Noni and the Machine

Yeah... like Florence and the Machine, only with less talent.

I have a confession to make: I don't really like sewing. I've only just got to the point where I can tolerate sewing.

I LOVE putting together fabric combinations. Researching. Planning. Cutting, even. But not the actual sewing bit. Perhaps this aversion to actually using my machine harks back to the days of using my mum's old (30 years maybe?) Elna on which, as a budding fashion designer in my early teens, I ambitiously attempted such projects as:

- Dark red PVC snakeskin full length skirt - FAIL (I didn't use a pattern, oh no, I just figured I'd cut out a skirt shape and she'd be apples)
- Grey wide leg pants - FAIL (I sewed the ass and front pieces together backwards so that I had a puffy bit on the front of my left leg and my butt didn't fit in the right leg)
- Smocked summer dress - FAIL (didn't even start this one, mum recently found the fabric I'd bought especially for it)

And I'm sure there's quite a few more that I have stricken from my memory due to embarassment.

I used to hate that machine. I could never load the bobbin properly. Every time, I'd be asking mum 'how do I do this again?', and every time she'd say 'hold it like a backwards toilet roll.' Seems straightforward, but for some reason I sucked at it. The thing was enormous and clunky and weighed about 30 kilos. Needles broke. Bobbins jammed. Swear words were thrown.

But somewhere along the line, something must have clicked. Along with mum teaching me to sew, dad worked as a dyer at Coates, which became Australian Thread. The seed was subtly sown (or sewn?) and it has emerged now after all this motherly nestingness that I've been through in recent times.

So now, I don't see my Brother LS-2160 as the devil. It doesn't miss stitches, it doesn't jam, it doesn't leak machine oil all over expensive fabric. It's functional and easy to use and doesn't take up heaps of space on my desk. But I'm still not ready to stand up, square my shoulders, and say I LOVE SEWING.

Perhaps, one day soon. But for now, I must get back to planning, designing, colour matching. All that fun stuff. Maybe I'll do some sewing tomorrow.