Every Little Bit Helps

The speaker at my guild's meeting this month was Wendy Skinner, founder and director of SewGreen in Ithaca, NY. According to their website, SewGreen is a community not-for-profit program that promotes sustainability through the creative reuse of fabric, fiber, and fashion, as well as responsible consumerism and a rediscovery of self-reliant skills. You can read more about them on their "about us" page.  


Anyway, one of the main points of Wendy's program was that we all can do even a small part to help preserve our planet for future generations. She asked members of the audience for ideas on what they could personally do as quilters. Lots of ideas were mentioned and the one I'm showing here is the use of the green (literally) "eco" button on my Bernina sewing machine. From what I can figure out, the button is on the Artista 170 and 180 models and perhaps the newest top-of-the-line Berninas.


When the "eco" button is pressed, energy use by the machine is cut by 50% -- it's good for when you want to do something away from your machine for a while without powering it down completely. I use it after I've chain-stitched a lot of pieces and then need to press them. I just hit the "eco" button when I've finished sewing, and then after ironing, I hit it again once I'm ready to sew some more. The machine is ready immediately.


So, if you have one of these machines....have you ever used this button? Or is it like 95% of the functions on your machine -- you've never touched them?