Meet Bernie

Meet Bernie. Though we're still getting to know one another, I can already tell I love her. (That's all of her packaging and accessories in the background.) Here's the story of how Bernie came into my family.

First, using my OLD machine, I made this...

without a pattern. Did you hear me? I said WITHOUT a pattern! I got a little antsy, my palms got sweaty, but TA-DA, I made it!


Inside view of lining and pocket.


It's a scripture tote for Brighton. He loves it. He loves it so much that he stuffed the interior pocket so full of crayons the pocket broke. Oops. I knew I should have reinforced those corners properly.

Even before the pocket broke, I knew this tote was a prototype. Clue #1 - I wasn't using a pattern. I knew I'd want to tweak things after I saw it put together. Clue #2 - the juvenile fabric. It would look great on a burp cloth, don't you think? Which is precisely the reason it's a little too babyish for a growing boy to take to church.

Now, as I said earlier, I sewed that tote on my old sewing machine. The whole time I was working on it, ye olde machine griped and groaned and snagged my thread and ate my fabric. Still, I plodded on.


I made this set of napkins and placemats for Lincoln to pack in his lunch basket for preschool. Now, if ye olde machine griped and groaned about the tote, it wheezed and sneezed about these napkins (and still snagged my thread). Thing is - there is absolutely NOTHING easier to sew than a napkin. Two layers of medium weight fabric, straight seam, easy peasy. My machine was on its way out.


I shouldn't have been surprised that when I tried to make another tote - in a notably non-juvenile print - my machine died. Completely died. It wasn't strong enough to topstitch over the handles.

So, that's how I came to need Bernie. She's a machine that can handle anything I throw at her. :) I have my first class on how to use her later this week. Classes! How great is that! Can you tell I'm excited? Be on the lookout for more sewing-related posts in the future.