Session 4 of my Sewing Class

I wanted to tie loose ends and say a few words about my last sewing session, even if, in some ways, the class itself ended on a somewhat anti-climatic note. And that's just fine. It's just a sewing class, after all.

But, today I received good news...and so now I feel it's time to tie..oh, wait...maybe a more a propos term would be sew together all the loose ends with this post.

For my last class, I decided to show up with Kara's borrowed sewing machine. She had offered it to me a couple weeks prior since she hadn't used it yet after 8 years of owning it, and couldn't foresee needing it in the next several months. To be honest, I was a bit nervous about using it, especially after Grandma's machine had its last go under my watch. I also knew it might need to be looked at since it had been stored in the garage and there surely would be a build up of dust and 'gunk' in it after all those years. So I didn't dare work on it from home and it was only after the instructor assured me it was safe to 'test' it that I finally threaded it. Under her supervision, I decided to try out the straight stitch on a scrap of fabric. Right away, I noticed something was wrong. The motor sounded fine and responded to my gentle push on the pedal...and the thread was being fed correctly, but the fabric wouldn't budge. All I could accomplish was a bunched up mess of thread. Oh, great! Now what??

It didn't take us long to figure out that the feed dogs--those grooves that go back and forth and make the fabric move forward-- were floating about doing pretty much nothing. I needed to get Kara's machine serviced and so I reluctantly turned it in to the technician. That was a rather unpleasant dejavu for me! I knew my friend wouldn't want me to spend anything on it, but I really, REALLY wanted this machine to be okay. It had to be! It was practically new, right?

Well, with that weighing on me, I proceeded to make a Tidy Tray, the project of the day, on a different machine. I tried to connect with the other gals in the class as best I could, considering this was our last class and thus my last chance to make inroads. As we sewed, we talked about such topics as garage saling, the store SCRAP, Goodwill runs, and places to go to get great deals on fabric. It was fun to see that, although there were stark differences between us-- two girls had body piercings and tattoos all over while two others' demeanor and fabric choices screamed 'simplicity'--- we could carry a conversation that was engaging for all involved.

But then it was all over too soon. Our project for the week wasn't very extensive so that those who didn't have any drama with their machines (ha!) were able to finish early. Once done, they simply wished the rest of us luck and left. I did manage to exchange phone numbers and email addresses with one gal who'd been especially friendly.

As for Kara's machine, I did not get to find out until today what was to be its fate. I called the store after a week of waiting, thinking that they might have written my phone number down incorrectly and did not have a way to get a hold of me. They quickly assured me that they had the correct phone number and would call me when they'd finally take a look at Kara's machine.

They finally did...and it turns out they were able to fix it for a very minimal charge. What a relief! I'll be getting it back tomorrow and will finally be able to start a couple of projects!!
So thankful....