by Learning Lead – Fidel Pacay
It has been a fun journey so far learning to operate the sewing machine that I chose to to do this project with.
I am very impressed by the ingenuity and engineering that went into the design of the Singer 4452 Heavy Duty Machine. It’s practicality makes learning how to sew to be a lot of fun!
When I looked at the sewing machine for the first time, I thought to myself “now what button do I press for the machine to sew my aprons?” & that’s when I realized that I needed to take the first steps in my sewing learning journey. I decided to take a “Beginners Sewing Lesson”, so I booked my first class at Winnipeg Sews. The instructor there was very thorough, patient, and very knowledgeable.
Threading the Upper Thread, and Winding the Bobbin:
This is pretty cool!! The process of placing the spool of thread, and winding the bobbin on the machine is pretty neat.
At first, it looks very intimidating, but once you have the thread properly threaded in where it needs to go through, and you have the bobbin inserted correctly, bam! You press on the pedal, and off it goes! It starts winding the bobbin, and filling it up with thread as easy as uno, dos, tres!
Once the bobbin is filled with thread, the machine automatically stops the winding up. You then insert the bobbin into it’s own little resting compartment inside the bottom part of the machine, and now you are almost ready to sew. Pretty cool!
Threading the Needle:
This is where you go WOW what a cool machine! I was blown away by the fact that now you do not need to have Superhuman eyes in order to try to feed the thread through the little tiny hole of the needle. There is a little “Automatic Needle Threader” that will “assist” you in doing that for you. Whaaat??? I know! It’s incredible!! Who would have thought? Easy peasy!
Now, I am ready to sew! Bring it on!!
Practicing Sewing, and Remembering to Be Patient:
Well, well, like I’ve said at the beginning, I thought this was just going to be about pressing a button, or pressing on the pedal as it is the case here, and the result would be a nice apron!
But that is not the case…
Once I had practiced sewing a handful of times, I thought that I was ready to sew for real, so I grabbed a pair of my own jeans, and decided to hem them.
Not so fast!
It turns out, the machine worked as it was supposed to, what did not work, was the way I had positioned the cuff.
Long story short, the machine jammed, it made an awful noise, and consequently the needle broke.
This incident made me realize that I needed to continue practicing my sewing a little bit more, and it also reminded me to be more patient.
Next Steps:
After I get to practice my sewing skills a little bit more, I am going to sign up for another sewing class at Winnipeg Sews, where I will be able to start drafting the pattern that I will be using to create the bike mechanics’ apron for this project.
Until Next Time …
