Floral

I got the sewing-machine out again today. It had been lurking under its bin-bag cover (I really must get/make a proper cover for it) and the longer I left it the more I worried that it would revert to its non-functioning state or that I'd lose what little sewing ability I'd gained.

But today the sun shone (unconnected, but engendering a feeling of positivity - or perhaps recklessness) so I got the machine out, dragged the iron and ironing board out of their sabbatical and made another skirt. Actually the worst bit was cutting it out. I get really anxious about that. I had to use pages of the Scotsman sellotaped together to make a template as I knew I wouldn't be able to cut out a rectangle without something to provide right-angles. But once I got it cut out more or less rectangularly it all went quite well. I had to do a bit of arithmetic because the instructions are in inches and I don't do inches.  Nor does my tape-measure, more to the point. I've taken note of the metric equivalents for the various seam allowances and hems so that next time I won't have to frown and scratch my head. Oh, and I spent quite a long time squinting at the floral pattern trying to work out if the design had an obvious right/wrong way up. It doesn't seem to, which is quite clever really. It's quite reassuring that the things that slowed me down weren't the actual sewing.

The sewing-machine was behaving fairly well - some of the thread was bunching slightly at the start and coming through a bit green, so I suspect the innards need a clean again, but there were no major problems. And Miss M likes the end result, which is the main thing. And I got to take a picture of the finished skirt in the evening sunshine, which is always nice!