And then there were sleeves

It is just my luck that on the day we were taught how to do the hardest thing - capped sleeves - my trusty little Crofton sewing machine started NOT working. I struggled with it the entire time, and finally the instructor came to check up on me. She tinkered with it herself, and finally said: "This is a piece of crap (ouch!) - you need to buy another machine."

I left the class since there was nothing I could do, and headed over to Joann Fabric store to see what they had. Unfortunately, the rep selling the beautiful and mighty Swedish Viking machines was not there, so I would have to return to the store tomorrow.

Once at home, I decided to play with my good old Crofton and I got it to work. It is a little hesitant, but it does things after some pleading and petting.

Luckily, I have a photographic memory of the demonstration the instructor did in class, so I was able to recreate her steps and make my own capped sleeves - unassisted.
And I thought the zipper was hard. This was not easy at all. I struggled and struggled, but I finally got a hang of it. Feast your eyes on my unfinished little baby dress bodice with brand new sleeves.
Being anal that I am, I must admit that it REALLY bothers me that one of the sleeves is slightly more scrunched than the other. Grrr! I am afraid I might tear it apart till I get symmetrical pleats on both sides. I'll try to live with it... for now. Actually, I am going to go and try to fix it.