And Then it was Tidy

A couple of weeks of sterling work has gone on and I have a studio I can bear to walk into.  It took a day to just file and sort all the paper and odds and ends that had been piled up.  Then it took another day to work through the rest of the accounts.  Dear Husband, who is a wizz with excel, sorted out the rudimentary spreadsheet that I had managed into something quite professional looking, so the accounts have been shipped off to the accountants.  The ironing board ws finally clear. 

I have cut the fabric off the loom and washed it, so it is now ready for me to lay out the pattern and cut it out.  This job can only be done on a day when I am feeling strong and confident as it is the scariest part of the whole project.  One slip of the scissors and all that weaving can be spoilt!

I've been getting my sewing mojo back by making up couple of tops using my favourite top pattern.  It's my equivalent of a T-shirt, but much more flattering for my figure and I've had a great time making quite a few versions of it.  I sew most on the sewing machine, but put the sleeves in and the side seams on the overlocker. 

That's where I came unstuck last week.  I just couldn't get the overlocker rethreaded and working properly.  So after a couple of hours squinting into the innards and getting more and more ropable, I phoned Sewing Machine World, which is where I purchased it from, and where I took a course last year.  Yes, I could come over that afternoon and they'd help!  What fantastic after sales service!  The machine was rethreaded with me watching very carefully, and then it was still running rough.  Needles were investigated, and sure enough they were quite burred, so they were changed and presto, a fully working overlocker.  I finished that top and sewed the next yesterday, but this morning with just the overlocking to do on the last top, I had to changed some of the thread colours.  Oh oh!  It stopped working properly, but this time the hour spent staring into the innards and rethreading and then changing the needles again resulted in it working!  Whoopee, I must have learned something.

You can see the appeal of this pattern.  The crossover fronts draw the eye, and the pleats on the sides make for a gentle folded fabric right over the trouble spot of the figure.

I enjoy wearing it much more than a plain t-shirt which does nothing for me!  And sewing the same pattern more than once is a good confidence builder for a returning sewer.