Originally Posted by
Dandish
Okay. I watched the first 15 minutes of your video and had to stop and come to post.
EXCELLENT JOB! Love, love, love your philosophy so far. YES! Fear is your enemy - don't let the machines intimidate you! YOU are it's master - lol. Also love your fly-in-the-face remark - if it works for you, do it! Having said that, I'm going to have to play around with stitch length now that you've said that..I don't understand HOW, mechanically, it can make a difference as I thought stitch length was determined by the feed dogs, not the speed of the needle drop, but maybe you've just taught me something very valuable! I occasionally feel the "jerky" you were talking about, and now I'm wondering if that does indeed have something to do with it. I'm going to finish your video, and as time allows find your other ones. This is exactly the kind of video I was thinking about making, so thanks for beating me to it (and probably doing it much better than I could have!).
Everything you just said , is why I make the video tutorials ! I have taken some awesome online classes, and I have watched some great instructors on some amazing programs do some wonderfully instructional videos that are very technically accurate. Want to know the one thing they all have in common, every single one of them ? They had directors, or producers, a legal department or someone " higher up the chain " that told them that they had to be " vanilla " so that they could reach a wider audience of people.
I don't have any of those ! I don't WANT any of those ! I try to keep my videos honest, and real. I do not script any of my videos, as you can probably tell from the large amount of ummm-ing that is in them LOL. I try to talk and teach what I know as if I was talking to my best friend trying to teach her how to do something ( my best friend would probably sew over her own finger just turning ON a sewing machine btw lol ). I do try really hard not to use my drunken sailor vocabulary, but other than that, I don't censor myself. If I make a mistake while recording, you see me do it ! I don't take things out LOL. You would NEVER see that happen on a professionals video LOL. My thoughts on that are , if you never see ME make the mistake, and show you how to fix it or cover it up ( applique saves EVERYTHING , its like duct tape ! ) then how are you going to know how to try and fix it when YOU make that mistake ?
I will openly and honestly tell you, if you are looking for a video tutorial that is going to show you how to make a show quilt, or how to do things the " proper " way, or how to do ANYTHING perfect ? Then my videos are NOT for you ! I will show you how to do things in ways that would make the ladies in the church quilting bee have to call for vapors ! But if it helps you understand how to do something that you could not " get your head around " or understand the way that the " vanilla " instructors have shown you, then fantastic ! I did what I set out to do.
Please do not take me as saying that those well paid and professional instructors are boring or dull. I take those online classes too, I LIKE them. I like being able to learn new things. I am just saying that those classes, have a level of stiffness to them because they are usually scripted to some extent, and they have rules they have to follow. It would be a little odd to have a a class that was sponsored by say Clover, then go on to say in your video that one of their products really sucks and you prefer this other one from another company LOL. I like having the freedom to tell you exactly what I like and don't like, and why !
And basic mechanics tells us that it should be impossible for stitch length to have any effect on your tension when your feed dogs are down right ? Well, my machines, every single one of them, must have been calibrated on some other alternate universe, because every single one of them does better when I adjust my stitch length to something they like ! Maybe it is just a mental thing and I only THINK it does better, who knows, but it works for me !