I’m making a skirt out of old tshirts.
“It’ll be so cute!” I said.
“If it turns out well I can make one for Creativity!” I said.
“It’ll be easy! Just a few layers of ruffles and I’m done!” I said.
And then my sewing machine started barfing about every 6 inches.
I’m not even exaggerating! At least, not much. I guess sewing machines can’t *really* barf, but they can sure try.
For those of you who don’t sew, or can’t imagine why restarting every 5 inches would be a problem, picture yourself trying to sprint a 10 yard dash. No sweat, right? 10 yards is hardly anything!
Well, for people who like to run it might not be. It would probably do me in. But I figure if you really can’t understand what a massive annoyance it would be to restart sewing every 4 inches, you might be one of those outdoorsy, running sorts of people, so this analogy might work for you.
Anyway. You’re trying to sprint 10 yards… with your shoelaces tied together.
Mm-hm. Now tell me how much fun you’re having? How long will that little 10 yard sprint take you?
Yeah. That’s me. Cursing, threatening, pleading, begging, whining, vowing never ever ever to sew anything with gathers. Ever. Again.
Then vowing never to sew anything ever again!
Giving Mr. Smith irrational instructions that he probably won’t remember – though it might not be a bad idea.
“John, if I ever say something like, ‘Oh, I know! I’ll make _______!’ PLEASE, just order if off etsy, ebay, amazon, wherever, and hang the cost. Then come back the next day and say, “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I just couldn’t wait to see that fantastic idea in person so I went ahead and bought it. Hope you don’t mind. It’ll be here the day after tomorrow.
“Make it look like you are confident I could actually follow through with said idea. You just – y’know- got excited and clicked buy on accident. Or something. That would work, too.”
Because the punchline is, I am never sewing anything ever again!
That’s what I think while I’m sewing, at any rate. Then I finish yet another row on this [exercise in patience] skirt, and it actually turns out like I’m envisioning, and I get irrationally happy. “Look! It’s working! I’m a genius! $52 on etsy? HA! I love this!!!”
No. Hate it.
No, love it.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
And then I think to myself — Hm. There is in this tirade a likeness to parenting sometimes. With certain stages. (Theirs or mine, I’m not sure.)
In the trenches I think, “What am I doing?!” or the forbidden “I just can’t do this. Can’t can’t can’t!” or the honest, “Okay, I *can* do this, I just really really want to be doing something else right now.”
Or any some such phrase when the going gets tough.
Then there’s a break in the fog for a moment or two, and I can see that they are turning out to be pretty decent people. Oh, look! They can share! They do look out for others! The can speak to adults without whining!
It’s a miracle!
And, actually, it really is.
Now.
Off to go finish that skirt…
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice. I can’t wait to see it in all its finished glory!
oh, i had that EXACT same problem with a skirt i made my little girl a few weeks ago. Ok, not exactly the same. Everything was going fine until i tried to sew the skirt to the elastic waistband, stretching the waistband as i sewed so that it would gather itself. Ha ha ha ha! That totally screwed up my machine! I only got like 2 inches around the waistband and decided to sew the rest by hand, which took less time than the previous 5 attempts at the machine, only to have the thread sucked under into the bobbin area again, and again, and again. I was pretty unhappy. But the skirt got finished (by hand), and a few weeks later i changed the needle, and it got better. Then the needle broke, i put a new one in, and THAT one broke again because i didn’t put it in quite right. But THEN i finally got a new right-sized needle in, and the machine worked well enough to sew an adult skirt (wiith gathers, though not nearly as many as yours.) I’m not brave enough to make anything else right now. (Besides, who has the time when i’m writing novel-length comments on your blog). Anyhow, good luck. Maybe time to change the needle or clean the machine? http://www.makeit-loveit.com/ recently gave a tutorial on cleaning a machine, which i’ll undertake before my next project. i hope. good luck! love ya!!
My project is resurrecting an unhappy chainsaw, rather than making a skirt… but I think I know what you mean 🙂
Ha ha!!! Love it. – I so know what you mean!
That has happened to me too when I’ve been trying to sew t-shirt fabric. Then I learned that I was supposed to use a ball point needle – who knew – I thought ball points were only for pens! Anyway, I got the needles, but I haven’t had time to try them yet. By the way, you guys are doing a great job raising your children! 🙂
I’m looking forward to seeing pictures! I like to run but I feel your pain. 😉 I had some quilting late last year that kept jamming up my machine. I’m not sure I figured out exactly what the problem was… I just ended up having the problem, rethreading, and then it would work for awhile and then jam up again. Annoying! Frustrating! Makes you want to throw your sewing across the room! So I hear ya.
Try it on a zigzag stitch. The trouble I find is the stretchy material and the sewing machine don’t like each other. Zigzag can handle the stretch much better.
I guess it is like having children. It is hard and at some point you say never, ever, ever, again. And then voila here comes the next one and you love him or her as much as the others 🙂