Birthday gift!

My new sewing machine!

I received this machine for my birthday on Friday!!!! I'm so excited!! I didn't have a lot of time to play with it this weekend but it is incredible! If you can't tell from all of the exclamation points, I'm pretty happy! I'm not an exceptional sewer but I have wanted for YEARS to be able to sew with more ease than my 1950's Singer will allow. Look at what prompted this:

This is the top edge of a holiday valence I sewed for a room in my house... You will notice there is NO thread there. I had to buy hooks to hang my valence because I couldn't create a rod pocket! It looked okay because I was able to sew a hem in the fabric, even though the thread tension was so crazy that it knotted up at many intervals. But the clips saved it (and my sanity).

My hubby HATES to give appliances for birthdays or holidays. He has NEVER done it before. And he considers a sewing machne to be an appliance. But prior to Christmas I was making this very valence for our kitchen and had some trouble with my machine. You might be able to imagine my frustration! But I perservered and the illusion worked. No thanks to my old machine!

So hubster took note of my pain and filed it away for future reference, and now, Happy Birthday!! This new one practically cuts out and sews by itself! Its crazy wonderful. Last night I quickly sewed a cape for my 20 year old daughter. I used suit fabric. It is a nice light weight, though I debated using it last night because I thought it might need a lining. However, I couldn't wait, I was so anxious to sew on my NEW TOY!

I just used a messy zig-zag stitch for the bottom, not really being too careful about placement. This was mostly because I was just playing with the machine. When I realized how amazing the machine is, I decided to be a little more attentive and I seamed along the edge. I regretted my playful zig-zag stitch when I saw how beautiful the seaming worked. But my daughter still loves it. I sent her pictures last night. She left for college yesterday but will be home for an event in 2 weeks, so I'll take a shot of her wearing it. The plan was to use a frog closure, and she chose 2 small frogs instead of one larger one:

But now that the coat is done I'm thinking maybe a large button will be even better. Any suggestions will be appreciated!