Friday, March 23, 2007

learning curve

No sooner do I mentally commit to posting regularly does it become St. Patrick's season. I say season because for someone who works at an Irish institution, this is pretty much all we have. I still don't understand the twinge of heritage that makes our subscriptions go up in March, but
perhaps one day I will. I met a man at the (Czech) Bohemian Beer Hall and Beer Garden reading our paper last night, and he seemed a lot more interesting than the readers who call me up to complain about the caricature of St. Patrick on the cover. But I digress...

As I am just getting my free time back, I was thinking about taking the plunge and laying out for a spring sewing class since it has become apparent that I can't sew in a straight line or measure accurately. I also ordered the bible, commonly known as the 1976 version on the Reader's Digest Guide to Sewing. I ended up with two (thanks eBay!) and I actually prefer the 1978 version, not that I have found a difference yet. It is just in better condition.

Well, I may still find a class useful, but this book is genius. It has given me my confidence back, which was sorely lacking. I am no longer lax to, or afraid of changing out needles and using the dials for things like stitch length and thread tension. And you know what? That stuff is important!
I ordered some jersey recently, looking to make a dress I have a Built By Wendy pattern for, and I was doing some practice sewing, you know, to see what to set the dials to. I even put on a ball-point needle in the correct size, which I learned from the handy chart on page 27. And it worked! I sewed two pieces of jersey together and the seam did not pucker or snag and now I am looking forward to making that dress. Sometimes it just takes a little effort, I suppose.

And now, a gratuitous picture of Seamus, who was recently given a clean bill of health and will be getting the snip as soon as I can make an appointment. This picture was taken right after I told him as such. Please ignore the filthy floor, it was rainy that day!

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