A peacock dress and a new sewing machine

Whilst at the Great British Sewing Bee I bought some rather lovely peacock print material.  It was love at first sight and I knew exactly which pattern I was going to make with it.

I had recently bought this pattern from the Avid Seamstress, the A-line dress.

I really like the shape of this dress, the a-line form is generally quite a flattering one and I thought that the pattern looked quite straightforward to put together.

It was indeed a nice dress to put together though I did struggle with getting the 'V' of the neckline perfect.  I need to practice this sort of neckline more.

The dress itself did not take too long to put together.  I had some angst as to whether the peacock feathers should be facing upwards or downwards.  I decided it did not really matter as long as I was consistent.  I chose downwards.  Once completed I was very happy with the dress and went to try it on.

Oh dear,

It was just a fraction too tight around the stomach area, my general tricky bit of body.  I had measured myself whilst the chest and hips were fine, the 'apple shape' middle let me down again.  I chided myself for not measuring properly, it is such an easy error to make but so so annoying.  The dress is now hanging in the wardrobe and I am determined to fit into it hopefully soon.  So it was all a bit of a disappointment really.  Not the pattern's fault but my own.  I feel like I got carried away with myself, over-confident in fact.  Now I need to regroup and be more careful in future.

The plus-side of this project is that it was the first one I made with my new sewing machine, a Singer 9100.  I bought this after considerable thought and research.  I bought another Singer as I hoped that it would be more familiar to me and also hoped that any accessories would be interchangeable.  I spent weeks deciding which one to buy.  I got totally confused by quilting or not quilting and computerised vs mechanical.  I worked out fairly quickly that there was little point in changing my mechanical machine for another one as I would be gaining very little.  I also finally worked out that if I bought a machine that did more that I might use it for more.  The quilting vs non-quilting bit became less of a concern after having a discussion with some sales-people at the Great British Sewing Bee.  A key reason for going was to research sewing machines and whilst I am a huge fan of online-buying, sometimes you need to talk to someone.

I practiced on some scraps of fabric to begin with.  I struggled getting the tension right and I began to get that 'oh no what have I done, I have bought a machine I cannot work' moment.  I resorted to googling the problem, but that did not help me very much.  I seemed to find people panicking not unlike myself but few helpful answers.  Finally, deep in the pit of despair, I decided to try changing the bobbin from the plastic one supplied with the machine, to one of my existing metal ones.  It did the trick, the tension was sorted immediately.  Relief washed over me and sewing could commence.

There are things that I decided I loved quite quickly about the new machine.  I like the needle up/down button, it is very handy.  I love the top-loading bobbin that I can see through the clear window and check how much thread is left on it.  My favourite favourite thing though is the speed-limiter.  It has transformed how I sew.  No longer does my heavy foot make the machine run away with me; now I can do careful and steady sewing.

As time goes on I will learn how to use more of this machine, but I am really happy with it and expect to be using it for quite a while.