Sewing 101

I had not used a sewing machine since high school, but I was determined that it was a hobby that I wanted to try again. So for my birthday this year, I asked for a sewing machine. Because my dad never does anything simply, he got me the Cadillac of sewing machines: a Singer Fashion Mate 7256

It is all computerized and fancy! Look at all those stitches it can do! The machine I learned on I think had an option for button holes and that was all.

These are so cool! Except for 32. 32 says to me "I am a terrible seamstress". 


So I popped in the DVD it came with, Ready, Set, Sew, and watched two minutes before I realized I hated this DVD and would rather read the manual. So I pulled it out and got to work figuring out how to thread my bobbin. Here are the instructions:

Oh, is that all?

So after developing a few new wrinkles on my forehead from confusion, I figured out what this was trying to say and I got my bobbin ready to wind! Look at it filling up there!

With my bobbin ready to go, I had to make sure I installed it correctly. I remembered from sewing class that you had to be very careful with the direction you install it in, or it will mess up your sewing.

Bobbin locked and loaded

Next step was threading the needle properly. It follows similar direction to winding the bobbin, as it has to pass through about 15 checkpoints. I am not entirely sure of the reason, but I think it has to do with tension and keeping the amateurs from learning to sew.

READY, SET, SEW!

Finally, about 30 minutes of work, I was ready to try sewing. I wanted to do some test lines so I grabbed some scrap material and got to work. This point is actually very easy- you just lower the foot to pin the fabric on the machine, press the foot and let 'er fly! 

This machine was amazing. I remember in highschool we practiced straight lines over and over, but this machine did all the work and it was so easy to sew straight:

Not bad, eh? I even practiced my turning!


So then I had some fun and tried some specialty stitches. See if you can match them to the picture of all the stitches.

Anywho, I had way to much fun, but soon it was time to actually try sewing something- and I will show you that tomorrow! All in all, I am very happy with my sewing machine! It runs great and made sewing the easiest part of making something!