A Lack of Progress.

Last weekend, just before painting the sewing room, my husband and I were talked into going to a flea market half an hour away, which resulted in spending *way* too much money. Some of it was stuff we actually needed, much was not. There was one guy who had a nice old Singer, which looked to be a Centennial model, much like one I used to have from the 1950s, but behind it was a jigsaw in a pretty pale green for $15. I think I got it for $12, actually. We now have a hedge trimmer for the overgrown bushes in the yard, a brass hurricane lantern without its globe, a silver filigree holder for a Russian tea cup, three cake pans that have a spinning slat to remove the WHOLE cake without leaving lumps behind, and -- best of all -- Charlotte Sometimes. I started reading it when I was in maybe third or fourth grade, but the very British terminology was a little beyond me, and I got frustrated halfway through, because I could not get through it as quickly as I would have liked. I've been looking through every used bookstore I went into since the late 90s, and there it was under two other boxes of books. I felt bad getting only a 50 cent book, so I also got a glass shoe that looks very 18th century, almost identical to one that had been my great grandmother's.

At home, while sewing, I discovered two things. First, buttonholers do not work on four layers of heavy twill, because there is not enough room for the fabric. Second, I was almost out of metal eyelets. While I could have done them all by hand, it;s for a Halloween costume, and I need to get going on the dress part, rather than being held up on the under layers. No one here carries two-part eyelets, either. So there are some that don't match, but the thing is mostly done now. Enough, at any rate, that I'm comfortable with trying the muslin over the stays and testing for fit. It looks like I won't have too much alteration to do, which is pretty awesome, actually. But I'm now out of machine needles, of course. The full pack I thought I had was actually leather needles, which won't work at all. So I'm kind of stuck until tomorrow, when I can go out and get more.