I don’t know how long I was on Reddit… more than 8 years because it was before my first kid was born. Probably at least ten. Not signing in to check though.

Something I always feel especially glad to have is those tweezers with the bent ends on them. I use them to thread the machine (especially pulling through from behind the needle), pull up bobbin thread, turn edges under close to the needle, grab stuff that fell behind the desk…. I can’t think of all their uses right now.

This year so far, the best thing was learning to confidently sew buttonholes with my machine. I’m finally at the point where I can just put the foot on, get the settings right, and go; without doing a test run every time.

I’m doing this today!

When I did the first gathered tier on my Coquelicot Skirt I had so much trouble! I broke threads twice and it was such slow going.

I called my relative who’s a pro and she said “it shouldn’t be that hard. Make sure you’re using good thread.”

And she was right. The thread I was using was fuzzy and some no-name brand stuff that was given to me. I switched to a polyester Gütermann thread which she suggested (anything smooth and strong and new-ish should be good). Today has been SO MUCH EASIER.

I also reduced the tension from 4 to 2 on my machine which I think helped.

Awesome!

Wait this means I have to add silnylon to my stash, doesn’t it?

Here is the link for the YouTube tutorial I used for the sizing and basic shape of the tunic.

I think my sleeves and armscyes were too small because I went with an ungathered sleeve.