Recently I bought an overlocker. I’ve been assured that once you get one, you’ll wonder how you ever sewed without it. I duly tried out all the stitches on mine and then decided I’d wait for the right project to come up before I used it for real: one where the fabric was something I wouldn’t mind destroying if it all went horribly wrong.

Well the best laid plans, etc etc. My sewing machine flatly refused to sew the viscose doubleknit fabric I am using for the current project. So I nervously threaded the overlocker and fed a fairly straight seam into it. And then a curved one. And then I sewed the sleeves in. It’s brilliant. It sews through just about anything and it’s seriously fast.

But there’s one thing about it that surprised me. Regular sewing makes quite a bit of mess – at least I’m always surprised by the state of the floor round the sewing table. But the overlocker spreads its fuzz even further than the sewing machine. Specifically, all over your face. I don’t notice it until I take my make up off, but the cotton wool comes out grey! Does this happen to anyone else?