Here They Are -- Batt Scooters! With a Special Offer on Shipping (offer good through October 15, 2010)

For all of the 20 years that I have been machine quilting, I have had a love/hate affair with gloves. My hands got hot, I had to keep taking them off and putting them back on to use scissors, clip threads, etc. -- it just wasn't working for me. Bare hands weren't quite enough, either, as the fabric tends to wick the moisture away from my hands so that they slip and I don't get the traction that I want.

I finally found a solution only to have the company go out of business a couple of years ago. So Dan and I sat down and thought about this, investigated different substances and cutting methods and then sat down with David and Shelley Hooke of LiTenUp Technologies in Chicago. Not only are they brilliant and full of good ideas, they own all the tools to make what I wanted! A few months after coming up with the basic design and jumping up and down with impatience, the Batt Scooters are here!

Above is the packaging -- yes, those of you who own my Fluff & Stuff DVD will recognize that picture of me. We decided to do that because in the video I was using a notion that worked in a similar fashion but is no longer made. Now we do have an available alternative that you would use in exactly the same way I used them in Fluff &Stuff. The idea was to link the DVD and the Batt Scooters so that people would know they work together.

Here's what they actually look like -- I love how the scallops allow you to get closer to the needle without having to move your hand position. The ones I used to use were oval and I had to lift my hands off them and re-position more often.

There are two sizes in each package: Baby Batt and Mama Batt. Baby Batt goes under your right hand where you have less room because the quilt's all scrunched up in there. If you are working on an extension table or have your machine sunk into a table, you have more room under your left hand, so you can use the larger one there and get a bit more traction surface. That being said, I have had people in classes just using the free arm of their machine and reversing the bats helped them hold onto the quilt better.

I place the batts on the quilt, pointy sides in, lay my hands on them with my thumbs on the quilt. Very light forward hand movement will help you scoot that quilt right through the machine. I use them for straight stitching, free motion and applique -- anything where I want to keep a firm hold on my work without exerting a lot of hand pressure. Using these also keeps your hands flat on the quilt, which I have found alleviates tendon and muscle aggravation in the wrists, elbows and shoulders.

I have also tried these while using the Free Motion Assistant, the Fabric Mover, FabuMotion and other systems that use a moving platform. The scooters help to hold the quilt taut over the open area, giving what I think is a better stitch quality.

The Batt Scooters information is not on my website yet, so you can't look them up and put them in your shopping cart. I know some of you want them now, so here's the deal: Once they are on the website, I'll be using the same shopping cart system and priority shipping rates that are in place for the rest of the merchandise. That is a $4.95 minimum shipping cost. However, if you want them before they go on the website, you can e-mail me at battlady@battsintheattic.com, and I will initiate a PayPal billing transaction to your e-mail address for the cost of the Batt Scooters -- that means free shipping!

A set of Batt Scooters is $14.95. If we do the PayPal billing direct as described above, I will mail them First Class and charge zero, nada, no shipping -- so e-mail me!


*** Free Shipping Offer good through October 15, 2010.***