MEET NOTIONS SPONSOR: Elna
ASG is excited to welcome a new name to the roster of Notions sponsors! Effective with this issue, Elna has joined this distinguished list of companies. Elnas trademark has earned a significant place in the sewing industry as a result of numerous groundbreaking innovations which have placed Elna products in a class of their own. Elna sewing machines and Elnapress ironing presses were first designed and manufactured by Tavaro, S.A., founded in 1934, in Geneva, Switzerland. In the late 1930's, a refugee from the Spanish Civil War, Dr. Ramon Casas, approached Tavaro with designs he had developed for a sewing machine. With Dr. Casas' ideas, Tavaro produced the original Elna in 1940. The Elna #1 was the first compact, portable, electric sewing machine with a free arm. The machine had yet another exciting feature: when unfolded, its metal carrying case formed a sewing table. At a time when most other sewing machines were black, the Elna #1 was green. In the 1940s, this was a notable innovation! The machine was a resounding success and so began Elna's commitment to the home sewing industry. The Elna #1 was the precursor to the Elna Lotus, which was introduced in 1968. On this compact sewing machine, protection flaps replaced the carrying case. The flaps opened to form a sewing table and the accessory case was built into the top of the machine. Although this machine is no longer produced, you can find one of the original Lotus sewing machines in the Design Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. Through the years, Elna was the first to introduce special features like lightweight machines, automatic needle threader, heirloom stitches, expandability of stitch packages through the invention of interchangeable cams, cartridges, PRO Cards, and EnVision Cards. Today, Elna machines are designed in Switzerland and produced with a keen eye on quality. They are distributed in the U.S. by independentlyowned Elna dealers. The company offers a wide range of sewing and embroidery machines, plus sergers and coverstitch machines. love it for fast fusing (it applies 80% more downward pressure than a regular iron) and steam pressing (it can press through three to four layers in one go).
Two machines the 3210 Jeans machine and the Sew Fun machineare highly-rated mechanical machines that have particular appeal to young sewers. In addition to great sewing machines, Elna offers the Elnapress. Launched in 1973, it was the first home ironing machine. It was tremendously successful because it introduced a new way to perform the ageold task of ironing. The newest generation of Elnapress, the Opal Press, has a digital LED control panel for power and temperature regulation. Though still a boon for home ironing, sewers
American Sewing Guild www.asg.org

ASG Notions Spring 2011

Green Bag Lady Tiny Bag Ornament Pattern
Step 3 Step 1 Cut 2--3.5 x 3.5 squares of wool felt
Place a ruler at the left edge of bag, make marks at 1.25 and 2.25 this is the CENTER of where to attach handles make any decorations for the front and back of the bag that you wish, I put an initial on the front and who it was from on the back
Step 2 Cut 2 strips of wool felt 1/2 x 4 for the handles
machine or handstich the initial to the bag, I used 3 strands of embroidery thread for the hand stitching cut out letters freehand or enlarge a font on the computer to use as a template if you have a letter font on your sewing machine, this is a great way to make a tag for the back sew these on BEFORE you sew the front and the back of the bag together! Step 6

www.greenbaglady.org

Cut a 5/8 inch square out of the bottom corners on both sides
Green Bag Lady Powered by Elna Sewing Machines
Step 4 Sew only left side of the front and back together, then attach the handles, use a decorative stitch if you like

Step 5

After you have the handles on, sew the other side, bottom & corners 1/8 in from edge, turn bag right side out
Helpful hint: pinch dots in both hands and pull so fabric is flat and looks like diagram below
cut 4 pieces of cardboard 1 x 3 for the inside of the bolts of fabric cut 4 pieces of fabric 3.5 x 6 for the fabric on the bolts fold the top edge of the fabric down 1/2 in and roll the rest of it around the cardboard, secure with a straight pin tuck tiny bolts in your completed tiny bag-enjoy!
Bottom corner view wrong side of fabric

side seam

wrong side

bottom seam

draw dots on corners of fabric
with bottom corners dot to dot