Solution:

After getting both my grandma and my friend to check out the sewing machine I gave up with it. The tension wasn't right and the back of the material was not being sewn properly. So today I went to the school's D.T department and borrowed a sewing machine for about an hour and a half and got the bulk of my sewing done. I will hand sew the rest of it at home which I would have had to do anyway as part of it is too thick for a sewing machine. I was pleased with my progress today. It was the most productive session I have had using a sewing machine. Some of what I did was not very neat and there are sections that I will need to unpick but overall it went well.