Back in My Sewing Room

When we got married I picked out a very pretty bedding set with sheets and pillow shams and a duvet cover.  It is named "Sea Reeds" and I was in love with it.  Well, that didn't work out very well.  First of all, decorative pillows aren't much good when someone never makes their bed (yes it's true).  They just end up on the floor all the time.  Second of all, Justin ruined the sheets by washing them with a dark purple blanket and now they are pink and the blue pattern looks purple.  Finally, the down comforter was too hot even for me so it ended up on the floor and eventually we shoved it in the back of a closet.  So much for that. 

I recently found it when I was cleaning and got sad because I really did love that Sea Reeds collection.  So I put the down comfortor back in it's zipper bag (which was also in the closet strangely enough!) and bought a cheap thin fleece blanket at Walmart for $10. 

If anyone has used a duvet cover before you know that they are kind of annoying.  Whatever they cover never stays in place and usually ends up bunched up at the bottom.  I searched online for a solution and there is a product to keep blankets in place-some kind of clips-but they got bad reviews.  Someone suggested sewing little ribbon ties inside at the corners and tying the blanket to the cover.  That sounded promising.  I thought, since I have sewing ability, that I would sew button holes in the blanket and then the holes wouldn't get misshapen!  Perfect!  

There are my ties!  Lucky me...my friend Kari just gave me a box of sewing supplies from her grandmother's house and there were many cards of seam binding ribbons and other materials that would be suitable for making ties and there was a light blue one!  I added seven ties instead of just four at the corners.

Then everything went downhill.  I read the directions about making buttonholes in my machine manual and it turns out there is a specific setting for button holes in fleece or plush fabric!  Ugh this did not work...the fabric wouldn't feed and ended up getting mashed in the feed dogs so bad that I had to cut the blanket and then dissasemble part of the machine to get the jammed fabric out.  I put it back together and tried it on a normal piece of fabric and it worked perfectly!  So I tried again on the blanket and once again it was jammed and once again I had to cut the blanket and take the machine apart. 

After that I decided that this stupid $10 blanket was not worth messing up my machine.  Repair shops are not always cheap and they have weeks of a wait.  You wouldn't think that there are that many broken sewing machines out there but there are.  Sewing machine issues always remind me of that elementary school science unit and early introduction to physics...the 6 simple machines.  Recall those?

 

If I recall correctly, these six mechanisms are the basis for all machines.  Well, actually, I don't know if these machines translate to more modern machines like my ipad but as far as physics goes they make up most machines such as motors and vehicles and assembly lines and things that brought advancement to civilization.  Including sewing machines and all of their complicated, perfectly timed functions.  I also remember that even the simple machines are not perfectly efficient.  Sewing machines certainly are not always efficient.  Anyone who has spent time with one knows the feeling of being DONE and having to just shut it down for awhile and come back later.  They can be very frustrating. 

I ended up just cutting holes in the blanket and reinforcing them with some zig zag stitches.  It should work fine for now! 

While I working on this project, Justin came home with the long awaited focal point for his basement...

Yayyyyyy....At least it is not upstairs.  I am adamant about these things.  Guess who is afraid of it?  Allan of course.  I was worried he would try to jump up on it and perch because he likes to get to high places so I snuck downstairs to spy on him.  When I flipped on the light he was on the couch staring at it with his tail all puffed up like a scaredy cat.  It was funny although I felt kind of bad for him!