First let me say that I am TOTALLY sewing-challenged. Seriously...if there is some way to screw up hand sewing with a needle and thread, I will find that way.
Okay, so here is the tool:
They make it look "sew easy" on the videos, but no matter how hard I pressed down on the tool and rolled it on the foam mat that they sell separately, I couldn't get it to completely press through the paper to make the holes. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or what...but that was really the only problem I had. Maybe it only punches through thinner papers? I dunno...in the videos, they show it going through cardstock...but I couldn't get it to.
The first "attachment" I used was this one:
I probably should have started with something a little more simple, seeing as though I am so challenged with a needle and thread. I should have started with a simple stitch or something, but I wanted something else for my page, so that's why I used the "burst" stitch.
So anyway, the actual SEWING part of it was really easy and pretty cool once I got going. I did, however, have to pierce through the paper with the needle to get a complete hole punched through since the tool didn't do that for me. It just kinda "embossed" where the holes were supposed to be, and I had to pierce through myself. Maybe you have to push super super hard down on the tool to get it to punch through?? That was a little time consuming.
It's a little hard to "guide" the tool perfectly, too, but I think with some practice, that'll get easier. I'll try to upload my layout tomorrow so you can see what I did.
Overall, this is pretty fun, and I've always liked the look of hand-stitching on layouts. A little time consuming, yes, but it would be time consuming with a sewing machine too. And I could probably hurt myself with a sewing machine.
