Saturday, September 12, 2009

sewing machine fix and looking for ribbons

I took the sewing machine apart again after I got home, pulled out the manual - and put it back together correctly. Before I cleaned it the machine was collecting 'structural' lint and dirt in the carriage under the bobbin. That is a hard piece to get back in right after it is out. I think the machine wasn't working after that because I had the bobbin carriage not quite lined up with the spring that makes it work - and the needle plate was not screwed down entirely, which both led to too much free motion in the bobbin, which made the threads not lock together with the right timing. After fixing all that, it still didn't quite work right - so I took out a new needle from an unopened package and oddly, that fixed the rest of the problem.

I completed another pair of shorts for Esme - a nice cream colored cotton that had once been a fancy bedskirt trimmed with lace, but had ended up in pieces in someone's scrap pile at the yard sale finds. As I tried it on Esme she said 'oooh!' as if it felt really cool. I used a simple colored thread around the bottom of the legs in a decorative stitch - and it looks pretty on the plain cotton.

Doing simple decoration on the pretty cloth makes me want to find some interesting grosgrain ribbons and decorative embroidered ribbons. So often I resort to a pretty print or combination of two fabrics, and I'd like to try a few more 'elegant' things.

I bought some eyelet a few weeks ago I've yet to use. I'll have to look at the ribbon in the next few days to get some ideas. Mountain of the Dragon on Etsy has quite a few pretty embroidered ribbons and this ribbon is close to what I have in mind. This shop has some beautiful ribbons, including this green daisy ribbon.

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