As a side note- this being my first machine, I learned the hard way that sewing machines have to be purchased through an “authorized” dealer. Not only this, but no dealers will give you a price quote over the phone! Seriously? You can now order a car or airplane (yes, an airplane) online, but not a sewing machine? To say the least, this added a degree of frustration to the process, and made price comparison shopping a more time and mileage consuming endeavor…and made me feel like I was falling through a time warp into the 60’s.
Back to the point- Sewing machine in hand, I started attending a night sewing class series. My first project: a pair of simple cotton pajama pants. And after four tedious weeks of cutting, pressing, pinning and stitching, my final product loosely resembled the pattern photo of said pants… in a Salvador Dali “melting clock” kind of way (picture a pair of pants designed for Big Bird with a peg leg). I quickly came to the conclusion that fashion wasn’t going to be my forte.
The next destination for my new machine and I, was a four session quilting class that was designed to teach the student how to complete a crib-sized quilt, from start to finish. I was the only student who signed up for the class, and it was taught by an adorable elderly lady, who emulated the classic stereotype of the sweet quilting grandmother, in just about every way. But don’t get me wrong, she was pretty strict; if you forgot to follow certain instructions during class, you were responsible for bringing cookies to class the following week. Let’s just say I bought a lot of cookies that month. In the end, I learned a lot of useful skills both in general sewing and in quilting, really enjoyed my time with the instructor, and even ended up with a finished product that looked approximately like it was supposed to (and not in an impressionistic-style way, this time). Check it out!
