There is something about books that makes us treasure them. Reading is, of course, taught at a young age and is intrinsic to education, but a book is something special. Whether you are a collector of certain authors, like books on particular subjects, or simple appreciate books, it’s not something that wavers with age. You will always love books! In recent years, many people have pronounced the imminent demise of books in the face of increasingly clever technology, but it’s yet to happen.

You probably have a tablet – an iPad or Kindle upon which you read the occasional book or magazine – and they are excellent device. Convenient to carry around and easy to use, you can’t beat them for when you’re on the move. Yet, we still buy books; they are wonderful to handle, and turning the page to find what happens next can be a great thrill. Which brings us on to where to store them! Bookcases are not only practical for keeping our library in order and rooms tidy, but they also look great, so let’s have a closer look at some of the bookcases Canada has to offer.

Choose Your Style

The great thing about bookcases is that there are so many styles to choose from. Long gone are the days when all you could get was a series of shelves that stood above each other in uniform fashion. Nowadays the bookcase has become an item of furniture with its own particular character, and some of them are very clever – and superbly attractive – indeed. The first thing you need to do when choosing a bookcase is to work out how much space you have, and where you want to put it.

If you want a truly modern-look for your bookcase, one that combines minimalist design with clever styling and great practicality, we strongly recommend you check out the range of HomCom bookcase designs. This innovative and fresh range covers everything from the traditional style of simple, vertical bookcase to those that have stepped shelves, and others with unevenly sized shelves that look great and add something interesting to the room.

It’s worth mentioning that, like many bookcases available these days, the HomCom range is not expensive either, and comes in a full range of colours from natural wood through black, white and more, and various materials such as solid wood models and metal, vintage-look examples that would look great in the right setting.

Check Out More

Choosing furniture should be great fun and this range of bookcases certainly allows you to visualise some interesting layouts. There are bookcases here for every room – we like the one with shelves either side and a seat in the middle which would be great for a bedroom – and you will like the prices, too, so there’s bound to be one that appeals to every possible taste.

Check out the HomCom bookcase range – they do other furniture too – now and see how you can have a classy, stylish bookcase at an affordable price.

Have you just picked up the hobby of sewing? or are you looking for ways to improve? We have collected 10 tips from the sewing experts that you can use to bring your sewing to the next level.

There are a handful of common mistakes that both beginning and more experienced sewers make. We hope to help you avoid making a few of these mistakes so that you can focus more on sewing those beautiful socks or t-shirts.

Always read the machine manual

Our first tip may seem obvious but it is something that can happen quite quickly. Reading the manual of your (new) machine. Although most sewing machines work quit similarly, there may be some surprising new features that you should have read about.

Particularly if you buy a new machine from a brand that you already know, you expect everything to be the same. This is not always the case and can lead to some serious frustrations.

So to avoid this, the experts advise you to read the entire manual from beginning to end before you start sewing. Also make sure to keep the manual closely so if you encounter any abnormalities or issues, you can quickly find if this is because of the machine model or something else. Next to avoiding problems, this may also surprise you of the many extra features that your machine may have.

Change needles frequently

Almost all new sewing machines for beginners come with a needle that you can start sewing with. This is, in itself, not a problem. But if you notice any problems with the tension, you might want to get a new needle.

A surprisingly large part of sewers don’t know how often to replace the needle or that they have to replace the needle at all. Very often when tension problems begin to develop, this can be lead back to an overused or wrong sized needle. This brings us to the next tip:

Use the right type of needle

Although we won’t go very deep into all the different types of needles, we do want to mention that picking the wrong needle can have disastrous effects on your sewing work. As you might know, you should base the type of needle on the type of fabric that you are sewing with and base the size of the needle on the type of thread that you will use.

An easy trick to find out wether your needle has the right size is to pull a piece of thread that you will use through the needle and see if it slides freely from one side to the other. If this is the case, the needle is the right size, if not, you should use a bigger one.

Use the spool pin caps

These little plastic tools often simply disappear in the accessory pouch. But they exist for a reason and of your machine has the option of putting one on, you definitely should. Note that there are different sizes for different sized spools.

You will notice that when you use a spool cap, the thread will more easily wind of your spool and down to your thread. And although this probably won’t make a big difference, it is these little things that will allow you to sew longer on end and provide you with neater and prettier results.

Wet the needle

For those of you that have a machine that does not have an automated needle threader, the well known trick is to wet the end of your thread so you can more easily put it through your needle.

And while this may work, the lesser known tip is to wet the back of the needle so it attracts the thread which makes it so much easier to find that eye with a little less pain for the eyes.

But don’t watch the needle

Another often made mistake is to watch the needle while sewing. It can be very mesmerising and satisfying to watch the needle while you are sewing but this is one of the main reasons sewers aren’t straight.

There is in almost all cases a throat plate guide that can help you sew in straight lines. If you use the guide or some other technique like tape or a rubber band, you will notice that your accuracy will improve significantly.

Invest in a specialty foot

If you buy an expensive model, specialty feet are often included. But the older or cheaper models don’t usually come with any extra or specialty feet. Luckily a lot of other brands make specialty feet that are applicable to your machine.

Make sure to check that out and choose a foot that fits your style of sewing and is adaptable for your machine. This will really help you keep your fabric straight and under control.

Keep temporary adhesive spray nearby

This tip may seem like a bit of a cheat but considering how helpful it can be with slippery or hard to control layers of fabric,

It can be a real timesaver. If the fabric that you are sewing is hard to control, slipping all the time or for some other reason hard to sew together, adhesive spray is the way to go. Simply spray the sides of the fabric that you want to sew together, place them on top of each other, sew them together while leaving a little entry on one side, turn the piece inside out through the hole and wash it. When it comes out, the spray is gone and you will have a neatly sewed piece.

Polyester or Cotton?

A very important thing to remember when sewing is the stretchiness of your thread. When you are sewing a piece with stretchy fabric, you should always use stretchy thread as well.

So remember; cotton does NOT stretch while polyester DOES stretch. So many projects fail simply because of the stretchiness of the thread. Simply buying the right type of thread will save you some big disappointments.

Iron and press

The last but definitely not the least important tip is to thoroughly iron before you start sewing and to carefully press while you are sewing. This significantly improves the professionally of the end result.

Often the reason of a project looking amateurish is because the sewer didn’t properly sew or press. You might want to invest in a quality iron with good steam functions to give your pieces that professional and neat look.

Thank you for taking the time to read our ten expert sewing tips and we hope we have helped you improve your sewing quality. If you are currently looking for a good sewing machine or if you are in need for a new one, we would recommend Brother CS6000i Sewing Machine which is a great model for both beginners and advanced sewers.

Be sure to let us know what you think and tell us any sewing tips you want to share.

Check out our other articles for more tips and tricks and good luck with your future sewing projects. Sew you later!