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.

No, I'm not making a silly apron for my dog to wear; I'm sewing an apron because of her. After I moved I started looking for a rescue dog to adopt, preferably a large dog over 5 years old. And I found one - this mostly-Plott (yeah, I didn't know what a Plott was, either), 8-year-old-ish sweetie moved in with me in October. (Many thanks to Brother Wolf Canine Rescue for taking such excellent care of her for so many months while she waited for me to find her.) She has beautiful indoors manners, but...take her outside on a leash and she turns into Marmaduke from the comic strips, pulling and dragging me whenever something grabs her attention. So...we're starting obedience lessons next month, and one of the requirements is a carpenter's apron to hold the 50 mini-treats we'll be using in each class. I have 6 tons of fabric in my house, so I wasn't about to spend money on a plain canvas apron from the hardware store. After digging through several bins (and finding several UFOs) I came across this remnant I've been carrying around for years and years - dogs feasting from the trash cans behind a Chinese restaurant - perfect for this project and just the right size.

This would be a handy apron for all sorts of crafts - painting, drawing, cooking, scrapbooking, and, of course, carpentry. Just be sure your fabric is sturdy enough to support whatever will be in the pockets. This fabric is a bit heavier than most quilting cottons; otherwise I'd have backed it with a contrasting fabric for added strength.

Basically, it's just a rectangle of fabric folded in half, plus a long strip of fabric for the binding & straps (cut on the cross grain). I turned under 1/2" at the short sides of the rectangle, then bound the long top edge with Bias Binder #84, leaving long straps at each side. I made a double hem in the other long edge, stitching it in place with Edgestitch Foot #10. Then I folded the long edges together, aligning the top edge of the hem with the outer edge of the binding. Remember the 1/2" folds at the sides? I lined up the folds at the sides of the apron, then edgestitched them together, again using Edgestitch Foot #10, reinforcing the stitching at the upper corners by stitching back and forth a few times. One final line of stitch up the middle to create the pockets and it's done! Now I just have to find some soft treats that won't wreak havoc on my senior pup's digestion...