Hoo boy! Lots to talk about today. I hope you don’t mind, but I might have to do a pseudo power point prez here because to write all that prose is overwhelming me and I will end up just not writing anything.
- Thank you to Robin and Karen who nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger award! I will address this award and it’s attendant responsibilities in a later post. But for now, a heartfelt thank you to both for their compliments and for the award.
- I’ve been playing with my “new” Singer Featherweight 221 and it’s been fun and frustrating at the same time. I love how fast it sews, how evenly the feed dogs feed (compared to my Emerald 183), and how good the stitches are (when the tension’s right), BUT, I am having serious problems with the bobbin and needle thread tensions. I have to fiddle with it for about an hour each time I use it. My current theory is that I need a new bobbin case because the one that came with the machine might not have the ability to maintain tension. Anyone with some ideas, please give me a shout in the comments. Here are some pretty pictures of what I’ve been doing with my FW:
- I wanted to do a simple project on my FW to test run it. I needed a new tote bag, so that’s what I made last night. It’s a really simple bag, based on the one I made from the PURL class I took a lifetime ago. The most complicated thing about it is that it’s lined. No fancy interior pockets or nuthin’! But it really fits the bill and I love it so. 🙂
- I think I am going to use the FW to make my fall coat. How exciting is that?!?!
- Confession: In order to actually sew the bag last night, I had to clean off my dining room table, I mean my sewing table. Folks, it was do or die. You couldn’t see the table. It was piled at least 1 foot high with sewing detritus, months of mail, and random stuff. I was ruthless with throwing out UFO’s (pregnant clown shirt muslin anyone?). I put all of my patterns away, cleaned up all my notions, etc. It took me 4 hours, but I can see my table again and I know where everything is. Phew!!! I wish I had taken some before pictures, but trust me when I say it was not pretty. Here’s how it looks now…
- Now, isn’t that sewing nirvana? Hey, I could actually eat there too now. 😉 Oh and did you notice anything? Do you see my Emerald 183 on the table at all? No? Well that’s because my Singer FW is taking precedence right now. I put the Viking under the table. We’ll see what happens to it after I play with my FW for a while longer. If I get the tension issues worked out, I might have to “make arrangements.”
- Oh, and I can’t forget to tell you of an impromptu coffee I had with Marji this morning before work. Her boat is docked across the river which she posted on FB last night. I told her I was a ferry ride away and we made plans to have coffee. I have to say it was minor miracle that I got out of the house before 8:30am much less arrive at a destination by 8:10am WITH TODDLER IN TOW, I might add. I am impressed with myself. We talked for what seemed like 5 minutes, but 40 minutes later, I had to go to work sadly. I could have talked with Marji for hours! I hope we meet again.
- I hope to start my coat muslin tonight. I bought heavy muslin so I would have a more accurate idea re: fitting issues. Wish me luck!
Happy sewing everyone!