A new coat for my Bernina

I don’t know what it’s been like where you live, but we have had quite a chilly December so far here in North Carolina. Our average daily temperatures are usually above freezing during the day in December, but we have had a month of mostly freezing temps and even a few days of snow. It was enough to make my sewing machine (a Bernina Virtuosa 153 QE) shiver! So I decided to stitch her a little coat. To keep her warm for now, and to keep the dust off her for later. (Dust? Yeah, like that’s a problem… barely a day goes by without me sewing something!) But it looks cute, too.

It is basically two fat quarters of fabric (these are both French General fabrics from a year ago, and I think they are “toweling” – heavier and coarser cotton, or perhaps cotton/linen fabrics). I measured my machine (side, top, and down the other side; and the length) and then trimmed the fat quarters to that size plus seam allowances. Then I cut batting the size I wanted the finished cover to be, and basted it to the wrong side of one of the fabric pieces. 

I placed the fabric pieces right sides together and stitched around the perimeter, leaving a 4" opening so I could turn it right side out. After clipping the corners, I turned it right side out, pushed out the corners, and removed the basting stitches. I pressed under the fabric at the opening, and then top stitched around the outside edge. I added pretty ribbon ties on both sides (you can see them above).

Then I dressed it up a bit by adding some beautiful old ribbon I bought from a friend. (I bought a bunch of old lace and tatting from her, and I’ll try to post about it and show it to you in the next week or so.) I think my machine looks quite fetching in her new coat, don’t you?