“I’ll do that when I have time” – Day 3 project

Before

It’s 9.48 am. Having unpacked my sewing machine from its corner in the cupboard of doom and pulled out my two bags of “sewing stuff”, I might as well be looking at a jet engine. I have no recollection of what to do, the (at a guess) nine years since I last used this (indeed, any) sewing machine, I have not retained any sewing knowledge. The only thing I do recall, hence the “Repair it if possible” comment, is that the last time I tried to use it, it was stuck and wouldn’t work.

I would say that, overall, I am neither optimistic nor particularly enthusiastic about this project. But my expectations are low and if I could even just get it working again, I would feel a sense of (not necessarily deserved) achievement for a day’s work.

After

It’s 6.05 pm, but that is misleading as I had succeeded with this project before lunch. Yes, really, and, yes, I am actually rather embarrassed by the ease with which I completed this project.

I established that the reason I thought the sewing machine was broken and needed repairing was because last time I used it I thought I knew what I was doing when it came to threading things and preparing the machine for use. I didn’t. Had I read the instructions from the start again, as I did today, all would have been fine.

There were some tense moments, though far fewer profanities and meltdowns than I had expected. I found the instructions weren’t quite basic enough, assuming the user of the sewing machine had some knowledge of (A) a sewing machine and (B) sewing terminology. That was where the expletives came in. But I got through each phase of the process with a maximum of maybe six attempts. For me, that is a massive achievement.

The machine is now ready to use again. I “repaired” it, ie went through the instruction manual, then chopped up two old tea towels and, would you believe it, made a tote bag. The bag is s***, the stitching can only be excused if I can convince someone that haphazard, wonky stitching is a new trend and I have understood now why handles are not attached as near to the end of the bag’s opening as mine are. But, hey, I made a bag.

A very unexpected outcome of today’s project is that I kind of enjoyed sewing, so much so that I went through my bags of material and patterns and realise I have everything I need to actually make myself a pair of casual trousers and a top. That will be another at least two days taken up over coronavirus isolation.

I also realised that I need a better table than a half broken foldaway table, so for a clothes-making day I may need to take some fairly drastic furniture arrangement action.

For project 4, I feel ready to write some letters and have a low-key technology and machine day.