Unsuccessful

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. If you still haven’t succeeded, stop and do something your good at.

….

When my son was born, my sister gave me her sewing machine. It happened that my mom had just bought a new one and gave her old one to my sister, leaving one extra machine in the mix.

My mom called me to ask if I wanted my sister’s old machine and I said I would think about it.

Thing is, I don’t get along with sewing machines. To me, sewing machines are kind of like that girl in school who gets better grades than you and has a tall, handsome boyfriend and nice clothes. And she throws the best parties. She’s so nice to you that you really have no reason not to like her except that you just don’t.

Sometimes we don’t like things just because we don’t understand how they work.

I realize that the sewing machine is a very useful invention; there is no comparison between them and their less efficient hand sewing counterpart, but there’s just something about them that I can’t wrap my mind around.

My husband works in IT, and says that a Macintoshcomputer is pretty much the same as a PC, but that Macintosh appeals to those with a certain kind of mind, and so they can charge more. My husband can make a PC do any of the things that Mac’s are famous for because he knows what’s on their insides, and prefers PC’s because of their lesser monetary cost. If it were just me, I would probably get a Mac, because I don’t know anything about the insides of computers. But, if it were really up to me, I would abolish computers. I am just not a high-tech girl.

My parents came to visit around the time my son was born, and my mom brought the extra sewing machine with her and promised to give me lessons.

We bought fabric to make curtains for the nursery. My mom showed me how to thread the machine and how to wind the bobbin. She told me about sewing machine oil and the little light switch on the side. We only partially finished those curtains before I went into labor. That was December 2010.

Yesterday I decided to finish them. Only, once I sat down, something was wrong. I held the thread and pressed the peddle, but the needle kept coming unthreaded. I rethreaded it about 5 times before getting really frustrated and calling my mom. She said that she didn’t know what to tell me; rethreading the needle and holding the thread as I first began to sew were the only solutions she could think of.

Today, I decided to open up the bobbin case. I was, and am, terrified by that intimidating little spool of thread and all its metal counterparts, but I had the machine’s manual at my side, walking me though each step.

Only, I’m not sure who drew the pictures in that manual. Were they looking at the same machine as I?

I put it all back together and started sewing, only to hear something grinding from within.

The bobbin.

I think I need some more lessons.