As I am packing for International Quilt Festival in Houston, I wanted to tell you a little more about sewing for children on the BERNINA 830 and the embroidery and buttonholes on the Froggy Jacket. You can see the jacket as well as other inspirational 8 Series creations on www.bernina8series.com under the Inspirations tab.

The embroidery on the jacket consists of using one of the beautiful built-in motifs (150 total) on the back of the jacket in addition to importing sewing stitches into embroidery. I decreased the size of the flowers on the jacket back and duplicated the motif so I would have a garden of three.

When I imported the sewing stitches, I enlarged the stitches quite a bit which is why I love this feature. It enables so much more creative freedone! Another reason is because it is so easy.

You toggle from embroidery to sewing, select a stitch (you can also make alterations in sewing mode), toggle back to embroidery and access the My Designs folder - that there is your stitch - just waiting for you to bring it into the hoop of your choice!

When the jacket was embellished as I wished, it was time to make buttonholes. I had great frog buttons and I wanted to change the width of the buttonhole slit so that the button would slide through the buttonhole easily for little child fingers. The BERNINA 830 lets me choose the width of the slit with a simple turn of the knob. Then I widened the bead of the buttonhole as well and saved the alterations permanently for the next time I make the jacket. I put the buttonhole in one of four Personal Program files and named the file, "Frog." I love the control I have with the 830 buttonholes.

Well, my suitcase is packed and I'm taking my camera so I can send you photos from Houston. We are looking forward to a great event. If you are attending Festival, please stop by the booth to say "Hi" and to sew on the BERNINA machines. More later...