Week 1 Reflection

This week I learned the basics of sewing. Without a sewing machine it isn’t very possible to make a sail. Sewing machines make the process go a lot faster, they help because you do not have to stitch by hand. I had never really sewed on a sewing machine before, so I had to learn a lot. Also the sewing machines that we are using at the sail loft are bigger and more industrial than the kind that most people have at home. When you press on the pedal on sewing machine at sews really fast. By the end of the week I had finally learned how to slow down the speed by carefully pressing the pedal, which took a lot of patience. Once I was able to slow down the speed of the machine my work came out a lot neater because I was able to control the direction of the needle a lot better than when it was going fast. The first project that we started out doing on the sewing machine was making bags form scrap material. We did that project because it was a way to get us used to sewing on a sewing machine. It was really helpful that we were able to do that because then we didn’t risk ruining something that someone was paying the company to make for them. Once we got the hang of the machine we then started sewing the pendants. When I look back to when I was making the pendants it took me a lot longer to do them then it would have taken me if I was doing them today. The more time that I spent on the sewing machine, the better I got at sewing. After we were done sewing the pendants we were ready to move onto repairing sails. After I repaired one sail I was able to help one of the other people make a sail by sewing it for him. I think that I improved a lot from when I first started sewing the sail at the beginning to when I finished. I was able to try different techniques to sewing it and basically learn how to neaten up my work. Things did not turn out exactly how I expected in some of the projects. There were times when I would have to start a stitch over because it was not placed in the correct spot or it came out messy. I had a lot of trouble with the bobbin. It always seemed to run out on me and when it runs out it has to be replaced. There is a certain way that it gets replaced and if it is not done correctly then it can ruin the stitch. Also if the string is not spooled onto the spool correctly then it can ruin the stitching pattern as well. There were times where that happened to me so I would have to start over again. The seam stripper became a great tool for me because I always seemed to be using it. After a while I became a lot better at fixing my mistakes on my own rather than asking for help. I guess that’s because I constantly had to fix the machine so I was able to learn each time how to do it on my own. Ben said that he wants Emily and I to be comfortable enough with sewing so that we can make a sail all on our own. This past week’s activities will definitely help me with improving my sewing so that hopefully I can soon make a sail all on my own!