Tuesday 8 April 2014

A Celebratory Woohoo!


I did it! I sewed a thing! To put this in context, this the first machine-sewn item I have finished since about 1984* so I do not care that it's a mere pincushion - I look at that and see Achievement!


I do really need to practise steering though. I was halfway through sewing it when I suddenly recalled the denim pencil-case I made in first-year that got smaller and smaller until it ended up a make-up bag because pencils wouldn't fit in it. Looking back on it I made quite a few things in sewing at school - pincushion, wonky pencil-case, small red quilted purse, and then a skirt in second year.  All long lost, yet I have several things I made in woodwork - guess which I preferred?

Oh well, I'll practise. Fortunately I have plenty of that pink gingham kicking around and also an old thin cotton curtain so I can just spend a few days practising steering.  Maybe it'd help if I made vroooom-vroooom noises like the boys in my sewing-class at school did.

As to what the problem with the sewing-machine was... well, I'm not sure. I was extra careful threading up, especially round the tension discs - you seem to need to give the thread quite a good yank round that bit on our machine - but I also replaced the needle so it might just have been that. In my nauseating Pollyanna-ish moments I think it was quite good I was having issues with the sewing-machine because I've learned quite a bit, but on the other hand there were moments of extreme frustration and quite a bit of muttered swearing. And some-not so-muttered swearing.

But the best bit about my outstanding pincushion cheevos is that I managed this before the final of The Great British Sewing Bee, which is on tonight. Now I can nod knowledgeably at the screen and think 'yes, I too have sewed a thing'. Maybe I should make a pincushion with a peplum next. And French seams.



*Aaargh, just realised that's thirty years!

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