It started out well enough. A new friend with a new home needed new curtains. Upon learning I could sew and, bless her, knowing my worklessness of the moment asked me to sew her curtains for a fair price. Excellent!
The material came in, measurements were taken, style and ideas reviewed. With a bolt of heavy material in the back of the little Scion my sewing machine that has been hither and yon since it’s purchase when #2 was a mere babe was retrieved from the storage unit.
This is where the mechanical difficulties begin. Somewhere between the last use at Lee’s house, it’s storage in the attic there, it’s storage in the under-stairs closet at the apartment in Pasadena and eventual resting place in my half/life storage unit in Spring – the machine has not one thing wrong, but a few things wrong. Accustomed to fixing it myself, this was beyond me. Delay #1.
Ah! but the gift of my sister’s sewing machine was a boon not to be dismissed even though her husband said it had recently been repaired and declared to be on it’s last rung! But . . . the cord is missing. Backup plan foiled. Delay #2.
Necessary family travel, personal work and etc. betwixt all this. Delay #3.
My good friend, Karen, used to drag her portable sewing machine to church for costume, drape and etc. making. Contacting her and requesting the loan proved fruitful. With a machine in hand and Room Mate #2 out of town with his dogs, I cleaned the floors and surfaces, cut the material to 118″ lengths and noticed toward the end of the bolt a flaw in the fabric. Two threads missed and skipped through the warp leaving loops of thread large enough to notice and break the smoothness of the jacquard weave. Nothing to do but pull out a tapestry needle (yes, there are different sorts of needles!) and tuck each errant thread to what would be the window side of the curtain. That done, it was time to sew.
After a day of fiddling with the loaned machine scraps to sew upon I became accustomed to it and began work on the curtains. Set up on the kitchen table I got one panel of six accomplished. But Room Mate #2 did not like the spread and mess there. So all got packed up and put away while guest were about and more family travel was accomplished. Delay #4.
Room Mate #2 hasno plans to be away for any length of time. Determined to finish and relegated to my own room, the bedside table has been employed and sewing machine set thereon. The setup works almost perfectly while a few storage crates hold my light, book and alarm clock. The corner of my bed now becomes the tool stash for all the things needed while working on the project.
Start sewing and the stitches start to fail! Settings were the same and the unit had been carefully stowed in my room. Time to remove the miss-stitches. The material’s tight jacquard weave along with a near perfect match of thread to it’s color required removing the stitch to be done with great care. Then repairing the errant machine took some time and thought. But eventually I got the right screws, tension, knobs turned to make a solid stitch without errors. I am glad. Otherwise, using the money made from these curtains to repair the loaned machine would have been necessary. Always return things in better form than you got them! Yes, I live by what I taught my daughters.
If all goes well, by tomorrow afternoon the curtains shall be finished and ready for the grommets. I am looking forward to completing this task. Oddly enough that it has gone on so long, I have enjoyed it immensely.
I remember my sister bemoaning once about sewing, “I so easily forget that only 10% is done on the machine, the rest is all handwork and patience!”
