Running Out Of...

bobbin thread, serger know-how, patience? This weekend I decided I would like to do a little sewing. I had just gotten a new plate for my Elna serger and after some practice I figured this was a good time to try it out. I had a dolman sleeved dress pattern picked out for my mother-in-law but the more I looked at my selection of fabric and views I decided to try it out first as a dress for myself. I've done this before and it can be a good way to figure out if it's going to fit and where to make the alterations. At the Fiber Arts garage sale last spring I came home with several patterns with Mary in mind so here's the one I chose:

Remember Stretch & Sew?

Very little fitting, nice and comfy, but she wouldn't want to wiggle down into it: maybe the view with the front opening would be better. I chose the v-neck and got cutting and sewing. My first seams were with the serger but maybe I should change the thread from black to navy? Tying on new spools isn't too much of a problem until I decided the first one wasn't as nice a quality and color as the rest so I changed it out so they were all Maxi-Lock. Big mistake. I spent the next hour threading and re-threading until I could finally get it right. An hour. All for navy thread. But it finally worked and I was going to town. As it was, I needed to sew parts of it on a regular sewing machine and since I had recently cleaned off the desk with my Viking 1100, I started sewing with it. Bobbin ran out. Only had purple in it so no problem anyway. I put in a medium blue thread. Thread broke. One more seam and thread ran out. So I decided I needed to fill a whole bobbin with navy thread and you guessed it, my thread from the spool ran out. I finally got down to the very last part, sewing a casing at the waist, and yes, by now the bobbin thread ran out AGAIN. These are things that can build patience.

Here's the dress sorta finished, without hem:

Dolman dress unadorned

Kinda plain but I plan on adding a navy belt I already own but this dress is begging for a scarf:

Navy with light pink?

Navy with shades of purple?

I think I like the more colorful scarf best but I have choices. It's pretty cold here in Minnesota so this might have to wait until March when it's not below freezing but I'm pretty happy with it. There are pockets in the side seams and the neckline was easy. I learned a few lessons on how to do this right so my next one can be for spring for Mary:

Center view with high neck and spring colors

I'm not sure about the pale yellow for the top but it sure is cheerful. She does get to vote on these things but sometimes she says "If you think so that's okay by me." Let's hope my judgement is working on that day.

So that was my big project for the weekend along with getting a few more sewing machines photographed and posted for sale. With it being the Super Bowl Sunday I hoped there would be football widows who were anxious to try out a new sewing machine but not one of mine so  I have to sit tight. I am patient. I got my patience from sewing with a serger.