New Sewing Machines

Oh, isn't new equipment fun?  The urge to make something is never quite so strong as in that first moment when you open the package of a new tool.  Suddenly you need no special urging or perfect timing to haul out your materials and starting making.  Brynnie can describe that feeling to your perfectly because she got her very own child-sized sewing machine for Christmas.  She wanted to start sewing almost immediately.

Her first project was a blanket for her precious stuffed animal King the Buffalo.  Together we cut the fabric and pinned the seams and learned about sewing inside-out and proper pin placement.

 We sewed the first few seams with Brynn's new machine, but then we started having trouble.  The tension was extremely sensitive and Brynnie started to loose patience as I played with it.  In addition, the machine was decidedly child-sized and my hands are most certainly not, so I had trouble reaching things and adjusting the thread and fabric.  I tried having Brynnie sit on my lap and sew together, but then the cord for the foot pedal wasn't long enough to reach the floor, so I had to try and operate it with my elbow.  After that comedy of errors, we decided to put her machine aside for a while (until I can get a better understanding of how it works) and finish the project on my machine.  Here is her finished blanket, complete with King's initial zig-zagged in the center.

 And of course you need to see King draped in his new finery.

I might have been a bit jealous of Brynn's new sewing machine except that I got my own new sewing machine - although I got it for my birthday, not for Christmas.  The machine I have been using for the past few years was a refurbished machine that I bought for myself.  It had a cheap price tag because it came from a school classroom and it wasn't designed to do much or hold up for very long, but since I was a rookie seamstress it fit my needs exactly.  However, my skills have improved over time and things like wobbly presser feet, poorly functioning feed dogs, and no zipper foot began to annoy me.  I decided it was time to save up and buy a big-girl sewing machine, but deciding and doing are two different things.

Then, my mom did something awesome for me.  She rescued a machine from my grandma's garage, took it in to the local sewing machine shop for a tune up, and gave it to me for my birthday.  I was beyond happy.  This machine appears to have NO plastic parts and the sewing machine guy said I couldn't break it unless I took a wrench to it!  The presser foot doesn't wobble, the feed dogs work in forward and reverse,  and it has all sorts of special parts like zipper feet and button-hole makers.  It does everything I want and it stitches beautifully.  It may not be a brand-new piece of equipment, but it is new for me and I have enough projects stacked next to it to prove that I have the "new machine motivation."

 One of these days, when I'm not busy sewing blankets with Brynnie, I'll get to finish one of my own projects.

Happy sewing, everyone (especially if you have a new sewing machine)!