Still nothing

So I was all excited to start sewing! I didn't have any money to spare to go out and get new fabric, but I found a pattern for an infant hat that can be made out of an old t-shirt if you want, so I couldn't wait to start!

So I went through my drawers and I found an old racerback tank top that has shrunk that I would never wear. It was very hard to find an old shirt I could use because the hat would be for my infant son, and I have girly clothes lol.

This is the pattern

So I got my pattern all cut out, but since I had never used my machine before, I decided to do a bunch of tests on the scraps before I tried the real thing.

Well good thing I did! Something is WRONG with this machine!... or me! Every time I try to sew a line, my top thread breaks! I checked online and people suggested changing the needle, which I did, and no change. I contacted Sam, who sold us the machine, and she said it sounds like the tension, and said when she used the machine she kept it at 4 or 5... so I tried that and it doesn't seem to be working. I have tried playing with this for days and nothing seems to be working... so I dunno, maybe I am doing something stupidly wrong.

Anyways, I started taking pictures of my progress before I hit this road block, so I figure I'll post where I am so far!

At the very least, I learned that I need to invest in some proper scissors -- it took me waaaaay too long to cut that pattern out!

 And this is the little head that the hat is for :P

So until I get this machine figured out, I am at a standstill... I'm sure I will get to the bottom of it.. I hope.. I'm way too excited to make things for it to be over now!