Sewing Problems. Resolved! Ha! Take that, sucker!

It is very possible I am the dimmest person in the world. However I will share this discovery with you in case anyone else is equally dim. Because in that case what I am about to tell you will be very helpful and if, as is likely, you are not as dim as me, then you can feel superior. And that is always nice, and that is why I am typing this while watching Four In A Bed because however much of a prima donna I may have been in my life I have never yet cried in an Indian restaurant because I could smell curry, as one of the participants has just done. Anyway on with the dimness. I made my bag out of the patchworked silk scraps

There is no light in this house and there will be no light until APRIL

and although I usually give this type of bag a ribbon tie closure I thought it would be nice to use a magnetic snap for this one. For a change. To see what it was like. Now, I have used magnetic snaps before with no success, because I have found they pull away from the bag and I do not trust them to be sturdy, which is fine for a bag I am using myself but not for a bag I am going to sell. Well, the reason they have been pulling away in the past is because there is a washer you are supposed to fit behind them which the prongs fold around, and if you fit this washer rather than completely ignoring it and indeed not even unwrapping the paper it came in, then the snaps fit beautifully tightly and are secure enough for anyone.

Magnetic snappy fasteners! Functioning

So the bag will be going in the shop if we ever get light good enough for me to take photographs of anything (I got the magnetic fasteners from U-handbag – I always thought she seemed like a nice person so I wondered why her fasteners didn't work properly. Well now I know it was not the fasteners, it was me, so I can recommend U-handbag with no hesitation).

A stripey handle of stripeyness and yes I do see a loose thread, they haunt me

While we are on sewing, I will just share quickly this other thing I have just realised. You know how you are sewing along happily, thinking of things like what steps to take towards world peace, whether to eat a biscuit etc when suddenly your sewing machine goes chug chug chug and starts looping thread wildly on the wrong side so you have no longer got a row of stitches, you have got something that looks like Evil Spaghetti with added knots? Well if you are like me, at this point you swear, kick something, look how much new sewing machines cost on the John Lewis website, swear again, consider what you can sell on ebay to pay for a new sewing machine, change the needle, make a cup of tea, look at Cats Riding Roombas on Youtube and give up. Well, no need to do all that! Your machine has gone mad because the bobbin is near the end and needs changing. Take the bobbin out, change the bobbin. Your machine will work again. This works every time. Ha! Take that, sewing machine! I have made you submit to my will!

It takes me a long time to work things out, but I get there eventually.