Tuesday 2 September 2014

Sew and Sew

DH is away at the moment, which is partly why I wanted to get the machine now.   Whil I had a bit of peace and quiet to think about it all.

I eventually packed the machine, and started by reading the manual.

I set it up, without the foot press, and tried it out withrout any coton or bobbin.  I know that probably seems a bit bizarre, but I wanted to see how it was going to be, would it be slow, too fast. Could I control it?  It was very easy.

Relieved, I went on.

The instructions on winding the bobbin were very easy to understand.  Success.

The instructions on threading the machine were OK to start with, helped by the fact that I had a vague idea of it, and the machine itslef has numbers on it to tell me where to go next.  It was OK until I got to the needle area, and then I just couldn't make sense of the pictures.

The first Youtube video wasn't very helpful.  The lady showed very clearly all the bits I already knew, but then didn't show in detail the bit I was stuck on.

The second Youtube video was more helpful, and I the lady explained that I needed to look at the underside of the machine.   Aha! Got it.    For the next bit, I had to watch the video twice, and then I got that.  I expect I'll be a bit better next time.

Now I needed to thread the needle.  I used the needle threader.  It took me several goes, but I got there in the end.   And then I followed the manual to pick up the bobbin thing.  Success.

I got some old teatowels from the utility room.  I sewed a bit, trying out different stitches.  I worked out that the letters refer to the type of  foot. Good start.

I thought about my bunting ideas, and the next thing I did was try sewing some paper into the folded edge of a tea towel.  To my surprise and delight, it worked!  Ha!

I then got a lighter tea towel so I could actually see the stitching, and tried them all - well, all those that did not require a foot change.  I tried the autolock feature, which is where the machine does a backwards and forwards set of sitches (so you don't have to do it manually).  

I really love it.

It's so easy to use.  

Well, it's so easy to use when I'm just sewing without actually trying to make anything.

I'm likely to be out tomorrow, otherwise I'd go and get some binding so I could try making the first of my bunting projects,  paper bunting.

I wish I'd done this years ago.


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