22 September 2008

FEAR!

As you read in my last post, I got myself a sewing machine. It is pretty. It's shiny. It has lots of different types of stitches or whatnot.

My Precious


I'm frightened of it. I... I just don't know what to do with it. I've gotten some cloth to play with. I've played with stitches. I'm going to take a small class in it at the place where Paul bought it. However, it still scares me. I look at it and feel like I'll never know how to use it well, no matter how much I want to.

I've read some Craftster threads about using sewing machines, but it's not taking the edge off. I want to do stuff now, and it's basically telling me -- wait, look, play with the machine's different functions, and then read about it some more.

I talked to Beth, one of our friends from high school who is also a designer, and she recommended a book to me. I really hope she emails the name of it to Paul like she said she would. She also told me that after I'm done making squares and aprons, I should make a pair of pajama pants as my first real project. Is there anyone out there who sews who can talk me through this terror of my own sewing machine?

On the positive side, I went to my mom's house and started going through my mom-mom's (great grandmom on my dad's father's side) old sewing machine (a Singer) looking for various things I could pilfer from my mom. SCORE! I found an excellent pair of pinking shears that probably just need a bit of WD-40, and I found a lot of bias ribbon, zippers, and a seam ripper. Things I'd like to get after more experience include: rotary blade, self-healing cutting mat, several patterns, see-through ruler, and sewing chalk.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ooohhh - I'm very impressed! I only know how to do a seam. I know you'll pick it up really quickly!