Machine Sewing...

...is just not my "thing!" I can hand stitch and have usually repaired minor tears, hems and replaced buttons all by hand over the years.

Early on, I had an old sewing machine that I used to sew straight lines in order to make simple curtains. Still, it always "messed up" for me. When we moved to Nashville, I got rid of that old machine---feeling like now I could afford to just hire someone to make curtains for me. That worked.

Fast forward 20 years. When sewing on scrapbook pages became all the rage, I bought myself a machine from Walmart. It was not expensive---$79, but it was a Singer which I knew to be a good brand.

Buying it was the easiest part. I've used it now and then over the past ten years, but not much. I'm careful to keep the dust cover on it. I even went so far at the beginning to make this guide:

I methodically went through and tried every dial combination so I would remember what each one did. Here's the problem. I don't remember which dial for the numbers---there are two. Oh well. It was a good idea at the time.

Then there was the time when the bobbin ran out of thread. The machine went un-used for nearly a year because I knew that I would need time to pull out the book and figure out how to refill the bobbin and replace it in the machine. Luckily for me, a friend was here and did it for me in about ONE minute. She didn't even have to look at the book!

When we scrapbook at the farm we use Karolyn's old sewing machine. Of course, she's there to handle everything---changing thread colors and dealing with the bobbin. This past trip, she encouraged us to try some new techniques with the machine. I used it for this page:

 You can see I had no problems on the top, or...

on the bottom. Karolyn changed the thread for the Christmas project I had planned for the "gang." I'm planning out the entire album and sent them the topics for each page before Christmas. Since Karolyn wanted us to use the sewing machine, I made a point to plan a page that would require it. Well, after she changed the thread, the machine's bobbin started messing up. We ended up not being able to use it.

That brings me to yesterday when I decided to use my own machine to complete the page. I knew that I would have to get out the book to figure out how to change the thread from black to green. For several years now, I've only used black thread. Go ahead, laugh, it's okay!

Since the machine has clear numbers of what to do, I thought it would be easy. Not so. The instructions look like this:

I started reading. I'm not familiar with sewing machine "lingo"---so I don't know what pre-tension spring or tension module means. Anyway, I followed the instructions and numbers on the machine.

Then there's this:

It clearly shows #1 with an arrow pointing to the #2 thing. But what the heck? Does this not look like something is supposed to wrap around this silver button? I did it, but then took it out since pictures in the book do not show a top view like this. I continued on. At one point, it said to pass the thread behind the thin metal piece. Well, there are a lot of thin metal pieces. I finally got it---or so I thought since it looked like this:

I pushed the threads back before I started stitching. I might not know much, but I knew about that.

I did this little sample to make sure it was correct before starting with my layout. You only get one shot when working with a layout.

I was so happy. Everything was going along smoothly---and looking exactly the way I wanted it to look. Then all of a sudden---after about 2/3's of the page was finished, it did this:

Somehow, the black thread on the bobbin came up and sewed on top, then skipped and caused this horrible mess. This was how the backside looked---black also. The green thread just was a straight line.

I really have no idea what happened. And lest you think I was sewing through adhesive---I'm not that stupid! I only put the adhesive at the very tops of the Christmas trees. I used my Mrs. Grossmans to carefully pull out the mess. Now it sits waiting for a friend to have mercy on me.

Karolyn???? Help!

All of this took me an hour---what a waste of time. I might have been better off with this:

It was pretty simple to use for a little 7 year old girl! Over 50 years old. I have no idea if it still works. Oh wait, it doesn't do zigzag.