{"id":70997,"date":"2026-06-05T07:25:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/?p=70997"},"modified":"2026-06-04T13:34:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:34:54","slug":"making-the-elna-work-for-its-keep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/making-the-elna-work-for-its-keep\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Elna Work for Its Keep"},"content":{"rendered":"

My new machine does not have a name, but it might need one. I haven’t ever felt the need to name a machine, so this is an odd feeling for me.<\/p>\n

As I worked on the two bags I talked about recently at home, the Zip It Up<\/a> and the Sheffield<\/a>, I was determined that my machine should work hard. Part of the reason was to test it out, to see what it could do. As I started to write this, my first machine class was coming up. Throughout my testing on the Sheffield I feel like I was able to make good choices and not do anything fatal to the machine. <\/p>\n

\"Top<\/a>
Top stitching thick layers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am thrilled with the Bi-level foot. It helped me do an amazing job on top stitching around the zipper. The top stitching on my bag looks professional.<\/p>\n

Top stitching is something that needs to be done on most bags. It is also something I have struggled with. I am so pleased that this foot helps improve the look of my top stitching.<\/p>\n

\"Anchoring<\/a>
Anchoring the lining<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have used this foot quite a bit, but learned at the class that I have to turn the dual feed aspect on. Even without that aspect, the foot was fabulous. It is even better with the dual feed activated. I used this HP2 foot to anchor the lining of the Sheffield to the exterior. I had to turn the bag back inside out as I forgot to sew the anchor stitches before I turned it right side out, but that was no problem. The corners were pretty thick so I avoided those, but I was able to avoid them and sew a long way down the bottom seams. That HP2 foot is a total champ in this task. The width of the foot is a quarter inch. The dual feed aspect of the foot means that despite several layers of foam and canvas, nothing shifted. One seam each on two bottom seams and I was done. <\/p>\n

\"Sheffield<\/a>
Sheffield under the needle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yes, I really should have put my label on when I finished each side<\/a>, but I forgot. I also think I didn’t have any labels with me at Mary’s. After I finished the entire bag I remembered to sew on a label. I found a spot where I would have to go through layers, but none that would impede the smooth operation of the interior zipper pocket. I was super careful when I performed this operation, but it worked perfectly.There was enough throat space to fit the whole bag without the bag being scrunched up and catching on something. I knew that having a throat space that was taller was good for bagmaking. It came as a surprise that this new machine had it. I didn’t measure. A++ to taller throat space.<\/p>\n

\"Elna<\/a>
Elna – bobbin winding<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, the bobbin winder has a separate motor. I found this out at the class I attended. I had wound a bobbin before the class. With my 6600, I was in the habit of winding multiple bobbins at one time with my go-to Aurifil 2600. Then I could plow through multiple bobbins before stopping my sewing and repeating the whole exercise. It made sense with my old machine, because I had to stop sewing in order to wind bobbins. <\/p>\n

In the photo above, I am winding a bobbin. The blue arrow points to the bobbin winder. Next to it, on the right, is a button that engages the bobbin winder motor. The red arrow shows the thread I was using to wind the bottom. There have to be two spools of thread to wind the bobbin and sew at the same time. The green arrow shows the thread I was using to sew, which I was doing at the same time. In this case, I was using the same color thread to sew and wind bobbins.<\/p>\n

I am exploring a lot of things at the moment with this machine. Different feet, different capabilities. I am really happy with how the machine handles lumps in my sewing, such as where multiple seams meet in piecing (like an 8 pointed star<\/a>) or thicknesses in bagmaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My new machine does not have a name, but it might need one. I haven’t ever felt the need to name a machine, so this is an odd feeling for me. As I worked on the two bags I talked about recently at home, the Zip It Up and the Sheffield, I was determined that … Continue reading “Making the Elna Work for Its Keep”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[558],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-70997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-558","tag-sewing-machine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70997"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71213,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70997\/revisions\/71213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}