I’m so enamoured with my new tiny red sewing machine that I decided to use my time at the moorings crafty night on Monday to sew up a travelling case for it so I didn’t have to lug the box and styrofoam everywhere. There’s something almost perverse in using a sewing machine to create its own case, though. It just feels a bit cannibalistic somehow…
Anyway, I drew up some plans based on its measurements, and did a few calculations:
And then when I got to my neighbour’s boat I plugged it in, chopped up some spare red corduroy, and had a nice carrying case for it by the end of the evening (in amongst the traditional crisp and cake eating, of course).
I wasn’t really being fancy here, but just sewed by the seat of my pants – it’s not lined or anything, and I did plan to have some interior pockets for the foot pedal and power brick, but I got to talking and missed the point where I should’ve inserted them. Ah well, I’ll just make some drawstring bags for them to keep their cables contained.
The red corduroy for the bag was actually leftover from a pair of cords I quickly bashed out as an easy, wearable project after the intellectual construction of the silk birthday dress. We were going to do a photoshoot in the neighbour’s wheelhouse for something different, but the combination of low lighting and high tide made for really blurry shots. So here’s a taster, and you’ll get to see more next week.
I’m also now midway through another pair of jeans, this time from the January 2009 KnipMode, with really weird interesting seam lines, and next up after that is a jeanskirt from the March 2009 KnipMode, since I can just carry on with the same thread colours and needles, and use up the very last scrap of my heavyweight Levis denim.
I’m now realising that a second sewing machine actually comes in pretty handy for denim sewing, since I can have my sturdy vintage machine sewing navy thread for the seams, and have the mini machine on topstitching duty. Though I did notice another limitation of the JL Mini after a few seams – the pedal has no speed control, it’s just on/off! If you thought topstitching was nerve-wracking before, you should try it with no brakes! Heehee!
Oh, and since I promised you some action photos of the green silk birthday dress, here’s a few from Saturday’s party. And after-party!
(Yes, that is a jeroboam bottle of wine! And as promised, the abdominal swelling was only temporary, thank god!)
I had an absolutely brilliant birthday party and was truly touched and amazed by the generosity and tenacity of everyone who came despite the last-minute Jubilee Line closure. I’ve got the best friends ever!