How to Make a Sewing Machine Cake

I have been making specialty cakes for friends and family for the past 2 years. This was my first 3D cake.  I made it for my mom .  I made the fondant a week ahead of time.  I baked the cakes 2 days before her party.  One day before I shaped them, and iced them with butter cream.  On the day of the party I constructed it and decorated it.  It took me about 5 hours that day.  The most challenging part proved to be where the needles went into the top of the cake.  I made a rice crispy mold for the dowells to "spear" into, but the rice crispy part kept sliding down, so I had to make the same shape with styrofoam.  I also had the top of the sewing machine on a styrofoam slab.