internet gods smile on the stupid

i am making my christmas prezzies this year. mainly because i have no money.
i thought it would be fun. a challenge. it has caused nothing but stress.

my carefully thought out measurements resulted in a product that was far too small, requiring a border to be added. since it was reversable, that required two borders. since i had cut out enough for two at one time, that required 4 borders. they ended up looking ten times cuter that they would have, but added ten times more work. and took up more fabric that i had originally allocated. note to self, when in doubt, add a contrasting border.

next, because i was sewing something in a denim weight fabric for my brother, the machine was also rather stressed (although i wasn't particularly, the fabric was awesome for a curved hem!). when i started on the next project, the needle promptly broke, having had enough of the heavy fabric. i replaced the needle and continued on my merry way.

then the real trouble started.

the thread started going loose at the front and getting tangled up in itself and actually broke numerous times. i adjusted the tension. no difference. i changed the fabric i was sewing. i rethreaded the machine 5 times. i rethreaded the bobbin. nothing. by this time the machine was also skipping stitches. i thought, that's it, the machine is dead! no more sewing and half finished projects all over the place! argh!

then, i went on the internet and typed in "sewing machine skipping stitches". the first thing that came up was a discussion forum where a girl said "my needle broke and i replaced it and now it is skipping stitches!" the internet gods are smiling on me today!

the reply was, "did you put the needle in the right way round? the flat part is supposed to go at the back."

oh.

i thought that looked funny.

gimme a break, i have only broken one other needle in my time, and that was in my thumb, so someone else dealt with replacing it.

so, now i am sewing away at top speed, finishing things remarkably quickly. the amount i still have left to do is stressing me out a bit. but weirdly, somehow it is still fun.