I recently learned basic alterations, but sewing whole garments frustrates me (note I do not have a can do attitude, as Alexandra suggests!). On the flip side, the few garments I sewed or helped sew I was very proud to wear - something about crafting something wearable and beautiful.

I used to make Halloween costumes for dd and her cousins on the clothing front, and I've made curtains and that sort of thing. This weekend, I ran up some paper bunting on the sewing machine, this year's X-mas craft.

Anyways, I just thought I'd mention that the sewing machine tortures me. Every time I get it out, it's a whole long process to get into *the zone*, where I have a feel for what it's doing. This is because I don't know what the settings on the knobs mean. The markings are extraordinarily strange and unidentifiable. For example, the stitch length control has a series of lines that are all the same length! What is up with that? But it really matters - fabric v. tension v. stitch length v. stitch width v. needle v. foot v. thread. You have to have the right combination of all these things.

I had to call my mother, because I didn't know where to start after sitting for an hour twiddling knobs and having nothing change.