Sergers and media survey

Jeff and I decided to pick up my serger last night after dinner at Cafe Pleiade. Cafe Pleiade has become one of our favourite restaurants in the city. The food is always excellent in this small restaurant and this time we chatted a bit with our server (the chef's wife, I believe) about the art hanging on the walls.

I ordered my favourite: Pear & Brie salad along with the pork roast dinner. Heavenly. Jeff's favourite is the Chicken Supreme with apricots.



After dinner, we went out to the Fabricland at Eglinton and Victoria Park. I told them I was there to pick up my serger, and one of the women went into the back to look for it. As I signed the paperwork, they congratulated me and asked me if I was a sewer.

When I told them I'd been sewing for just over a week, they started laughing. I choose to interpret this laugh as a "How ironic but wonderful" laugh and not a "This serger's going to cut you into little pieces, you poor thing" laugh. :-) Anyway, I should have pointed out that I've had my sewing machine a whole MONTH even though I only actually started my first sewing project last week.



Wow...the instruction book is definitely bigger and more complicated than the booklet for my new sewing machine. There are TEN PAGES, for example, just for the explanation of the THREADING PROCESS! Yikes. I haven't tried it yet; with all the warnings about the knives and needles, I figure I should probably familiarize myself with the whole manual before plunging in.

An instructional video came with the machine, but it's in VHS format and we don't own a VCR anymore. However, I did find a bunch of YouTube videos about how to use a serger, plus I think I might also sign up for a one-day course. Fabricland doesn't offer any, but I've found others.

I was relieved that the serger wasn't as big as I feared. Look, it actually does fit in my craft corner, right beside my sewing machine:



I'm going to sew a cover for it since it didn't come with one.

Finished another top yesterday: a black tank top this time. I solved the bunching hem problem by doing a baste stitch around the lower edge then "easing" the fabric a bit before folding the hem up. Plus it helped to be more diligent about pressing EVERYTHING throughout.

I feel confident enough with the tank tops that I decided to get some new patterns:



Upcoming projects include a more casual skirt (with an elastic waist instead of a zipper), a couple of dresses, a t-shirt (with SLEEVES!!!), casual pants (elastic waist, to wear at home while I'm working) and some bags. I love the idea of making some bags but adding some wonkiness to them somehow, maybe with fabric paint or some of my nightmare creatures, for instance. Plus Jeff's asked if I'd make him a messenger bag.



Plus I couldn't resist picking up some fabric from the remnant bin. I've found this a GREAT place to get fabric to practice on.

Thanks for the heads-up re: Dr. Who. It looks as if I skipped more than an entire season when we watched "Blink"! Several of you suggested I watch Torchwood. I actually did watch the first season of Torchwood and quite enjoyed it; I haven't had a chance to watch anymore.

Not having cable tv, Jeff and I only watch shows we're able to buy or borrow. Babylon Five has taken up most of our media-watching time lately; one of the reasons we gave up cable tv is to limit our couch potato time, so we're trying to be careful not to slip into our old habits -- what would be the point of giving up cable tv if we spend just as much time sitting in front of a tv screen, after all? :-)

It's been especially hard to resist the ongoing lure of Babylon Five, which just seems to be getting better and better!

Anyway, we have quite a queue of shows to watch, it seems: Babylon Five (of course), Dr. Who (I'm more interested than Jeff), Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Blood Ties, and more...if the frequency of my B5 reports slows down, that's why. These days we tend to watch 4-5 hours of entertainment media a week on average (including the occasional movie) - sometimes less, sometimes more. What about the rest of you? I'm curious.




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