A few weeks ago, my friends Craig and Laura opened Spool, a fabric store right next door to Craig's yarn store, Loop. The store is absolutely beautiful, even to someone like me who can barely thread a needle.
Jody and I went to the opening party and while I was there, I signed up for the Learn to Sew class.
The first week, I picked out fabric, learned how to use the measuring grids and rulers and the rotary cutter (Laura was very concerned that I was going to slice off a finger). We also pressed and cut the fabric. We spent the last 30 minutes of the class learning about the sewing machine- how to thread the bobbin, use the needle threader, change the tension, etc.
Over the past five years that I've been a knitter, I have learned that putting colors together is not one of my strengths. I often walk into loop, tell them what I'm looking for in a yarn (gauge, fiber, washing instructions), the number of colors I need, and ask for suggestions. I just don't have an eye for color. I was VERY overwhelmed when it came time to select fabric so I picked the red one for the outside of the bag and Laura pointed out a few that would work on the inside. I settled on the stripes.
In the second week, we got down to sewing. Aimee (see blog here) was a great teacher throughout the class and I'm really looking forward to learning more about sewing from her. She was very helpful when I had a tension issue after refilling my bobbin with thread and had to rip out a whole seam. I was proud of the patience I had in those moments. Many a time in the past, I would have hated not being good at sewing (even though I was just learning) and really beaten myself up about it. I just looked at it as an opportunity to learn how to use the seam ripper. (Okay, yeah, I was frustrated but I'm trying to be more zen.)
I am happy with the way most of the stitches look.
Not bad for a first try.
Next I'm taking the skirt making class using one of Aimee's patterns. Hooray for sewing!
The Spike question:
A number of people mentioned the absence of Spike on my I love Buffy post. Here's the thing. I have a love/ hate relationship with Spike, much like Buffy does. I think he was a crack up in the Drucilla days and very amusing in the Harmony days. Unlike many people, I actually enjoy pining-for-Buffy Spike. I like Spike with a soul. (Most overused line on a show ever: Spike has a soul now!)
SPOILER WARNING (is it still a spoiler if the show ended four years ago? If you have watched the show though you might want to skip this part.)
I can't get over the fact that Spike tried to rape Buffy. I know. I know. The show is about killing. Spike killed tons of people, all over England and America for a hundred and forty years. He tried to kill Buffy multiple times. I can get past all of that. He's a vampire and vampires need blood. Whatever, I'm over it. But I can not get over the attempted rape. So, many times, Spike is the highlight of an episode (or even a season) for me, but only if I don't think about that one thing that he almost did in season 6, episode 19. The one thing that prompted him to get a soul. So there it is.
I actually didn't intentionally leave Spike off of my list. But when I thought about why he wasn't on there, this is why.
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