Last Friday, Ellie’s little school had a 50s day. So I made this:

A kitty skirt. That’s better than a poodle skirt because of the kitty.

That skirt part was easy because of this tutorial. The hard part was that my sewing machine is at the beach with Mom. So I had to use this one:

Wait for it…

I mean this one:

Ta-Dah!

That’s my Granny Nix’s Kenmore from 1968. It weighs at least one thousand pounds. It was only manufactured for two years. I have no manual. It took Google and me three hours to figure out how to oil the thing, thread the machine, wind the bobbin*, get the bobbin back where it goes and put a new needle in the right way**.

It’s not like I brokered world peace, taught Congress some ethics or revolutionized health care in America, but I’m still pretty proud of myself. More skirt pictures on the Flickr.

*Tip 1: This model has a plate on the end of the wheel that advances the needle. That plate comes loose to disengage the machine so you can wind the bobbin.
**Tip 2: There is a groove along one side of a sewing machine needle. The grove should face the bobbin. You may have to thread the needle from left to right instead of front to back depending on where the bobbin is on your machine.