public appearance during the webcast on July 21. As you can see in the photo - it's huge! 40" from stem to stern, including the embroidery unit. And super speedy - 1100 stitches per minute - perfect for speed racers like me :) And embroidery is fast, too - up to 1000 stitches per minute!

If you've been a BERNINA fan for awhile you probably remember the original 830 - a cream-colored machine in a BERNINA-red case. Produced from 1971 to 1982, it was the most popular BERNINA ever, with over a million sold. Isn't it amazing how much sewing machines have changed in 30 years? Maybe it's not so surprising...just look at video games. Pong was released in 1972 - remember the little dot moving slowly across the TV screen? What a difference three decades of computer technology makes! The 830's namesake - the new Series 8 machine - still has all the great features of the original - excellent stitch quality, perfect buttonholes, a free-hand system for lifting the presser foot - plus much, much, more. For details see the Series 8 microsite at http://www.bernina8series.com/.

One of my favorite BERNINA features has always been the slide-on table - I love being able to use it as a really wide free-arm when stitching around pant legs and shirt hems. See in the photos how the slide-on table makes a continuous surface with the embroidery unit? Now I can use the slide-on table for "free-arm" embroidery - I'm not restricted to items that will fit around the arm. This is going to make it so much easier to embroider all those tubular items I usually have to unstitch, embroider, and reseam!

More on Series 8 later!

Hello, Everyone!

I am so pleased to have the opportunity to talk to you about the excitement the 8 Series launch has created here at our BERNINA consumer event. It was such a proud moment when after six years of development, we were finally able to reveal this incredible machine and share its features with the world.  The engineers and developers in the BERNINA factory in Steckborn Switzerland have worked countess hours to create a big, beautiful BERNINA - spacious and comfortable, speedy and full of benefits that will make the creative sewers world more enjoyable and more efficient… that nothing compares to the feeling of its debut.

And now, you too can experience all the precision and exclusive features the 830 has to offer here on bernina8series.com. This enlightening and interactive website provides everything you will want to know about the 8 Series, including videos that illustrate its outstanding space, unsurpassed speed and ergonomic genius.

So go ahead and check out the machine that has changed the history of sewing. We hope it inspires you as much as it has everyone here at BERNINA.

Talk to you soon! And remember to keep checking back for more entries and details on the magnificent 8 Series.

I love my serger :) I couldn't have stitched these two items so quickly using just a regular sewing machine, and the gauze top would have been a nightmare! The top is "Poetry in Motion" by hotpatterns.com; the skirt is the Gored Skirt from Bernina's My Label 3D Fashion Pattern Software. (Tip: If you make the top, use two rows of 1/4" elastic around the neck & sleeves instead of the 3/4" elastic called for in the directions.)

Gauze can be tricky to stitch, as it tends to stretch out of shape. This top is basically a "bishop" style, with sleeves, front, and back stitched together on the diagonal. By setting the differential feed at about 1.5, the fabric was fed under the presser foot faster than it was pulled out the back, which prevented the gauze from stretching. Bonus: all those ravelly edges were overcast, too!

It's hard to see in the photo, but there are two tiers of ruffles along the lower edge...so not only is the hem stretchy, hard-to-handle gauze, but cut partly on the bias and partly on grain. A serged rolled edge was simple; I don't even want to think how tedious a regular hem would have been!

The skirt was quick and simple. After printing the Gored Skirt pattern I drew points at the lower edge of each segment to create a shaped hem. I roll hemmed the points, then flatlocked all the sections together with the "squiggles" side showing on the outside. Then I stitched the waistband to the top with a 4-thread overlock stitch, inserted the elastic, and it was done!

Why the neatly labeled swatches? One of the classes I'm teaching at Bernina University is on sergers. Erika & I are both traveling to Kansas City tomorrow; we start teaching on Wednesday. I'm not sure we'll have time to blog while we're gone, but we'll have lots of things to share when we get back!