Well I bought myself some time on this shirt. After I posted something about taking time and care, I promptly managed to put the wrong foot on the machine and my needle jammed IN THE MACHINE. I conrfess my first impulse to cry but forced myself to remedy the situation. The needle was indeed well-jammed but I managed to get that sucker out of there with no apparent damage. I ran MANY test seams on scrap fabric to check!
I still haven't attached the collar - got cold feet. So decided to cut out another shirt and start over, since I have some time. I'll likely be up until midnight but I don't care. I'm going to approach this "test" shirt (which, YEAH, I should've done first!!!) differently now that I have a better understanding of the project. Should be interesting.
If I can get my digital camera to work, I'll take pics of both shirts.
This group is marvelous, thank you so much for sharing your expertise with boneheads like me!
TammyM in Sacramento, California