I'm afraid of my sewing machine. There . . . I said it. I'll say it again. I'm afraid of my sewing machine.
In case you are just joining me, I bought a sewing machine on a whim in an effort to "find myself". (It went right along with learning to play the drums and getting my nose pierced. I guess if you are going to find yourself, a nose piercing, drum playing and sewing are three of the tamest ways you can do it.) I'm not actually a sewer - in the sense of having actual technical skill. I don't use patterns. Technical abbreviations like RST and WST send me into a tizzy. And I don't really do anything too useful with the sewing machine - like mend things, make clothes or assemble school costumes.
So . . . it seems like any little bump of a dial or flip of a switch sends my sewing machine into a tantrum which results in this:
So you can imagine the terror that filled me when I walked into my dining room - aka crafting/sewing spot - and saw this:
(This is actually a reenactment of the incident. Try explaining to a five year old that she is never supposed to do that again . . . except for one more time while mommy takes a picture.) A five year old is all about bumping dials and flipping switches. But it was hard to be mad when she looked up at me with big eyes and says, "But mommy I just wanted to be like you."
However, when I turned the machine on a few hours later to work on my journal for Service Boot Camp, my machine was majorly malfunctioning. Ugh!!!! In fear and trembling, I turned some dials, flipped some switches and . . . problem not fixed. I worked on the machine all night, and I could not get it to work right. Finally, I gave up, went to bed and slept poorly. Later the next day I sat down, turned a dial, flipped a switch, and . . . wallah, problem solved. I have no idea what I did or how to do it again.
I swear my sewing machine is just taunting me, teasing me, terrifying me. It worked . . . I'm still afraid, but I vow to . . .
craft on!
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7 comments:
Craft ON, my friend! :) Face your "fear"! :) Or at least threaten to unplug it if it acts up again!
Keep practicing. The more you sew, the better you'll know your machine. Judging by the pictures, I'll guess one of th things going on was a really short stitch length. Tension being off can often be a problem. I very rarely change the tension on my machine.
I regularly have this problem (and have never caught the culprit to take photos... it's one or more of four children ~lol~)
Next to changing stitches, the tension knob seems to be the most fun thing to play with... I have marked my machine with the spot for the perfect tension, and can now easily turn it back if it's been moved... saves all the sleepless nights I was having ~lol~
My machine went wonky last week, and no children to blame! I tried everything possible, changing stitch length, tension, rethreading everything *twice*, to no avail. It was then that I realized that in the 2 years I've had my sewing machine, I've never once oiled it. Not once. A quick trip to the store for a tiny $4 bottle of oil (supposed to last 6 months) and a couple of strategic drops in my machine, and good as new! Boy did I feel dumb. :)
I've been there and felt the fear! The only was I could cure mine was to buy a new machine and so far (fingers crossed!) it's behaving itself.
By the way, I've awarded you a blog award. Please stop by my blog to pick it up:)
Fear not you may be a hand sewer like me ...i have bought 5 sewing machines in 35 years and i hate them all....when i was 5 my grandma lela used to yell at me for sitting under the sewing machine and rocking on the treadle...lol....i unhook the drive belt when i get done so my grandchildren can rock....
Hi! Back again. I loved reading this and can totally relate. I asked my little girl the other day, "what does mommy do?" expecting her to answer my occupation, librarian, she instead said, "You sew Mommy." Such a sweetie. Glad you got it working again. I just learned to sew this year and definitely had my share of problems too!
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