I've not had nary a one. Yet I still attempt feats of greatness (read here: trying to sew a straight line on a piece of fabric) on my sewing machine.
Two years ago, I had it in my head that I would pass along all my 'sewing knowledge' to my dear 5 year old daughter and we would work on a project together. We got as far as picking out the fabric together. I didn't even have a pattern for this skirt. Since I had no clue what I was doing, I couldn't explain a thing to her or answer her questions, she quickly left the room and left me with a project I wanted to give up on. Yet I turned out a skirt somehow and miraculously it didn't fall apart. It is the most wonky, unconventionally sewn piece of clothing you will ever see. But she loves it, thinks her mom can sew and wears it all the time. So ultimately, it was worth the intense trial and hardship I lived through.
Enter project number two. Our next door neighbor built an American Girl doll bed for Chloe. She immediately dressed it up with some pillow cases. Then we sat down and put our heads together and came up with a really awesome idea of how it could look. Only problem, it would involve me and the sewing machine. Have you ever seen my sewing machine?
It is of the 1960's variety, a lovely shade of avacado green that would have matched all your modern household appliances of the day. It is also a very, heavy metal. Which means it is so heavy I can barely lift it to put it on the table. It sounds like a typewriter when it is working. My children don't even know what a typewriter is. My grandmother gave it to me.
It also comes equipped with this stylish little foot pedal. I feel like I'm in the driver's seat of a very old race car. The hinge needs oiling or it squeaks.
But thankfully, it also comes with this handy users manual that I have to read every single time I pull out the machine. Apparently, I can never remember how to thread the needle or wind the bobbin. You'd think after multiple readings it would just sink in. But no, I just can't seem to grasp the rocket science behind the complexity of this age old machine.
But thankfully, they have very explicitly hand drawn instructions, detailing the steps I'm to go through. If it wasn't for that detail, I doubt I would have been able to achieve this feat:
The American Girl bed. A project that probably would have taken anyone else 2 hours, took me two whole days - must have been all that reading I had to do.
