Today I’m grateful that we own a sewing machine, even though it’s the most frustrating piece of equipment in our home.  Last night I was reminded why we only sew once a year.

We decided to make hotpads for the upcoming holiday season.  What a great teacher gift, tied together with a wooden spoon and nice card.  How hard could it be to sew four straight seams?  After a lot of complicated math, we headed to the fabric store and picked out some designs.

The cutting phase was easy, so I felt optimistic that we’d finally found a simple sewing project.  But, as always, once the actual *sewing* started, things unraveled quickly.  Pun intended.

Most of my evening was spent reading the sewing machine manual, putting bobbin casings back together, removing broken needles, and trying to stuff 7 layers of fabric under a presser foot.  Oh, and it takes a lot longer to thread the needle these days.  I swear, they are making the eye smaller and smaller.

Luckily, when you sew with friends you can laugh about it and move on.  Stealing their machine helps too.

Right now we are averaging about an hour per hot pad, but I’m confident after a good night’s sleep we will become more efficient.

Sew on!