Sewing Pains

I performed actual mending of fabric today! The 320 performed admirably with the special Darning & Embroidery Foot #161236. I found I had to have quite loose needle tension to avoid needle thread breakage, so had the machine set on 2. #161236 is an unusual darning foot: the long upper bar slots into the area where the lever to lift the foot operates - and essentially blocks the lever from being operated. You use a mini-lever near the top of the spring foot to raise and lower the toe to remove or place work. Singer #161236, the spring foot which came with my 320. I've never darned jeans before, I think I once darned socks on my mother's Pfaff, but that was a long time ago and nothing but a hazy memory. The jeans in the photo below had been reinforced with a fusible patch, which I zigzagged in place and then darned over. I'm sure it could have been a bit neater, but the result seems like it will give my husband's jeans life for a few more months. Interesting...

Years ago, shortly after I bought my Lisa, I attended my first sewing workshop - a free machining* workshop with a local textile artist who says that "the needle becomes the pencil".  This piqued my interest very much as in my other creative endeavors I am a watercolourist and oil painter. So, I attended the two-day free machining workshop with much excitement - here was an opportunity to learn some new sewing skills and polish up my old ones. I had great fun and learned so many techniques, and while the fundamentals have remained with me, much has been forgotten... A sample: Freehand stitching, created cord, singed fabric. * Free machining = freehand machine embroidery/free motion embroidery with no marking.