I spoke too soon.

Inspired by Marianne of Ladybird Diaries, who made a skirt for her Miss M, I thought I'd have go at making a very simple skirt for my own Miss M. But as I'm rather rusty with the sewing machine I thought I'd better do something even more basic first, so today I started to make a pincushion. All has not gone well. The sewing machine has regressed to its previous state of recalcitrance. I have been googling and watching youtube videos on how to solve my problem, and cleaning out the guts of the machine again, using a spoon as a screwdriver again (those screws on the needle plate are bloomin' awkward things, aren't they?) but there has been no miracle cure this time. The top thread just keeps snapping. Yes, I've tried altering the tension. I've tried everything, even threats.

I think there should be a special episode of The Great British Sewing Bee, for people like me. 'You have one and a half hours to thread your sewing machine and sew a wonky hem 15cm long. The judges will be looking for creative use of bad language and the ability to thread and rethread and rethread and rethread and rethread your machine without resorting to tears or a chainsaw.'  I think I've been extraordinarily patient.

I've ordered better quality thread because what I was using was from a cheap set from Lidl, that up until now I have mostly used for handsewing name labels on the kids clothes. It is supposed to be suitable for use in sewing machines though. And it's what I used a few weeks ago when the sewing machine miraculously worked, but I'm not thinking about that just now.  I'm thinking serene thoughts about otters.

Serene. Oh yes.