Saturday, December 11, 2010

I'm done!

I'm all done. Woohoo!!!

What a day. I woke up bright and early and immediately remembered that when I put my sewing things by the door, I'd forgotten my shirt! Grabbed that first thing, then went off to school. I got there around 8:30 and sewed like mad until 12:20 when I finished the shirt. I ran down 3 flights of stairs for a sandwich, then back up and scarfed it down before going back to practice for the sewing test.

Sewing machine adventure #1
My sewing machine had been acting up all morning. It would randomly skip stitches, and would not catch any at all when backstitching. I managed to make it through my top but realized that I could NOT do my sewing test on that machine.

It is almost the end of the semester so all of the students in other classes have a lot of projects to work on. My teacher doesn't mind if they work during our class, as long as they are quiet and don't use the machines that we need. She had them leave during the test, but said they could leave their things.

There are 3 different models of sewing machines. The REALLY old ones are at the back of the class, the sort of old ones are in the middle, and the best and newest are at the front. My machine is in the front. Unfortunately, all of the best machines were taken. A few by people not in my class. >:(

Sewing machine #2
So I sat down at a machine that is sort of old. There's no speed control, no computer to make the needle stop down every time (very helpful when trying to pivot in place), and it did not automatically cut the thread. I very quickly realized that I could not do my test using a machine that I had zero experience with.

Sewing machine #3
I decided to move up to one of the newer ones and had to move aside the stuff of whoever was NOT in my class that had been using that machine. I felt bad about touching their things but hey, I don't come in during their class and use their machine. I paid to take this class so during my class time, I need proper equipment and they are not in my class and do not have the right to be there and prevent me from using the machine. Anyways...

This machine was the same model as mine, but I couldn't figure out some things. The speed control felt different, the needle would not stop in the down position (my machine stopped with the needle down every time I stopped sewing, until I cut the thread.) and the knee lever for raising the presser foot was about a foot away from my knee! I ended up having to walk it (turn the dial on the side by hand) the whole time because I couldn't control the speed or where the needle would end up. Very frustrating but I got it done and got 10/10 on it!

This is what we had to sew:




Back of skirt


Shirt front. (The white bits is from the camera flash shining off the hardwood through the shirt)

Darts in front

Keyhole closure in back (still needs the closure but didn't count against my mark).

Side slits


The shirt is a bit see-through so it will need an undershirt. I may try to take the sides in a bit, it has no shaping there so it looks "like a potato sack" as my husband says.

I won't know what score I got on my written test until after Christmas when they post grades online but I added up the rest of my scores. I also got 5 bonus marks for having my binder of samples neat and organized. So my total score is between 102 and 103% (depending how I did on the written test.) Not bad eh? Ultimately, I didn't do it for the mark, I did it to learn how to sew better, but the grade feels good too. :o)

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