Holiday. Day 1.

And I had forgotten how crappy day time telly is!

So I'm on holidays. And I wake up .... early. The usual time I wake. *sigh* Why do I do that?

Bright and early I decide I'm going to finish the skirt I started cutting out yesterday. Sis1 sent me some fabric and a very, very basic skirt pattern. How difficult could it be?

WELL!

The fabric was the wrong size so I had to lay the pieces out in a way that was completely different to their suggestions. No problem. Now, if I can just find the shears....

Nope. No shears. What? How come? Why would the person I inherited the sewing stuff from, who collected so much by way of sewing equipment, have NO SHEARS? Teen! Have you seen any? Nope!

Dang. I had to resort to pinking shears. What a rough cut out job.

I hung the pieces on the back of the chair ready for today.

Bright and early this morning, I dug the overlocker out of the cupboard and set it up. I haven't used it for SUCH a long time. It's all threaded and ready to go. Now if only I could remember how to drop the cutting blade....

So, one piece done; I overlock the edges before I start stitching it together. It's easier than trying to do it after you've done the seams. Halfway around the second piece and ...... suddenly there is no overlocking. What? It's a 4 thread overlocker running on 3 threads. Dammit! And it looks like a thread is caught under the needle plate. Heck. How do I fix that? AND WHY ISN'T MY INSTRUCTION BOOK IN THE BAG WITH THE OTHERS STUFF? Frantic searching going on. Whew. There it is. Oh, that's how you drop the blade.....

After much playing around, I can see that the thread is coming unhooked from the bottom loop. It stitches for a little while then the thread slips. I can't fix that. I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way. I drag out the sewing machine.

I finish the edges. For what they're worth. The pieces are kinda cut badly, due to having to use the pinking shears. Of course, then I realise that I've not marked the pieces with the chalk for the stitch to, leave a gap here, match this bit etc. Oops! When it comes time to put the front and the back together, wow. They don't match - the front is bigger than the back. Ah well. It's gathered so that will be hidden. There. Seams are done, pieces are joined and it's time to do the casing for the elastic waist.

Halfway round ..... and the thread has stopped stitching. The bobbin is empty!

And now I can't remember how to wind the bobbin. The lady had heaps and heaps of prewound bobbins so I haven't really had to do this before. I tried to do it the way I used to on my similar machine. But I can't loosen the wheel. It won't work. Now, where is the instruction booklet?? Oh no! I CAN'T FIND IT! WHERE IS IT?! It's not in the box with the rest of the stuff. It's not in the cupboard. Teen hasn't seen it either. *sigh* I'll have to see if I can Google it. And I can't find a solution. Eventually MOTH figured it out for me.

I finshed the dress. It took 4 hours. For a simple straightforward skirt. Man!

And then I had to trot off into the city to the library. In my enthusiasm, I'd grabbed a book on a fast back loan. That means I can only keep it for 7 days instead of 28. AND it has to be returned to the library from which it's borrowed. Instead of dropped off at any library branch. *sighs. kicks self for planning that well* Normally that wouldn't be a problem. But I'm on HOLIDAYS this week and don't need to go near that library at all.

So, two and a half hour round trip later, I'm home. Hot, sweaty but home.

I'm knackered. Hope I actually get to REST this holiday!