Yesterday I spent the day at my niece's house, helping her learn to use her new sewing machine.
Grandma bought Keri-Anne a lovely sewing machine as a birthday present, as she has wanted to make clothes for herself and the babies, for a long time.
I bought her a couple of excellent sewing books as well, so she was well equipped with information and tools, but not with experience! Sometimes you just can't learn something from a book - you have to have someone there to show you and help you make sense of it all.
So, we got out the books and sewing equipment, went to buy a piece of suitable fabric and settled down for a day's stitching.
Big Girl was at nursery, but Little Girl was supervising....
though it was a busy day at the office... lots to do! When she was tired of her job, Little Girl (who is, after all, only 4 months old) had a nice break, lying on her play mat and playing with her toys, then watching her favourite "Baby TV" channel for a little while, before having a snack and a hard-earned snooze.
We traced, prepared and cut out our pattern, then cut it out of the fabric. Then we got the sewing machine out of its box and set it up, learning the names of the various parts, checking tensions, stitch lengths, needle size etc. We wound a bobbin with white cotton and threaded up the machine. Then Keri-Anne stitched her First Seam!
The machine has a handy storage box, which slides on and off, doubling as a "flat bed" for straight seams, but allowing you to have a "free arm" setting on the machine as well. It's such a clever idea. All the bits and pieces - like bobbins, spare needles, screw-driver, stitch unpicker, spool holders etc - are held in the box and kept with the machine.
But you can still get the leg of those bloomers round the base of the machine, so you can stitch the hem and add elasticated thread along the bottom!
(I actually covet this sewing machine - it has more features than mine and is super-nice! It also weighs about half mine, which would make it much easier to lift onto my table/desk... Still, mine is a Family Heirloom, so I am happy to have it and I don't use it enough - currently at least - to give me an excuse to waste money on a new replacement.)
By the time Big Girl was home from nursery and I had to go home, we had got a long way. This picture shows the little bloomers before the elastic was stitched round the legs, or the casing was pinned, ready for the elastic at the waist. That was the situation when I went home. Keri-Anne had a good, clear set of instructions in her book, which she could follow to complete the bloomers during the evening.
And She Did!
