Friday, January 13, 2012

My New Toy

For years my mom tried to teach me to sew. She picked out simple projects, tried to get my friends to do it with me, made them Personal Progress goals... I went along with her for a little bit, but never had much enthusiasm for it.

Plus, I hated her scary machine. The foot pedal squeaked as I pushed it down and I never knew exactly where it kicked in. The slightest push sent it flying into super fast mode. It resulted in me pushing down as slowly as I could... SQUEEEEEEEEEEEAK-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD as the needle started flying and I screamed and closed my eyes. Yeah.... her machine really freaked me out.

Fast forward a good 10+ years and I've purchased a machine of my own. It's new, quiet, and the foot pedal doesn't make a sound. It has an adjustable speed lever so it won't take off on it's own. And I've had driving lessons, which I think is a good precursor to learning how to operate the foot pedal.
It has been up and running for a full 2 days now, and I'm happy to say that I have completed my first project. I followed the 90 Minute Shirt tutorial and it only took me a day and a half to finish it. Alan gave up one of his old ratty shirts to be my test dummy.
The seams aren't straight; I don't think it was even cut straight to begin with. The two sleeves are hemmed with different stitches. The BYU is off center because of how the pattern fit onto the shirt. And I couldn't be prouder of it.


4 comments:

Dorothy said...

Ha ha ha! I didn't realize my machine made such terrible sounds, but I guess I'm used to it. Come to think of it, when I've heard other sewing machines (newer ones!) they are so quiet I wonder if they are even working! The new shirt turned out awesome and I can't tell if the seams are straight or not. (I couldn't be more proud!) And you've got an adorable, appreciative model, too. Go Cougars!!

Beth said...

Great Job Sarah! I have wanted to try those shirts made from old shirts. Its such a great way to make kids cloths. For a first project you are doing wonderful! Keep it up! Sewing is fun! I sure love it.

Unknown said...

Amazing!! You SHOULD be proud!!

Katie Lewis said...

Yay! Good for you! I think you are secretly (or not so secretly) going to love having your own sewing machine to play around on.

And the shirt turned out great! The first couple of 90 Min shirts I made turned out pretty wonky. As in, I sewed the back piece on with the wrong side facing out. (Among other things...). Yours looks great. And it looks even better on Elsie! How fun!