!$%^#$^$%&^ Sewing and Cursing

I pulled out my Bernina 910.  I have had the machine since 1987.  I had to think on that.  But I remember that I made maternity jumpers on it, and 1987 put me squarely with being pregnant with my first child.  I think that I bought the machine after I saw the price of women's professional maternity wear.  You don't want to sink alot of money into maternity clothes.

So in that year I bought the 910 and a serger. I am a self taught sewer.  I still remember my Mom futzing around with her sewing machine.  So when my tension rises because the tension in the machine is screwed up, I remember my Mom sewing and cursing.  Having children and delving into any of the domestic arts (cooking, sewing) is a great way to build empathy with your Mom.  Regrettably, my mother died when my daughter was just 18 months.  So, I never really had the chance to tell my Mom how much I now "understood." 

While my first round of sewing I remembered my Mom.  My most recent round of sewing made me remember my first round of sewing.  Sewing and cursing....truly a natural pairing.  In the interim between first round and now, I had a dog leash/collar round. Dogs coming out of the shelter had unsafe (ill-fitting or poorly made) collars and leads--unsafe as in cheap. If you've ever had a dog that you don't know, doesn't know you and has possessed an unfamiliar name to him or her for less than a month get away from you, you will do it once and ensure that never happens again. 

I never had a successful escapee. Running after a dog after a couple of cups of coffee is hard on the lungs and the bladder. So after a couple of those sheer terror moments, I vowed never again. I sourced high quality webbing that would not chaffe the handler or the dog and high quailty hardware that was strong and secure.  I ensure that the lead could clip onto the collar and that the lead could thread through the shank so that a slip collar safety resulted.  No dogs backing out of their collars or their collars breaking without a backup.  Once my machine was set up, these leads were easy to make.  I don't do my volunteer work anymore, and I have a goodly amount of this stuff on hand.  I need to make more leads and donate to shelters. 

We are ever-utilitarian here. I had accumulated a good deal of birdseed bags (made from the strong plastic).  I headed to You Tube to find out what folks were doing with them.  I decided that I was going to make some totes.  Setting up tension to sew through those bags was no fun.  I still did not get it right.  While the top looked fine, the bottom was still a mess.  But I persevered and made myself some handy bags (and used my webbing for the handles). 

Material such as plastic is good fodder for sewing and cursing.  At least my machine was out and used.  I made a few repairs to clothes (without cursing) then my needle lift broke.  I took my machine in for its very first servicing after 32ish years.

With the Bernina if full fighting form, I thought that it was time to try my hand at a baby quilt.


Cutting, sewing and @#%$%^@#$%&%#&#*.  I'll write more on that in another post.


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