I’m Baaaack! – Update from Melissa

Well, after an extended absence from the blog, I am back to report on my sewing misadventures over the past weeks.  It is well documented that the other sewers have been doing some amazing work over the past weeks.  I have not matched their efficiency, but I have managed to complete a couple of major projects of my own, as well. 

I embarked on a journey into the costuming world in preparation for my sister’s Halloween Wedding Ball.  Charlotte (4) was Alice in Wonderland, and Juliette (3) was a Queen Bee.  For Alice in Wonderland, I used a regular girls’ dress pattern and used a sparkly overskirt.  I constructed the apron without a pattern, which was only successful after two attempts.  For the Queen Bee, I used a ballet costume pattern and modified the princess criss-cross ribbon into wide ribbon bee stripes.  I now have linings, zippers, sheer and netting overskirts, slippery taffeta and lots of gathering in my realm of sewing experience. 

As a side note:  I would also like to comment on the high likelihood that I will run out of bobbin thread in the last step of every project I attempt!  Seriously, I have a perfect record for this.  I think bobbins need to be about one skirt hem longer! 

Now, while I have a lot to share, as I spread these projects out over several weeks, I think my worst day in the trenches is the one I’ll detail here…

To Hell and Back

It is Saturday, October 25.  A cool, cloudy Fall morning.  A perfect day to stay inside and sew.  By this time, I was feeling pretty good about my status on the costumes for the wedding.  I had the Alice dress completed.  And I had gotten the bodice and sleeves completed on the Queen Bee costume during the week.

My agenda was set for the morning:  construct the skirt (with netting overskirt), attach to the bodice and install the zipper.  This would be a breeze, because I had already done the same steps on the Alice dress. The plan was to be done by 11:00am. 

I sewed the side and back seams into the yellow taffeta underskirt with no problem, then did the same on layer one of the black netting overskirt.  It was going great.  I began the same process on the third and final layer of netting.  CLUNK!!

My needle hit one of the rhinestones on her skirt.  The machine haulted.  I couldn’t reverse or manually move the needle up or down!!  When I pressed the pedal, the machine motor just gave a tired hum, but nothing was moving.  Oh no!!  Had I broken my machine in the final steps of the final costume on the final weekend before the wedding? 

The needle was stuck in the down position, in the middle of the netting seam.  I would have to ruin the skirt to cut it off of the machine, if I could not move the needle.  My husband Monty tried to assist me with flashlights, screwdrivers, pliers, I called my mom.  I texted my fellow sewers.  No one was sure what the problem might be. 

In a mad rush, I gathered all of the pieces I had removed from my machine into the nearest plastic bag.  I hauled these and my machine out to the car, with the netting skirt still stuck to the needle, trailing behind me in the breeze.  I headed to the nearest sewing machine store. 

I burst into the door, my dying machine in my arms.  “Is there anyone here who can look at sewing machines?  Immediately,”  I asked. 

“What’s wrong with it?”  the lady asked.  (Probably wondering a little what might be wrong with me, too.)

I gave her a breathless synopsis of my morning.  She called up another woman, who calmly plugged in my machine, and began investigating.  She quickly determined that the rhinestone collision had bent the needle and knocked a plate from feed-dog out of place.  With a quick removal and reinstallation of some parts and a new needle, she had it running fine again. In those  five minutes my sanity was restored, and  I even got a quick lesson in machine cleaning and maintenance. 

Crisis Averted:  Alice and The Bee were big hits at the wedding.

---