She's a finicky machine, that sometimes will work fine, but usually has to be goaded along, and every now and then will just break the thread and quit. I think she got so cranky from being locked away in a closet for decades without use. She's wound up quite tight, and it's a tug of war with the tension dial to pull the thread out. But we've come to an understanding. Of course I can't do anything with delicate fabrics, as she would shred them, but she does okay otherwise. And together we've made a few things.
The tally so far:
Victories - 3
Casualties - 5
My sister was kind enough to let me make the baptism outfit for her first son, Layne. I realize it was quite a daunting task for my very first project, but with the help of my amazingly skilled mother-in-law, that outfit turned out ok, and my sister was kind enough to even use it, though the bottom snaps kept coming undone. (Oh, and Layne spit up all over it right before they took him to the front of the sanctuary for the actual baptism. Oh, babies...) But I still claim that one as a success.
My other successes were an apron and two pillows for the den. Just a simple apron from a pattern, and rectangular, knife-edge pillows. I really can't appreciate simplicity more than I did when I finished those projects and they actually looked good.
And those other projects have all been clothes. Clothes are my bane. That is the one thing I really want to be good at, and the hardest. Fitting curves and lengths and widths...a 3D world is a difficult place to work in. But with Ol' Bessy, I've got some good muscle -- that is, when she's cooperating.
