Following the Title...Random Coming at You...

with some truly random sewing thoughts...

'Swhat happens when I go too long with out posting...I have a mishmash of things I'd like to talk about and try to cram them all into one post.  So...be ye warned.  Cramming ahead...

* My Sweet Babboo, The Princess and I all attended last night's performance of The Wiz.  Let me tell you, there are some mighty talented kids in the performing arts magnet programs...Dance, Choral Performance, Theater Performance and Tech Theater magnets all worked on this show.  It was just fun all the way through, with strong performances by multiple cast members.  I have ordered the show photo cd; I'm just going to wait to post the final poppy pictures from those...the poppies looked better on stage than I expected, and my camera would not do them justice.

*The quality of old sewing machines vs. new sewing machines was truly apparent in the costume shop.  My 30+ year old basic Kenmore, which has had one sudden meet up with pavement and still hasn't managed to get in to the shop for a check up,  was out sewing several new or nearly new machines. One lady threatened to carry it home with her...but as it weighs a TON, it was still sitting there when I went in to pack it up last night.  It is currently still  in the car; my plan is to take it in to the shop for that check up before I bring it home.

*My serger needs to get into the shop as well...for the first time since I bought the machine in 1989, I serged over a pin.  Or tried to, anyway; it came to a loud and ugly stop.  The pin was snagged in the nylon net on the underside of the petal to which I was attaching the lining; I didn't see it there.  It was rather scary for the next few minutes...I had only two more petals to do and I was afraid the machine was Done For.  The cutting was rather ragged for just a bit, then it seemed to adjust itself somewhat and I managed to get through the rest of the petals AND the ECC dress.  But...true confession time...it has YET to go in for any kind of service since I brought it; I kinda get panicky when I think about it being unavailable for a week or two.  However,  I'm afraid that's just going to have to move up the priority.  The knives (I've replaced the upper one once) are beginning to get a little dull anyway, and the hex nuts that hold the spool pins in have somehow fallen out and disappeared.  So, yeah.  That needs to go in to the shop ASAP too....

*Like everyone else (well, maybe mostly everyone else...) in the sewing blogsphere, I am enchanted by The Great British Sewing Bee (do a You Tube search if you have not stumbled across the links already...).  So nice to see people who genuinely love to create sewn garments working on real-life projects, even if those projects really aren't played out in a real-life time frame. The general consensus seems to be that the winner will be either Ann or Lauren... with the likely winner being Ann for her impeccable sewing skills honed over a lifetime, but Lauren possibly coming out on top for her risk taking and blossoming technical ability.  I have to say that Sandra is probably the contestant with whom I identify the most.  She makes mistakes; some of which she manages to work through with a modification and some of which she's just had to put on a bold face and own.  I have SO been there and done that!  She got points off for not following the pattern directions to a T; she straight up admitted to the hostess that  she knew she wasn't following the guidelines, but she didn't have time to learn to do what was requested.  That, she said in so many words, is part of sewing...sometimes you ignore the pattern guide and do what works for you.  Hurrah!  That didn't earn her points w/the judges (although they have tut-tutted over what they feel is her inclination to play it safe...), but it earned her points with me.  She talks of sewing multiples of a garment for her three daughters as they were growing up... 'You're all excited about sewing the first one, and the second one is not too bad, but by the third one you just want to get it done!'  I totally get that, too. ;-)