Purely Whimsical

The lack of posts recently has been due to a temporary bout of insanity. Apologies. I forgot how much sewing frustrates me and decided to remind myself with a class on making the professional tote.

I am taking the class with my mom - I paid for the class and supplies as a mother’s day gift. I don’t think I would have offered to do that had I known just how much it would cost. I honestly think I’ve paid almost $300 so far. Who knew?

It took me 3-4 hours to cut out the fabric for the project. And I was so tired by that time that mom kindly cut out the stabilizer for me. It was a small class, which is a good thing because after I figure out how to plug my sewing machine in, the first thing I whip out is the manual. Because it’s been about 3 years since I’ve pulled it out.

A bit on my sewing machine. About 4 years ago, I started sewing again for a little while. My dog needed a bed, and if any of you have pets, you know how shockingly expensive pet beds can be. I knew I could make a nicer one than can be bought for at least half the price, and I was right. I made two dog beds, using outdoor fabric for the cover and simple muslin for an inner pillow. They were perfect, and are still being used today. And they were at least a third of the price I could have gotten similar beds for, made with crappier fabrics, and without an inner washable pillow.

Flush with the success of this project, I started sewing some garments. During this time, I visited my grandmother (I called her Nonny), and discussed the project. At the time, I was using an old Singer sewing machine I’d gotten for $10 at a thrift shop. It was capable of sewing jeans, which was nice, but get more fancy than sewing in a straight line or zigzagging, and it had problems. Out of the blue, she insisted I take her sewing machine, as an early birthday gift. I was floored.

So my current sewing machine is one that Nonny gave me, and it is a very nice machine. It is a Bernina 830. It turns out that if you try to buy it nowadays, say on ebay, that it will cost you more now than when it was originally sold. It’s a very popular machine, still thought to be one of the best ever made.

Back to the project. Despite all my best intentions to use the sewing machine more, after a couple of projects, it’s languished for a couple of years as I’ve fed my knitting and spinning obsessions. So to use the machine, I really needed to peek at the manual to ensure that I wasn’t doing something freaky that would make it grind to a halt and die a horrible death. Because I have a sentimental attachment to the machine and I would hate to do that.

As it turns out, it was fine. I had nothing to worry about. However, It felt like I was the s-l-o-w-e-s-t person in the class (not true, there were actually a few people at the same place I was) as I struggled to familiarize myself with the sewing machine again.

You know what? I forgot that I sometimes do like to sew. Don’t tell anyone. It’ll be our secret.