Monday Morning Quarterback

Challenges are what make life interesting;

overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

Joshua J. Marine

Remember that battle I was predicting, with me and the serger against some spandex? Turns out I was over-estimating my odds. It was actually me (all by my little lonesome) against the serger, the wooly nylon thread AND the spandex fabric.

Like any good movie fight scene, for the majority of the battle I was getting my butt kicked. But, at the last minute, I found an inner reserve of strength and surged up and conquered all! :)

I've never used wooly nylon thread before - why didn't someone warn me how difficult it is to thread it through anything?!?! Most of the challenge was in the lack of ability to cut a sharp point in the thread. But add the limited and awkward access to the serger needles and you get a full-blown nightmare!

In the end, I devised a multi-step process to be able to thread my serger needles. First, I used a needle threader (pictured below) to thread a straight hand needle. Then I used the needle threader and the threaded hand needle to thread the serger needle. I know this method works, because I had to re-thread those serger needles many, many, many times...

I used the three-thread ultra-stretch mock safety stitch - for the first time. It literally took me hours to get it to work correctly on my serger. But, once it was working, I was really happy with how the seams looked:

In an ironic twist, shortly after my Friday post about following instructions, I breezed through these instructions just a little too quickly and put the zipper in the wrong place - in front instead of in back. Luckily, not a show-stopper, but hopefully a lesson learned for next time...

So, what can I say about these pants? They are bright. They are shiny. They are stretchy. They are pink. That about sums it up. ;)

Hopefully she'll like them and hopefully they'll fit! I'll try to get a picture of her modeling them sometime soon. For all the hassles I experienced up front, I'm actually pretty pleased with how they turned out - I'll be less afraid of spandex in the future. A bathing suit seems like a real possibility now...