Sewing fun!

Remember back around new years' when I said I was going to sew more in 2012?  Well, I got a project done!  I sewed a blouse from this pattern:

Butterick 5722

This is how my version looked:

Belt not included.  I got it from Torrid.

The pattern was pretty easy to follow.  I used a polyester fabric with a little sheen I found on special at my local Joann's.  The only real difficulty I encountered doing this top happened when my sewing machine died.  It could probably be fixed, but at this point in time I just want to sew, dammit!!  I might take it to the shop in the future, since it was my mom's, and I did learn to sew on it.  But since I had a half-finished blouse, and a function to which I wanted to wear the blouse coming up in three days I bought one of these:

Singer 2263, a.k.a pain in my ass

I needed that damn blouse finished, and didn't have time to wait for something to come in the mail.  So, I got one of these.  It's a pain in the ass to use.  It's loud, cheap, and shakes like an alcoholic right before payday when it goes fast.  In fact, I've decided to give my new machine a nickname.  Snooki!

I guess she's alright for small jobs like hemming slacks.  I don't dare hem jeans with her.  She'll be downgraded to a travel machine when this baby comes in the mail:

Say hello to the Slant-O-Matic!!  Bought from ebay user hulagirl1!

Oh yeah!  Just look at this baby!  Singer advertised it as "The best sewing machine ever made!"  Just look at the specs on this thing.  I could get off on a massive rant on how this is a shining example of how as a society Americans no longer value quality workmanship or want quality items built to last, but I'll just let the pictures of Snooki and the Slant-o-matic speak for themselves.  Which machine do you think I'll still be using in 30 years?

Okay, soapbox stashed.  I'm currently working on a little clutch purse.  I'm using some random fabric yardage I found at a thrift store plus scraps from the blouse pictured above.  I'll post a few pics once I'm further along, assuming I don't toss Snooki out a 3rd story window first.