Crisis averted – favourite old machine is okay.

Freak out!  My favourite old sewing machine started to seize up last night.  It is a department store branded (Eaton Viking for Canadians who remember that brand) machine with a slightly broken Brother  foot pedal and I brag about it all the time because I bought it at a thrift store for $5 and I love it to bits and sew on it ALL the time.   While I do oil my machines and clean out lint etc., I am not fanatical about it and everything seemed just fine … until it wasn’t.

A little troubleshooting led me to believe it was not in the needle area or the long arms in the top of the machine, but in the main make-it-go bit (technical terms) because the needle went up and down beautifully when the belt was disengaged as for bobbin winding.  I removed screws oh, so carefully and had a look.  It all looked lovely and as I remembered from when it was new-to-me and I had given it a once over.  No lint, no damage and nothing appeared broken.  I oiled everything in sight.  Then I had to leave it for the night.

This is about where I had a laugh at myself because I so often recommend these oldies and now I knew I might have to make a big decision.  If I couldn’t get it going, would I pay the $80 or $90 to get it serviced?  The machine means a lot to me and it is completely worth the money, but really, could I defend spending that kind of money on a $5 machine?

Well, this morning I removed a few more screws and found what I believe is an oiling point that is only revealed when the hand wheel is pulled out a bit.  Threw some oil in there and that seemed to help a lot.  And then, since I had found one oddly placed oiling point, I took a good look around all sides of it to see if there were others hidden away.  Sure enough, there was a small opening on the back of the machine that seemed to be asking for oil.

Et voila!  My sweet old machine is purring again.    The really, really interesting part about this story is that I would be willing to bet a pretty penny that neither of these points have ever, EVER been oiled by me and I have been sewing on it since at least 2009.  Amazing!

A new, improved Miss Mitzie

I think I will call her Ritzy Mitzie because she is pretty fancy.  A paper tape double this time with batting stuffed inside a t-shirt, which makes the arm and neck openings much nicer.  Add a gorgeous raspberry sleeveless knit top (5% cashmere – a bargain for $5 and okay to only get 2 or three wearings) over an actual bra (cause face it, the tape – paper or duct – looks pretty horrible.

The bolt of turquoise fabric in the background is going to be the next gown!

Island Fantasy Ball

Not bad – amazing stride length!

Looking like we actually know what we are doing.  Nice!

My favourite.  Ordered a print of this one:-)

Nanaimo is my home town so it is always nice to participate in the Island Fantasy Ball.  And as it marks the beginning of our fifth year of competition, it is extra special!  More to come….

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Back in the day.  Not Nanaimo, but our first year of competition.

Quest for the Best Seattle

We were pretty excited to see the new venue for Quest and we were so happy with the change!  First of all we were pleased that Verve Ballroom is in Lynnwood so we don’t have to battle Seattle traffic, but also it was a lovely room with loads of easy parking and close to our hotel.

The comp was small, as Quest often is, but especially small since it was only a week after the US Nationals.  But ballroom is all about “go big or go home” and we all put our best feet forward and danced well.  We had a mixed bag of results, but as usual, a splendid time was had by all and we count the weekend as a whole as a success.

Somebody surprised me just before  we left with some yummy new lashes, so here are some pictures to show them off.

We had to do our makeup on the Anacortes ferry and had barely half an hour for hair.  But the hairpiece saved the day!  Didn’t get a photo before we danced and had to wait a long time afterward to get a decent picture.  For someone like me who is usually a rather ghostly shade of pale, this photo was a bit of a shock!

This weekend marks the beginning of our 5th year of competition with the annual Island Fantasy Ball.  We’ve come a long way since then!  Looking forward to dancing and seeing our friends and family!

 

 

Wait – why are we doing this exactly?

This is supposed to be a sewing blog about making gowns, but I am going to be a little philosophical and ponder for a while about why we are pursuing this strange and wonderful sport.  I know it costs a lot of money and we can and do get injured doing it, but that is true of a lot of sports – ask me how I know!

After seeing and hearing about so many couples who argue and fight and split up and get new partners or coaches, couples who seem to be so disappointed in competition results even when they get medals (!), who don’t even seem to enjoy the process of learning, with all the ups and downs that entails, I wonder why we continue.  I asked someone how they felt after practice awhile ago and was told – ” How do you think I feel after practice?  Angry!”

Hmmmm…..this is not a situation I could tolerate.  Admittedly, we did have a pact when we started competing that included the principle that I specifically would no longer continue if it was not fun.  My beloved partner has taken part in many sports and done extremely well for the most part because he trains obsessively and now and then was impossible to live with during times of stress, such as preparing for a big race.  I wanted and still want no part of that!

And we have created a rule where certain problems that seem unsolvable by us must be taken to the teacher.  Even if it is just a difference of opinion, it gets shelved until our coach is able to look and see what is really happening.  That has gotten us out of a few tough spots.

So why DO we do this?  Well, for the most part, the practicing and competing are fun.  Not every moment, but a lot of it.  Because we, again for the most part, truly enjoy the people we practice and compete with and would miss them if we didn’t see them regularly.  The learning – that is amazing.  To learn a skill at a reasonably high level at our age is not only, as the experts are telling us, good for our brains and bodies, but extremely mentally stimulating and a wonderful challenge and a good self-esteem booster.  Our coaches have embraced our attitude that we are doing this for enjoyment and contribute by having fun with us and also pushing us just enough to keep us – dare I say – “on our toes?”  And it is one of the few things that we actually do together as a couple.  Who needs more activities that we do apart? So I think as long as we are learning and improving and feeling like we are making progress, as slow as it sometimes seems, we will keep on dancing.

And the gowns.  Can’t forget about the gowns:-)

The Coach said “Wow!”

So I had to buy the photo.  We haven’t bought downloadable photos before and I was doing this without my Tech Guy handy, but I think it went ok.  We have been looking for photos with action – not the ones from a few years ago when we thought we were moving like crazy but the photos looked like we were standing still!  This one has the floats, the skirt AND the tails flying:-)  No smile – Tango face.  But still…

The photo was taken by Nelson Wong DanceSport Images.  Thanks Nelson!

Did you do your own hair? Yes!

And here’s how it works:  Start with 2 key ingredients.  Clothing that can be removed without messing up the hair when it is done, and preferably not fresh, clean hair.  It works okay on clean hair because the products are so good these days, but it is easier with second day hair.

Assemble your tools.  Brush, fine toothed comb, hair spray, hair gel, freeze spray, hair dryer, pony tail elastics, hair piece, hair net, hair pins (large and small), hand mirror, magnifying mirror, hair ornaments, crystals, bent nose tweezers, medicine syringe.  Preferably in a space with good light and a big countertop.  If you are at a comp, the odds are pretty poor that you will get the last two!

Make your hair parts.  You need to make them much bigger or deeper than you do for regular hair days.  I especially need the side part much farther to the side to make a nice face shape.

This is a good time to use some regular hair spray or other styling product.  I use a strong hold mousse – lots.  Then make your ponytail.  For my hair, I need to put it really, really high on my head.  It needs to show on the top of my head to add visual height.  And in fact, when we watch European comps, we see more hair styles high on the ladies heads and not so much of the low bun down by the neck.  It is looking a bit old fashioned though a low bun on the right side of the head is also trendy.  So for shorter hair, you make a ponytail with as much hair as you can gather up.  It will look messy.

Stick a hair net on it and pin it down so nothing comes flying out on the dance floor.  Add a second ponytail (or two!  It depends on your hair length)  and pin it up towards the first one.  It will still look messy!

Now for the gooey goodness.  Get your heavy duty Got2B hair glue and use it liberally on all the bits that didn’t get into the ponytail.  Comb it into place then use your hand or comb with the hair dryer (set on high heat, low air) to smooth it into place while you dry it.  If you have a helper, this is a good time to get help.  There will be little bits that won’t go if you have unruly hair like mine, so you need to add pins.  They really don’t show on the dance floor, but nice to use as few as possible.

Now the hair piece.  Pin it securely in place making sure the big pins go through the ponytail and also make sure they don’t slide back out.  If you get too much hair in a pin, it will sometimes back itself  out, so check a few times.  It helps to think of pinning down towards your head, then across.  Give your head a couple of serious tango flicks to make sure it is secure.  Practice your tango face in the mirror.  Bangs are next.

More gooey goodness here.  Use your goop liberally and dry your hands a LOT!  If the hair parts dry out, just add some water to revive them.  This is where you get to use your creativity and sculpt something that looks nice, stays in place and flatters your face shape.  I have a long, narrow face, so having a side part with something on my forehead helps round it out a bit. Once I got the curlicues to my liking, I added a dab of glue to stick them to my forehead.  Yes I did!

Yes, the photographer was in the midst of March Madness!

Now is a good point to spray the heck out of the whole style with your magic freeze spray, smooth out the little bits that are sticking out and start to get it tidier.  Then decorate!

The hair ornament got a good glop of glue as well as a few pins over the thin arms.  Honestly, I may not use this one again as I realized it would be horrible to sleep in and impossible to get out without wrecking the hair.  So it will be for one day comps if I decide to use it.

The crystals were MUCH easier to do with my new system.  It is a small syringe (a kid’s medicine one would work really well) and my bent nose tweezers from my sewing room.  I could squeeze out the perfect amount of glue onto the stone as I held it in the tweezers, then place the stone quite precisely.  Some people use white school glue to put their crystals on their face, but I have found the hair glue works really well for me.

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And did I get a final shot with finished makeup?  Of course not!  I hope someone at the dance got one.  It was a our very small club’s closed comp and we placed in every dance, winning the Foxtrot.  A lot of work for ten minutes of dancing, but a good opportunity to get the photos for this tutorial!