Never mind....

Well, forget the last post. The sewing machine is being a pain now.

I have a sewing machine!

My cousin, Bonnie, (well, my first cousin once removed) heard of my many sewing machine failures and she told me she would keep an eye out for a good sewing machine for me. I wasn't expecting much out of it, so I was surprised when I received a message from her saying that her sister has multiple sewing machines and when she heard of my predicament she offered to give me one of her old machines! Bonnie told me it was a portable Singer. I wasn't thinking in terms of cabinet machines and portable tabletop machines, so I thought she meant the Singer Portable, which has very mixed reviews and I wasn't sure if it would suit my needs. However, she just meant portable as in not a cabinet machine, not specifically a Singer Portable. The machine she gave me is actually a Singer 3102 (with a case!), which I cannot find a picture of.
It's an older machine, but it runs very nicely. It only took me a few minutes to get the tension adjusted, and now it sews very smoothly. It only has a straight stitch and a few different widths of a zig zag stitch, but those are the only two I use anyway. It's pretty heavy, so that's a little inconvenient, but it seems like a strong machine that will be able to do what I need it to do.
So, so far it seems to be a really good machine. I'm going to hold on to my cousin Mary's machine for a little longer (in case this one has some problem I've not yet found), but so far it looks promising!

The Janesville Faire

This past weekend was the Janesville Renaissance Faire, so of course my family (minus my Dad) went up to Janesville.
Jeremy's garb was not finished: All I had done for him was his venetians, flat cap, and shirt. I need help fitting his doublet so he borrowed one from Steven this time.
The weather this year was much nicer than last year! It was warmer and less windy, making for a very pleasant weekend.
My position at the faire this year is the nanny for Timothy and Victoria (my director's children), which I think is going to work out extremely well because Timothy loves to be with me. He was taking me all over the faire, he wanted to see everything! I think his favorite place was the Complete Fool Shop, which has lots of toys out for patrons to play with. There was a hula hoop nearly as tall as me! I was actually able to hula hoop with it! It was surprisingly easy.
I was finally able to hold Victoria without her crying (the past several times I've tried to hold her it's only lasted for a couple minutes)! I held her for quite a while, too.
I was trying to get some buttons done for my new bodice, but I was busy and only managed to finish two buttons, and twice Timothy asked me "Will you make me a button?", so I ended up giving him both of the buttons. He tried making a couple, but his fingers aren't quite that coordinated yet. He had fun trying, though. He'll just have to keep practicing!

I think my sewing machine hates me.

Last year I was already planning my new garb and was going to have my new set done before the Janesville faire this year. When Jeremy joined the Duck I still planned on having my new set done for Janesville, and his set too. I had plenty of time and it would have been doable (I'm quite sure). But my sewing machine had to go and die for a while. After several weeks my Dad got the sewing machine working again, and I knew I didn't have time to finish my new garb for Janesville, but I was hoping to at least be able to finish Jeremy's garb (all he really needed was a doublet, shirt and hat. His venetians were done).
I started drafting and trying to fit his doublet the other day, but numerous problems arose. First, I decided I had no idea what I was doing and was running out of time to figure it out and I was getting rather frustrated. So, I set the doublet aside and decided to work on a shirt for him. I didn't get very far before my sewing machine died. Again. I fiddled with it for a while and thought I had it working, but the needle seems to be hitting something now. When I lower the needle by hand, using the wheel on the side, the needle goes up and down without hitting anything, but the whole bobbin case seems to be moving and making a loud "thunk" with each turn. I gave up and asked my cousin if I could borrow her sewing machine. It's very tiny, but I was hoping to at least finish a shirt with it. I brought the machine in and got it all ready, and I started sewing. The needle kept coming unthreaded, though. I tried tying the needle thread with the bobbin thread, but it still came unthreaded somehow. I tried holding the end of the thread, and I had about an inch of stitching done, so I let go of the thread. The needle came unthreaded. I don't understand how on earth it was happening! It was ridiculous. There wasn't a crack or a break in the needle. It's a complete mystery to me.
So, being very baffled and very frustrated I tried calling my Dad's cousin, Bonnie, to ask if she has a sewing machine I can borrow. She didn't, but she said she's going garage sale-ing soon and she'll keep an eye out for me.
I called my cousin (well, cousin-in-law) Mary next, and I was absolutely ecstatic when she said that yes, she does have a machine and she'll let me borrow it. She even offered to bring it over to me. I was so thankful! So, now I have a borrowed machine and can at least finish a shirt for each of us (Jeremy, Luke, and I) for Janesville. I don't know how long I can borrow the machine, though.

To think, all I have time to make now is a few shirts, when just a couple months ago I was supposed to have two entire sets of garb done by now!
What a shame.

Cinco De Mayo

I just remembered something amusing (at least to my family). When we lived in Texas we used to go to this really good Mexican restaurant (I can't spell the name of the restaurant). I remember one time Jeremy had walked to the restroom, and on his way back one of the waiters told him "It's Cinco De Mayo!". Jeremy had no idea what the man had said, so he just replied "Really? That's really great!". When he got back to our table he told us about the encounter and asked my parents what Cinco De Mayo is. They decided to have some fun with him and told him it was Spanish for something like "The world's ending!". So, the waiter had just told Jeremy the world was ending and Jeremy responded about how great that is. He, of course, knew that wasn't what the waiter had said, but he was kind of nervous about his response until my parents told him what it actually was.
I think he's careful about how he responds to things said in different languages now.

Blargh

Well, blargh (saying that word makes me sound like Jeremy...). The pattern for Jeremy's doublet is too small. However, it shouldn't be too difficult to change now. I just wish the first one had fit. Oh well.
I'm off to copy and enlarge the sleeve pattern!

Jeremy's doublet

I drafted and cut out the pattern for Jeremy's doublet yesterday afternoon. I started at a little after 3:00 and worked on it until about 6:30. The drafting part isn't particularly fun....
I look forward to cutting it out in spare fabric and making sure it fits(It better! I don't want to have to make any changes), and then finally actually cutting it out in the wool and sewing it! After his doublet I have to make him a shirt and a flat cap. I'd like to make a new smock for myself for Janesville, but it depends on how much time I have once Jeremy's garb is done.

Prom

As my previous post stated, we (my Mom, Jeremy and I) went up to Wisconsin over the weekend for Lizzy's prom.
We had a lot of fun! Well, I don't think the entire weekend was fun for Jeremy. It wasn't really fun for him on Friday when Lizzy and I were figuring out what to do with our hair for the next day. He didn't enjoy that. And he was pretty bored the next day when our mom's were doing our hair for real (we had only sort of done it the previous day: Just enough to see that it would work). Oh, and as I was getting ready for the prom I managed to run into a door or wall and bruise my shoulder. Brilliant!
But once we were all dressed up and got to Sammy J's (One of Lizzy's friends from her friend group affectionately known as "The Amoeba") for dinner we were all having fun. We went out in the backyard and Chris Muetz took pictures of everyone, then we headed back in for dinner. The entire party consisted of 9 girls and 4 boys.
After dinner we all headed over to the prom (where we had to take a breathalyzer test. Although the guy said it wasn't really a breathalyzer and told me what it was called, but I have forgotten). We didn't really do much, some of the group danced (well, I think everyone danced at one point. Mindi and Sammy (who is a girl) both danced with me. Mindi likes to spin people, which was fun!), and we made giant human knots which was really fun, although difficult to solve when you're wearing dresses and heels.
Once we got back home from the prom (a little after 11, I believe), we all headed down to the basement. We all talked for a while and then someone turned on the 5th Harry Potter movie. After that some of the group left to go home, but most everyone stayed overnight to have breakfast in the morning.
I think I went to bed at a little after 3. I don't know what time the Amoeba went to bed because they had all gone upstairs.
So, after being up so late no one woke up very early (everyone woke up after 9), but once we did my Mom made biscuits and gravy for everyone.

So, it was a very fun weekend and we were glad we could go!