#Fabric tutorial

[ibarrau]

Migrando capacidad Premium a Fabric

En el último tiempo son muchas las compañias cambiando de capacidad para aprovechar al máximo la nueva tecnología que Microsoft nos brinda. Este cambio se vuelve cada vez más necesario puesto que está anunciado que Premium no podrá renovarse y es tiempo de dar el salto hasta Fabric.

En este artículo describiremos estrategias y alternativas para migraciones de este tipo dentro de un mismo tenant y que podemos hacer frente a tenants distintos.

Si aún no estas al tanto de que es Fabric. Te invito a dar una vuelta por este artículo. Para organizarnos mejor vamos a separar este artículo cuando es en mismo tenant o separados.

Migrar en un mismo tenant

La palabra migrar es la usada en el mercado pero sinceramente no creo que esté alineada con la necesidad real. Porque digo esto, porque en realidad no migramos, sino que ajustamos las áreas de trabajo a otra capacidad. Sería como cambiar el almacenamiento de un código. Entendiendo que cambiarnos de Premium a Fabric es en realiad reasignar la capacidad del área de trabajo es que vamos a proceder.

Algunos detalles importantes a tener en cuenta. La región de nuestra capacidad tiene importancia. Si bien existe una opción en el portal de administración para manipular capacidades multiregión, recomiendo crear el Fabric dentro de la misma región que Premium para evitar otras configuraciones adicionales. Así mismo, el formato de almacenamiento de los modelos semánticos puede generar errores. El formato large puede ocacionar errores dependiendo de la complejidad del modelo, a diferencia del small que está más limitado e igual en ambos casos. Adicionalmente a las recomendaciones duras, agrego una más organizativa que refiere a aprovechar este tiempo de proceso para validar que las áreas de trabajo en la capacidad "deban" estarlo y aprovechar de remover de la capacidad las que no se usan, nunca debieron estar o podrían estar en pro (puesto que su adiencia son todos usuarios con licencia).

Comencemos con las alternativas:

1) Manual uno por uno

Permisos requeridos, basta con ser administrador de las áreas de trabajo premium y administrador de capacidad Fabric.

Tal vez la forma más engorrosa, pero no nos dejemos engañar. Si tenemos pocas areas de trabajo, puede ser muy eficiente para aprovechar de visualizar el contenido del área antes de cambiar su capacidad. Para realizar este proceso, abrimos un área de trabajo dirigiendonos a su configuración. Allí encontramos una pestaña referida a licencias para cambiarlo.

2) Manual en lote

Permisos requeridos, cuenta de usuario con rol Fabric Administrator y Administrador de capacidad Fabric. En caso que la migración sea directa, es decir que todas y cada una de las áreas de trabajo y sus ítems de Premium van a pasar a Fabric; ésta es una gran opción.

Esto nos permitirá migrar la totalidad de áreas en pocos clicks. Para ello, nos dirigimos a Workspaces dentro del portal de administración y filtramos las áreas por su tipo de capacidad:

Una vez que la lista de workspace está filtrada correctamente, vamos a seleccionar todos con el cuadradito junto al nombre y aparecerá el botón para reasignar capacidad:

Tengamos presente que eso cambiará las áreas que vemos en la lista. Si estamos viendo 10 resultados, solo serán esos 10 seleccionados. Si tenemos 1000 áreas de trabajo, podemos poner que muestre 100 resultados esta vista y ejecutar esta acción 10 veces para mover lotes de 100 áreas de trabajo.

3) Script API

Permisos requeridos, cuenta de usuario con rol Fabric Administrator y una App Registrada en Azure. En caso de utilizar service principal, hay que adicionar que dicha app tenga los permisos para que utilice la Fabric API en el admin portal. Esos detalles pueden leerlos aqui. Experiencia en desarrollo con PowerShell, Python (Librería SimplePBI) u otro lenguaje de programación y manejo de API. Dependiendo el login efectuado necesitaremos administrador de capacidad Fabric para la App o el usuario.

Esta metodología aplica particularmente para cuando las áreas que vamos a migrar tiene condiciones más complejas. Con esto nos referimos a que hicimos un análisis de las áreas que pertenecen al premium y no todas serán migradas. Ya sea porque el contenido no era apropiado, nunca debió estar en premium, no se utiliza o queremos optimizar el contenido en la nueva capacidad, con esta opción podríamos concretarlo. El primer paso sería relevar éstas áreas de trabajo y armar una lista de IDs y nombres de áreas. A partir de esto la idea es escribir un script que itere las áreas de trabajo reasignado su capacidad. Dependiendo si vamos a autenticar la App Registrada en Azure como Service Principal o con Master User (usuario y contraseña con permiso Fabric Administrator).

Master User: en este caso podremos ejecutar la reasignación desde la categoría de la API de administración: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/power-bi/admin/capacities-assign-workspaces-to-capacity

Service Principal: como no pueden ejecutar acciones de administración, como pre requisito, debemos asignar la App como Admin de las áreas de trabajo a migrar. Por ello, podemos hacerlo manualmente o con un script que haga el login Master User y una acción Group AddUserAsAdmin. Recien entonces, podremos ejecutar la reasignación desde la categoría de la API de capacidad: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/power-bi/capacities/groups-assign-to-capacity

Lo más recomendado sería utilizar la autenticación Master User dado que mientras no podamos ejecutar acciones de administración con Service Principal, se vuelve largo el proceso y si ya iteramos para asignar un service principal al área de trabajo a migrar, podríamos estar usando el mismo script para ejecutar la reasignación.

NOTA: Tengamos en cuenta que la autenticación de la API por master user no funciona con MFA. Si tenemos MFA estaremos obligados a utilizar los PowerBi cmdlets de Powershell.

Migrar entre dos tenant distintos

Aquí el proyecto se complica. Hoy no hay herramientas que provean esta solución de manera ágil y dependiendo la cantidad y tipo de ítems de nuestro premium, resultará en cuanto porcentaje de migración realmente se puede efectuar.

El primer detalle a tener en cuenta en este caso es referido a tipo de ítems. ¿Utilizamos solo reportes de PowerBi? ¿Tenemos más contenido como Dataflows gen1, paneles, etc? ¿Se están usando ítems de fabric como notebooks, pipelines o warehouses?

Dependerá de las respuestas a estas preguntas sobre cuan posible es migrar y cuanta manualidad tendríamos. Antes de comenzar recalco que no existe una metodología que soporte esta operación. Es por esto que no podremos migrar el 100% de los casos y tampoco podremos librarnos de trabajos manuales.

Veamos alternativas:

1) Migración manual:

Permisos requeridos, licencia de PowerBi pro en ambos tenants y administrador de capacidad Fabric del nuevo. Rol de miembro o administrador de área de trabajo origen. Permiso de creación de área de trabajo destino.

No se puede dejar de mencionar que el trabajo manual es una opción. Considero crítico para operar de este modo, validar que aquello que deba migrarse sea realmente necesario y se use. No migrar aquello de lo que podemos presindir considerando que es muy laborioso. Crear una área en el nuevo tenant, asignar su capacidad. Descargar los archivos .pbix, exportar json de dataflows, copiar códigos de notebooks en tenant origen y publicar, importar o pegar en tenant destino. Ésta forma es muy lenta pero garantiza mantener exactamente cada componente. Consideremos que algunos componentes como los Paneles, no puede exportarse y solo queda recrearlos.

2) Script API

Permisos requeridos, cuenta de usuario con Power Bi PRO y una App Registrada en Azure. En caso de utilizar service principal, hay que adicionar que dicha app tenga los permisos para que utilice la Fabric API en el admin portal. Esos detalles pueden leerlos aqui. Experiencia en desarrollo con PowerShell, Python (Librería SimplePBI) u otro lenguaje de programación y manejo de API. Ya sea el usuario o el Service Principal deben formar parte del área de trabajo origen. Permiso de creación de áreas de trabajo y administrador de capacidad Fabric en nuevo tenant.

Aunque ésta pueda resultar la forma más atractiva, cabe mencionar que no todo los ítems de las áreas de trabajo se pueden exportar. Puede ser una muy atractiva opción para migraciones basadas en reporte de PowerBi, dado que exportar reportes e importarlos en otro tenant son operaciones factibles en la Rest API. Al iterar las áreas de trabajo en el primer tenant podríamos tomar el nombre, crearlas en el nuevo con la app/usuario como administrador, asignarles capacidad y comenzar a poblarlo. Todo con API. En caso de contar con ítems de Fabric, poco a poco va siendo posible obtenerlos y recrearlos con la API.

3) Manual/Script con repositorio git.

Permisos requeridos dependen si será manual o con script. Cuenta de usuario con Power Bi PRO y una App Registrada en Azure. Experiencia en desarrollo con PowerShell, Python (Librería SimplePBI) u otro lenguaje de programación y manejo de API. El usuario debe formar parte del área de trabajo destino. Permiso de creación de áreas de trabajo y administrador de capacidad Fabric en nuevo tenant. Acceso al repositorio con AD o Personal Access Token.

Dependiendo si nuestros desarrollos ya estaban ordenados dentro de un repositorio o no, delimitará cuan complejo será el proceso. Si no tenemos nuestro premium integrado a repositorios, lo primero será crear un repositorio, organizarlo por carpetas según las áreas de trabajo y sincronizarlo. Realizado el prerequisito de un origen integrado a un repositorio, podremos proceder.

Por un lado, la migración manual. Ingresar al nuevo tenant. Crear una área de trabajo. Asignarle capacidad Fabric e integrarlo a su correspondiente carpeta del repositorio. De esta forma todos los ítems del repositorio serán parte del área de trabajo.

Por otro lado, el proceso podría utilizar un script para automatizar acciones. La iteración de la migración sería por carpetas de workspace en el repositorio. La idea es crear un área de trabajo con el mismo nombre, asignarse como administrador y asignar la capacidad. Hasta ahi como siempre. Lo nuevo sería conectar el repositorio y hacer un update (pull) con la API de Fabric logueando con Master User (no tiene permitido service principal la categoría git de la API). De esa forma, aprovechando el repositorio, se irían creando y poblando las áreas con sus ítems siempre y cuando sean versionables. Aqui tenemos limitación obligada a master user que podríamos tener MFA y nos impediría seguir. La alternativa sería realizar un deploy desde el repositorio al área de trabajo, sin embargo la dificultad para construir ese request para cada ítem de PowerBi es muy alta. Lo que generaría controversia de si demoraremos más en hacer el proceso automatico que manual.

NOTA: recuerden que los repositorios permitidos son Azure DevOps o GitHub. Pueden leer más sobre la integración en los hipervínculos.

Conclusión

Así llegamos al final del artículo con muchas opciones de migración premium o pro a fabric. Recordemos que la forma más viable es hacerlo dentro del mismo tenant y que si es a separados hay mucha más complejidad. Seguramente, no son las únicas formas. Así como podemos usar la API hoy son cada vez más las operaciones que podemos ejecutar con Semantic links y sempy en Fabric notebooks. Repaso también que no todo componente es migrable, configuraciones de CI/CD o deployment pipelines podrían causar un verdadero dolor de cabeza entre distintos tenants. Espero que esto los ayude a no sufrir tanto las migraciones.

[bevanne46]

From Davis Ray: It took me 55 years to make this quilt! At 10 years old, in 1968, I told my mom I wanted to make a quilt for my bed. She gave me fabric and suggested I trace a postcard. Smart woman…I wouldn’t have to match corners! Well, time flies and here I am in 2023, aged 65. I retired and finally finished it. Mom is 99 years old and I am thrilled to have a photo of both of us with the quilt. I hand sewed a pocket on the back to hold the postcard, photos and the story of this quilt.

[pippenpaddlopsicopolisthethird]

Today's cosplay post is a tutorial! I sat down and put together a full breakdown on how I use fabric painting to get my cosplay details. In this world where it seems like everyone on the big social media pages has an embroidery machine, a desktop laser cutter, and a heat-transfer vinyl workflow, I feel like sometimes we need to get back to basics and understand how to achieve clean finishes without a $2k overhead.

Video is fully captioned using the script I read from (not auto-generated captions!) And includes timestamps for different parts of the process. I recreated Marcille's t-shirt from one of Ryoko Kui's illustrations in this video, but it's useful for way more than just shirts!

I've never tried my hand at video tutorials before so I hope this is helpful!

[covidsafecosplay]

Free Sewing Pattern: Janet Vest via Mood Fabrics

Written by Shavonne Cruz for Mood Fabrics, this vest pattern is modeled after Janet from The Good Place. The pattern is offered free via email subscription, and the tutorial provides detailed instructions. You can check it out here!

The CovidSafeCosplay blog and its admin are unaffiliated with the patternmaker or Mood Fabrics, and are simply sharing the resource. Blog admin has not personally tested this pattern. Please thoroughly read the pattern and tutorial for full instructions.

Do you have a favorite free pattern resource? Share in the comments or via a reblog! Bonus points for those that are free, include image descriptions, or contain detailed tutorials for newbies to follow.

[makereadgrow]

The Why of Sewing 3: Fabric Anatomy (Fiber Content)

This post is in a series I am starting that is going to talk about concepts in sewing and fiber arts and try and explain some of the whys behind the hows.

The beginner sewist is often (correctly) advised at the beginning of their journey to start with cotton fabric, sometimes specifically woven cotton, but not always. Nevermind that cotton fabric can vary from a tshirt to denim and canvas.

We have learned the difference between a knit and a woven fabric in my previous posts (check the tag #the why of sewing which should bring up the whole series). Let's talk fiber content.

Like fabric structure I basically break fiber down into two groups: natural fibers and synthetic fibers. Below I am going to talk about the fibers you are most likely to encounter as you shop as a home sewist. It is NOT a complete list of fibers, nor could I list the entirety of fabric types made with each fiber.

Natural fibers: these are fibers that come from plants and animals and require minimal processing to be made into fabric.

Wool: This comes from sheep, which are sheared 1-2 times a year. The animal is not hurt in the process and even sheep not raised for fiber production must be sheared for their health. Wool is warm, but breathable. It can be easy to work with in some ways, but it does shrink when washed and so many modern sewists avoid wool. Some folks have sensitivities to wool as well. Wool is most commonly used in suitings and knits.

Image: Shorn sheep in a verdant field (Source: By Roger Kidd, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13035358)

Silk: Silk is made from the cocoons of silkworms, and generally harvested prior to the hatching of silkworm larvae. Silk is expensive to produce and considered a luxury good. Silk is shiny and lightweight, it can be surprisingly warm. Silk can loose its sheen in the wash and because the fiber is so delicate it can be difficult to sew. There is a lot of misinformation on the production of both silk and wool online. Worm Spit has been educating fiber artists about the process of making silk since 2002.

Image: a vintage style poster showing various stages of the silkworm moth (By Bibliographisches Institut, in Leipzig - Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4th Auflage, Band 14, Seite 826a (4th ed., Vol. 14, p.826a), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2317808)

Cotton: Cotton comes from the cotton plant, there are several varieties commonly grown and it is the most common natural fiber used in textile production. The cotton fiber comes from the seed head of the plant. Cotton can be made into light breathable fabrics and warm cosy fabrics. The list of fabrics made from cotton might actually be endless but here are a few you might encounter: jersey knits, denim, quilting cotton, gauze, lawn, voile, sweatshirting, twills, poplin, oxford cloth, canvas...

Image: the cotton boll, or seed pod (source: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=689304)

Linen: Linen comes from the flax plant. The fiber comes from the long stem of the flax plant and can be difficult to break down into a usable state. It is also difficult for modern spinning equipment to make into threads, which is why linen tends to be quite expensive in comparison to cotton. Linen is cool to the touch and very strong. It also wrinkles very easily. Coarsely woven linen can be uncomfortable for some to wear. Linen tends to be made into simple plain woven fabric, occasionally knit fabrics, and can vary in weight from handkerchief linen (very fine, almost transparent) to canvas. I recently reblogged THIS POST which had some incredible links regarding linen production.

Image: linen cloth recovered from Qumran Cave 1 near the Dead Sea (Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=248420)

Synthetic fabrics: these are fibers that have been manufactured through industrial processes.

Polyester/Acrylic/Nylon: These fabrics are plastic. They are made from different types of plastic, but ultimately a liquid petrolum product is extruded into a long filiment and made into cloth. They can be made into woven or knit fabric. The way they are made can have many different properties. Generally polyester is what you find in the home sewing world. Polyester is not breathable and because it is oil based it tends to hold on to smells. It melts when it is too hot and therefore can only be ironed carefully. Polyester also tends to be very strong and can help make very sturdy fabrics. Because polyester is very inexpensive to produce it is frequently combined with other fibers to reduce production cost.

A diagram of "dry spinning" polyester fibers (source: https://encyclopedia.che.engin.umich.edu/fiber-spinning/)

Spandex/Lycra/Elastine: this is the stretchy stuff! Generally found in combination with other materials this is what makes fabric go beyond the mechanical stretch that is produced by the fabric structure. In small amounts mixed with cotton it makes a fantastic tshirt jersey, 100% spandex is great for swim and dancewear. As we discussed in the knit article I posted previously adding stretch to sewing does make it more complicated to work with, but used wisely spandex is your friend. Best not pressed excessively as the fiber has a protein structure that breaks down when it is hot. Also if you have a garment or fabric with a lot of spandex content you might want to consider avoiding the dryer.

Rayon/Viscose/Bamboo/Lyocell/Cupro/Tencel: There are SO MANY names for cellulose fabrics. These are sometimes categorized as semi-synthetic fibers, or even put in with natural fibers. They are all the same thing deep down. Cellulose (generally sourced from trees and plants) is chemically broken down into its most essential parts and then extruded into a filiment. These fibers were originally developed as a silk substitute. Rayons are fine, breathable, and have a drape that clings to the body. They shrink in the wash and can continue to shrink through several washes. They also can be fragile when wet. Rayons are made into both woven fabrics and knits and they tend to be thin and fine fabrics. Rayon fabrics, especially those labeled as bamboo are frequently greenwashed as environmentally friendly, because they are sourced from a renewable resource, but the process of producing cellulose fibers is highly polluting and uses significant amounts of water.

While there are outliers, most textiles you will encounter while shopping for fabric will be made of the above fibers. A deeper dive into these would be fun, but I find at least 3 potential rabbit holes I could go down every single post I make here.

[solarpunkbaby]

Turn your tiniest scraps into snazzy, stuffed bugs! - perfect for making a wall a little less boring

[iamespecter]

Do you have any personal tips on drawing and rendering wrinkles and folds for your painting? I’ve seen so much of your work and it just fascinates me every time!

Have a slug my amigo 🐌

Thank you for the slug :3 Now I'm no teacher, but this is usually my thought process when drawing "wrinkles" on a fabric

1st): I like to add one of those "bumps" on the edge of the fabric to emphasize that yes, there are wrinkles there. it pretty much helps the eyes process the idea of wrinkles being present, and it helps making it feel like figure's plausible to exist on a 3D space.

2nd): triangles, loops and zigzag-ing patterns. when I make wrinkles on fabrics, my brain automatically looks for places where "tension" would begin, and then fold everything. This means areas like joints, elbows, armpits, knees, etc. Triangles are a go-to if you want to make tighter fabrics, zigzags are more so for looser clothing depending.

When I draw tighter clothing, I also tend to draw the figure in detail first --ex. if I want to draw a tight shirt, I draw the torso in detail first-- and then adding wrinkles on where they would form after that. References definitely help a lot.

There's also the fact that I always imagine wrinkles to be two areas having a tug of war, but there's no winners

the unaffected areas of wrinkles are also ALWAYS darker (even if ever so slightly), because the wrinkles itself are more exposed to light than the rest of the fabric, except of course, on certain lighting placements. (like the light being shone directly onto the unaffected area)

(this is a commission I'm working on)

Hopefully what I've put here is comprehensible and not overwhelming, I tried my best to explain it as much as possible lol

[scribefindegil]

Further Rit Dye pro-tip: If you have to match a very specific color or only need to sew like one buttonhole and don't want to buy a whole spool, you can just dye pearl cotton!

This fabric has a dull teal warp and a copper-brown weft, which gives it a cool shifting verdigris effect. To get thread to match it, I started with that sky-blue pearl cotton and dyed it teal, then overdyed that with brown. It gives it a similar hue to the fabric and also a lot of depth!

[fantasykiri5]

Chat which do we like more, with or without the extra little patches of colors (ignore that the bark edge on the top isn't finished- I'm gonna do it once I've figured put the rest of the bark)

[ibarrau]

[Fabric] Protegé la experiencia de usuarios en una capacidad

Cada día más y más personas se suman a la ola de Fabric. Gracias a su amplia variedad de planes permite a pequeñas y grandes empresas nutrirse de sus características desde tempranas etapas. Algo primordial al momento de construir servicios o contenido en un recurso dedicado es monitorear esa capacidad.

¿Por que lo hacemos? porque necesitamos asegurarnos que sus recursos sean viables y no se sobrecargue. Si hay una sobrecarga todo se vuelve lento, la experiencia de usuario cae dado que no logramos dar respuesta a sus peticiones por fallas o demoras.

En este artículo mostraremos como mantener la experiencia de usuario sana aunque los procesos operativos colapsaran.

Hace unos días escribimos sobre la importancia de mantener una capacidad sana y hemos mencionado formas de montiorearla/administrarla. Ambos artículos son una gran fuente de aprendizaje para velar por un espacio dedicado que respondas a las necesidades de los usuarios con los recursos disponibles.

En estos artículos hacemos mención sobre dos categorías de operaciones que utiliza la capacidad. Hablamos de operaciones background e interactive. Tal como su nombre lo indica una refiere a todos los procesos bach, código, calendarizados, flujos, etc. Mientras que interactivo vela por la respuesta de los modelos dentro de los informes para usuarios finales. En enero 2025 microsoft fabric incorporó una excelente característica que nos ayude a poner límites porcentuales a operaciones background.

La característica se llama Surge Protection, y la definición en palabras microsoft:

"La protección contra sobrecargas ayuda a limitar el uso excesivo de su capacidad al limitar la cantidad de cómputo consumido por los trabajos en segundo plano. Puede configurar la protección contra sobrecargas para cada capacidad. La protección contra sobrecargas ayuda a prevenir el estrangulamiento y los rechazos, pero no es un sustituto de la optimización de la capacidad, el escalado vertical y el escalado horizontal. Cuando la capacidad alcanza su límite de cómputo, experimenta retrasos interactivos, rechazos interactivos o todos los rechazos incluso cuando la protección contra sobrecargas está habilitada."

Muy bien define que esta es una característica que se suma a ayudarnos. No va a reemplazar las prácticas anteriores.

¿Cómo funciona?

Ahora disponemos de dos parámetros nuevos para definirle a las capacidades. Por un lado el porcentaje máximo de la capacidad que pueden alcanzar las operaciones de segundo plano (Background Rejection threshold) y por otro el porcentaje al cual debe bajar el procesamiento para retomar las operaciones de segundo plano. Tomemos un ejemplo para explicarlo mejor (Background Recovery threshold)

LaDataWeb ha configurado estos parametros delimitando 70% para el rechazo de operaciones y 40% para la recuperación. Elegimos 70% porque conocemos la actividad de interactividad de los usuarios y casi siempre ronda entre 17% y 20% según nuestra Fabric Capacity Metrics app. Entonces sabemos que resguardando 30% estaremos seguro y limitamos 70% a las de segundo plano. Podríamos pensarlo como que hemos partido el 100% de la capacidad limitando al back a usar hasta cierto punto.

El día comienza a las 8 am cuando la gente inicia la jornada tradicional de trabajo y corre más operaciones de lo debido manualmente logrando que el background llegue a 70%. Surge Protection al llegar al 70%, continuará las operaciones que este "En ejecución", pero comenzará a rechazar todas las operaciones nuevas que intenten correr. ¿Como sabremos que rechazó? podran saberlo al ejecutar porque verán así:

O en la Fabric capacity metrics app en el nuevo apartado de "System events":

Esto significa que por 24 horas Fabric intentará reducir la capacidad de background rechazando nuevas peticiones. Los usuarios que dan uso con operaciones de interactividad dispondran de 30% de la capacidad. Si su uso es el promedio especulado, no se verían afectados en performance en sus operaciones. Lo cual permite a la empresa seguir operando.

¿Hasta cuando estará bloqueado el back? seguirá rechazando peticiones hasta que la capacidad baje hasta un 40% como lo fue especificado en el parametro de recuperación de capacidad.

¿Cómo configurarlo?

Abrimos el menú de configuración -> Admin portal -> opciones de capacidad. Seleccionamos la capacidad deseada para configurarlo y prendemos la opción de Surge Protection. Luego delimitamos los valores como el ejemplo de la imagen:

Así llegamos al final del artículo donde revisamos una excelente característica que nos ayuda a mantener la experiencia de los usuarios aún cuando los procesos estan en situaciones críticas.

Espero que esta nueva feature los ayude.

[pearlwingdraws]

Moth pin/brooch

A couple people asked me how I made this so I figured I’d just make a little post explaining it.

Before I start I WOULD like to disclose that the pin I’ve made is hugely inspired by the one by TheClosetHistorian (on YouTube) and you should definitely consider checking out her video if you want more instruction or like that format better.

I made a little graphic showing some work in progress pictures as well as materials and techniques used in the different areas. I will type it out in more detail below.

1. First draw out the shape I want on a piece of felt. Add some guide lines for different parts of the design. I layered mine double because it’s quite thin. I used an (unused) dish rag, so don’t worry about the quality of your felt.

2. I start off embroidering the “neck area”, using turkey stitch. Starting from the bottom up, I use a dark turquoise floss, then later mix in a lighter shade.

3. Next I sew on the beads. String on 5-6 at a time and then go back and tack them down with small stitches. I don’t know much about embroidering with beads, so this may not be the “correct” way to do it. The types of beads I used are size 11/0 seed beads and delica beads, as well as bugle beads and Miyuki’s Tila and half Tila.

4. Sequins. I recommend using flat ones instead of the ones I used. I work from the bottom up, trying to get a nice silhouette with the bottom layer, as this will form the outline of the finished piece.

5. After finishing with the sequins, I do some more turkey stitch around the top, so it covers up that edge where you can see the tread. Optionally you can do the whole thing with sequins if you want.

6. Next thing I did was some French knots, just above the turkey stitch in a contrasting color. This is just for some textural variety and decoration, as little “spots”. You can really add them wherever you’d like, or not at all.

7. Then I just finished embroidering the thing. Don’t know what the stitch is called, it’s just making little stitches beside each other until it’s all filled in. I did a little gradient because I felt like it.

For the legs and antennae, i also just winged it. The legs and antennae got layered double in wire and twisted before adding the beads and sequins, then I just used the very tip of my round plier to curl the remaining ends into round little “feet”. Then stitch them securely to the backside of the pin.

I finish it off with another layer of felt, this one painted with a fabric paint I happened to have lying around, both for some extra strength and to match the color scheme better. I cut little slits to fit in a regular safety pin (I recommend get a proper pin/brooch needle) and stitched the backing on with very dense stitches. Pictures below.

Extra suggestions:

If you don’t have sequins, or want a different look, you can embroider the whole thing. Alternatively you can fill the whole space with sequins if you don’t want to embroider it all. You can of course do any shape, size and color scheme, whether based on real life moths or just fantasy!

Lastly I just want to thank everyone for the love you’ve shown for this silly little bug 💖 it means the world to me, and it has really inspired me. I wish I could sell these, but I don’t think that’s really an option for me right now. I’ll let you know if that changes in the future, but until then, I hope those of you who have the interest to make your own find this helpful.

[bevanne46]

My mother and grandmother, may not have had the opportunity to receive formal educations, but they were both rich in talent, determination, and heart. They were both very creative and for the most part they were self-taught in the art of sewing, knitting, crocheting, crafting, and baking. My grandmother preferred to be sewing and made me pretty dresses. Mom preferred to be knitting and made me some beautiful sweaters. Both made the most amazing pies! Now for me. I can knit adequately, I can crochet badly so like my grandmother, I prefer to sew but am the only one in my family to make quilts. And I can occasionally make an adequate pie but nothing like them. Lastly, is our daughter. She has sewn but doesn’t like to do it. She hasn’t learned to crochet (yet) but she knits! So, it seams that the sewing & knitting jeans skip generations.

Do you have crafting jeans in your family?

[sew-much-to-do]

DIY Reusable Bowl Covers

Reusable bowl covers are very easy to sew and you can make them exactly fit all those bowls and jars you use the most.

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sew-much-to-do: a visual collection of sewing tutorials/patterns, knitting, diy, crafts, recipes, etc.

[itsquilttime]

This Layer Cake no-waste version of quick cutting a Hunter's Star has my mind properly blown.

[makereadgrow]

The Why of Sewing 2: Fabric Anatomy (knits)

This post is in a series I am starting that is going to talk about concepts in sewing and fiber arts and try and explain some of the whys behind the hows.

The first thing anyone should learn about sewing is the basic building block of what fabric IS. There are two basic categories for fabric: Woven and Knit. Today I am writing about knit fabric.

Knit fabric is made up of rows of interconnected thread loops. Some knitting machines work back and forth to make a flat fabric, but it is more common for knit fabric to be made in a big tube which is then cut open and the edges sealed. This is the selvedge edge for your knit fabric, but beware! Sometimes when the edge is cut they do not follow the grain correctly.

There is a lot of variety in how the loops can look, but the most basic pattern in knitting is stockinette stitch where the right side of the fabric looks like little v shapes stacked on each other, and the reverse looks like little bumps. This is true in both hand knitting, and the manufacture of knitted cloth. Most fabric used in tshirts and sweatshirts are stockinette. Tshirt fabric is known as jersey.

Below you can see the Right and Wrong Side of a hand knit sweater

Here is a 8x photo of a cotton lycra blend tshirt jersey - it has the same vertical rows of Vs as the handknit sweater.

All knits are at least a little bit stretchy. The loops of fabric just have a lot more movement than the 90 degree angles of woven fabric. Some knit fabric is VERY stretchy, and some is just a little. Fiber content makes a big difference, but I think tackling that is a whole other post.

Knit fabric can be tricky to cut and sew because of that stretch.

The grain of knit fabric is also important to be able to determine. In addition to grain is the DOGS (Direction of Greatest Stretch) this is usually on the cross grain, or perpendicular from the columns of V shaped stitches you see close up. Generally knit fabric is used with the DOGS going around the body. It is especially important for things like neckbands to be cut on the DOGS, as they function like bias on a woven fabric.

below from Left to right I am stretching cotton lycra jersey on grain, on the cross grain (I don't have big enough hands to stretch it to its full ability), and on the bias.

When you cut knit fabric a rotary cutter, mat and pattern weights will help keep the fabric stable and cuts precise, unlike shears and pins. Pins can also cause runs in knit fabrics (like pantyhose). The cut edges of most knits do not fray, which is a big advantage to this type of fabric. This is not true of big chunky sweater knits and handknits. However knits do roll on the edges and the more you handle them, the more they will roll. It will usually roll on both selvedge and the cut edge, but in opposite directions. Generally the best way to handle this is to not be rough with your fabric and when cutting weight down your edges or even tape them down to the cutting mat with masking tape.

Knits also need special sewing machine needles. There are two main types of needles used on knits a ball point needle and a stretch needle. In general a stretch needle is used on fabrics like spandex which are VERY stretchy and difficult to pierce. Most knits do okay with either type, but if you are ever trying to sew a knit and getting lots of skipped stitches or loops on the back try a different needle. Sometimes a microtex needle is used on very fine knits as well.

What is happening to the fabric to make those skipped stitches and thread nests so ubiquitous to beginners trying to work with knit fabrics? The fabric is not being correctly pierced by the needle. Instead of the needle passing through the fabric stretches and travels down into the machine, even a tiny bit of this can disrupt stitch formation.

This image of thread nesting is on a woven fabric, but it will look the same on a knit as well. Citation Link

if you are pretty sure you have the correct needle but you are still getting lots of thread nests, especially at the beginning of the seam, put a bit of tissue paper under the fabric.

Sewing with knits also means considering the stitch you use. A straight stitch seam will break when the fabric stretches because the thread does not stretch. On a regular machine you need to use a narrow zigzag, lightning stitch or a three step zigzag for constructing the seams. For hemming you can use the stitches above, or use a twin needle or the triple stitch on your machine. These stitches vary in how stretchy they are so I recommend trying some out. I almost always choose a narrow zigzag for construction and a three step zigzag for my topstitching.

The other barrier many sewists find when sewing with knit fabric is that on an everyday machine the fabric tends to stretch under the foot. There are a few ways to avoid that. 1. Careful handling - this is never going to be the only solution but rough handling you knits will distort them no matter what else you do. 2. Reduce your foot pressure. Not all sewing machines have this ability, check your manual. 3. Use a walking foot - this foot essentially is like having feed dogs on top and on the bottom of the fabric so it moves smoothly through the machine. It is a very useful thing to have. Beware of off brand walking feet, they might be fine, but a bad walking foot can damage your machine. 4. Use a water soluble double sided tape to stabilize the seam before sewing. This is my least favorite solution, but a tool in the arsenal none the less.

There is a lot to talk about when we talk about knits, but I also don't want this to be a million miles long. Your key takeways from today are the following: How to find the grain and DOGS on knit fabrics, choosing the right needle and stitch for your fabric, and how to handle the fabric under the machine to prevent stretching.

[creations-by-chaosfay]

Quilted postcards! Tell us more!