Of Sergers and Sewing Machines

Ah to have another job on the side. What a blessing and a stress. Saturday was the momentous occasion where I got my first 3 sewing projects. I also got to borrow a serger and have since fallen in love. Oh yes true love with a piece of machinery. Ah life is sweet. When I was ready to do serious damage to my sewing machine and quite possibly put it in it's grave I had the bright idea to serge the edge and then attempt to hem the narrow flounce. Now let me start by explaining that flounces are evil continually and I just may boycott them altogether. Flounces are ruffles that are possessed. Instead of a straight piece of cloth that you gather you cut out circles or half circles and stitch them straight on the cloth and they naturally ruffle. But you must hem a round edge and the more ruffled you want it to look, the more curved it will be. Thus it is near impossible to fight to get it all rolled under without little tucks in it or something else to make it look messy. This is where the serger became my hero. I decided to serge the rough edge and then try to turn it under and hem it. The serger proved itself good and dependable. After serging it, the cloth wanted to turn under nicely and not cause any creases or such. It only took about 2 hours of fighting before this idea came to me. But that was nothing compared to the 3 1/2 hours it took me to get the flounce measured out and cut. I am used to making clothes with a pattern or altering already made clothing, not make my own pattern or just wing it by eye. This caused much stress and use of all my store of creative juices. And Mountain Dew was by my side to help my sanity along the way.
I just love Brenda's outlook on all this. She said although we do not get paid by the hour so all that time I took to figure it out will be unpaid for, you have to take into account to learn how to do it otherwise would cost for classes, so to work it all out you are not having to pay but learning so I can know how to do it next time.