Adventures in Sewing

So I finally buckled down and took those two sewing classes I've been eyeing for the last several months.  While I'm certainly no seamstress guru, I'm not terrified of sewing my fingers together anymore.

The first class I took was back in October.  Me and another woman learned how to sew a pillowcase.  I still have no clue what basting means, but I was able to figure out where things needed to be placed in order to look "right" when the seams were finally stitched.  Good thing, too.  Our teacher was so busy working the front desk that the other woman and I were left to our own devices.  Ah well.  At least she taught us how to thread the machine!  I feel like that's half the battle right there!

Anyway, after the class I purchased extra fabric as "homework" for myself.  I wanted to make a matching pillowcase at a later date just to refresh me on how the machine works.  

My machine, fabrics and tools. I'm gonna make me a pillow case!

Unfortunately, I ended up neglecting to touch my sewing machine until December when I took the 2nd class with my friend, Faith.  Lucky for me I hadn't forgotten everything and was able to set my machine up out of the box again (woo hoo!).  

For our second class, we were instructed to make pajama bottoms.  These were a lot trickier than the basic pillowcase.  These things had patterns and everything.  Talk about intimidating!  In order to cancel out the intimidation factor, I chose the most ridiculous pattern I could get my hands on.  

I was glad to also have Faith there to keep things entertaining.  Neither one of us really had a clue, so we sorta winged it as the teacher - again - flitted back and forth between us and the front desk.  

It's okay, though.  Considering how condescending she was to Faith, myself and the other two women taking the class, I was happy to have her attention focused elsewhere.  We were able to manage well enough on our own, and she was there if our thread tangled, something wasn't working, or the directions didn't make sense.  

But boy oh boy.  It took us almost FOUR HOURS to make those gosh darn pants!   All of you wonderful women out there who know how to sew - GOD BLESS YOU!  I'm envious of your natural skill set. 

Oh yeah - those are puzzle pieces.  Thousands of multi-colored puzzle pieces.  Oddly enough, the pants didn't come out nearly as horrific as I thought they would.  Plus, now I can wear any color shirt I want (or any of John's that I can get my hands on) and they'll match!  

BOOM

But yeah, aside from style, these things sport an elastic waistband and zig-zag hems courtesy of my lack of finishing skills. Even though the teacher 'tsked' me, I say these were a success. 

I'm happy to report, however, that I did practice this weekend since it's been about a month since that December class.  I was able to successfully make a matching pillowcase with the fabric I purchased in November.  Even more exciting, I was able to fix one of my veils that had ripped last summer.  But the best part?  I figured out my machine.  I had been taught to incorrectly thread the bottom bobbin and it took several messed up attempts to finally figure out the problem.  

I had run into the same problem repeatedly at the sewing shop, but each time I was met with the same "solution."  I knew it was wrong (because my machine kept angrily spitting out thread), but I couldn't figure out why it was wrong.

So I spent a good fifteen minutes taking apart the bottom workings of my machine and tinkering around until I realized my thread was getting caught because I was loading it improperly.  Once I worked that out, it was smooth sailing.  I was so proud of myself!

That's one item slowly being marked off my "things I'm going to learn someday" list.  I've wanted to learn sewing for a long time now.  It took me about 3 years, but I feel like I'm finally on my way towards learning a skill that I can really utilize for myself and my family. Torn toys, here I come!

The finished pillow case.