Groz-Beckert
sewing machine needles are quite popular and are used by a number of machine
quilters.Earlier this year, Riley
posted the following photograph and asked about the differences between the two
packages of needles that she had purchased and was wondering if they would both
work in her machine.
Quite some time
ago, I did some research on Groz-Beckert needles when I couldn't find the ones
that I had been using for years. This is what I found out about those letters
and numbers on the package, and I thought that I'd share this information with you:
RG and FFG are point styles. RG is a sharper point than the FFG which is
slightly rounded. Unfortunately, they are no longer manufacturing the RG point
style in the SAN 11 needle. The SAN 11 special application needle was developed
specifically for multi-range directional sewing/quilting. SAN 6 is also a
special application needle, but your machine may need to be retimed since the
scarf is slightly different than the scarf on the SAN 11 needle. (Some machines
need retiming, but others don't.)
The "134" is a needle system number. DPx5, 135X5, 135x7, SY1955 are
all needle systems that are equivalent to the 134 system.
The "339" is the length (in mm) of the needle from the top of the
shank to bottom of the eye. You need to move the decimal one place to the left
which in this example would mean the length is 33.9mm.
The "200" is the diameter of the shank; you need to move the decimal
one place to the right. In this example, the diameter would be 2.00mm.
"AD" - The "A" signifies a single groove; and the
"D" designates the needle as titanium. If there were a "C"
in that position, it would be chrome.
The string of numbers on the bottom line of the label is their internal
numbering system and designates the factory, manufacturing date, destination,
etc. GEBEDUR is their designation for their titanium needles.
Groz-Beckert
purchased the Singer Needle Factory (SNF) several years ago and continued to sell
needles under the SNF name for quite some time.Earlier this year, the decision was made to discontinue the separate packaging/label,
so now those SNF needles also come in a Groz-Beckert package.
We are so fortunate to have a wide variety of quilting fabrics available to us today.There are numerous manufacturers of cotton fabrics specifically designed for quilters.There’s a wealth of information on their websites including previews of upcoming fabric lines, free quilt patterns, tips, tutorials, design inspiration, and other fun stuff.
I enjoy browsing the sites to see what to expect to see from my clients in the coming months and to help with color choices to supplement my future thread purchases.Here’s a listing of fabric manufacturers that I visit throughout the year:
If you have any manufacturers you’d like to add to this listing, please let me know. I've added these links to the "Resource Links" tab, too, for your convenience.If you have any corrections or comments, please be sure to post them in the forum.
Last September, Suzanne posted a great article listing some of the wonderful videos and DVDs that are available to machine quilters.(In case you missed it the first time around, here’s a link to her article.)Well, I have even more videos and sources to share with you today.
This article isn’t a review or endorsement of these items.It is just a compilation of some additional videos/DVDs that I have found that may be of interest to machine quilters.If you have any corrections, comments or additional information you’d like to share with us, please post your comments here.In addition to the free videos available at MQR and the ones available to MQR’s premier members, here (in no particular order) are the additional videos found in my research.
If you'd like to share this listing with others, please just share the link to this article. You can also click on the "E-MAIL" button at the top of the article to send a link to your friends.
One of the great things about being a machine quilter is choosing the quilting designs for a project.We have a multitude of choices including freehand designs, paper pantographs, digital designs, etc.For more customized work, we may also use some of the stencils that are available today.There are a variety of continuous-line stencils for machine quilters; but with a little effort, some of the wonderful stencils geared towards hand quilters can be adapted for machine quilting.
I’ve compiled the following listing of on-line stencil sources for you.Please be sure to check them out if you’re looking for some new stencils for your collection.You may just find the perfect design for your next quilt.(Please note that the listings are in alphabetical order and are not an endorsement of any of the designers or suppliers.)
If you have favorite stencils that you use in your work or have some other resources to add, please let us know. You can post your favorites along with any comments and photographs in the forum post that has been created for this purpose.
There are a multitude of great quilting designs available to machine quilters today in both paper pantograph and digital formats.I’ve compiled a resource listing of more than 60 websites that offer various patterns in these formats.My first thought was to post them all here, but I’ve decided to add them to the Resource section to make them available to anyone visiting MQR. Here are the links for your convenience:
Please note that the listings are in alphabetical order and are not an endorsement of any of the designers or their patterns.They are only for your reference.I’m sure that my list isn’t complete; so if you have any additions (or corrections), please let me know.I’ve tried to include links to the designers’ websites as well as links to suppliers who carry paper pantographs and digital designs.If you have any comments, please respond in the forum post that has been created for that purpose.
If you’ve used paper pantographs or any of the digital patterns on your quilts, please consider posting photographs in these forums, too.We love to see the designs quilted out.
