Well, I did it. I picked up my new sewing machine and you know what? It's awesome! Teresa, the store owner, greeted me and gave me a quick tutorial on how to load a bobbin and start sewing. She even offered me six spools of free thread and some fabric so I could hit the ground running.
With the addition of some rope and bungees, my laundry cart worked great as a sewing machine transport device. The cart made it possible to carry the machine home via public transit. The entire trip took me 2 hours, door-to-door.
By 1:15, I was unpacking the machine. First bit of good news: It's smaller than I thought and even with the hard cover on, it fits neatly underneath my desk (I live in a tiny city apartment, so this was a concern). Second bit of good news: The instruction manual is very clear and thorough. I followed the step-by-step instructions to thread the machine for use and within minutes, I was experimenting with my first stitches.
Teresa seemed convinced that I would learn the basics of the machine on my own and she was right. This is *not* a complicated machine. I grew bored of sewing scraps very quickly and sewed up a little yellow cube from some scrap linen and a tiny eye-pillow bag with another scrap.
This made me wonder if I could sew up the 'real thing'. So I sat down and examined the seams of my favourite large eye-pillow and created a pattern based on that design. I tore apart an old pillow case and used that fabric to sew up a prototype.
The biggest surprise is, it worked! And it didn't look half bad! I still have some work to do with sewing evenly, but that will come with practice.
I've already worked out that for each yard of fabric, I could make 7 eye-pillows. According to the internet, a yard of fabric costs anywhere from $2 to $7. Let's say I bought $7 fabric. The cotton inner pillow will likely be a lot less - let's say it's $1 per yard. The flax seeds and lavender are probably 50 cents per pillow. The cost of these pillows is less than $1.50 each.
That's just crazy! My friend R knew what she was talking about when she said that sewing stuff up yourself saves money! I'm just floored by how easy this machine is to use and how much fun I had creating my prototype. Why didn't I do this before?!
Next week: Visiting the fabric store.
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