Last night, Donald (my sweet husband) looked at my sewing machine for me.
(I believe I mentioned that it had suddenly stopped working? The needle had stopped moving, and I was afraid it would be impossible or too expensive for its value to repair, and was dreading having to shop for a new or used replacement machine.)
We took the whole case off, as best we could, and looked it over. It's amazing, all the components and moving parts that go into something as (seemingly) simple as a basic sewing machine! I'll never understand how anyone ever managed to figure out how to make one in the first place-- but I'm glad they did. (g)
Well, long story short(ish), we think he's gotten it working again! At least, it was working when we put the case back in place. How long it will continue to work is anyone's guess, but there's no reason why it shouldn't last for months, if not years.
It would be nice to have a new machine with a few extra bells and whistles, but as long as this one works, I'm satisfied with it-- especially since I can sew my heavy denim quilts without feeling as though every stitch may be slowly killing a nicer machine. I don't mind putting my "old" sewing machine through such trials, since if it does finally go kaput, at least I won't have ruined a fancy, expensive investment. It's just my old "learning" machine.
Still, I think I'll try to take it easy on Ms. Singer, for a while... Not push her to her fastest limit, for instance. She's still recuperating from her operation, you know. ;o) And I don't want to outright kill her. We've shared some happy times. Er, when she wasn't jamming or otherwise making life difficult, and I wasn't cursing her to the skies. (To be fair, most of those times, I was probably doing something wrong and just didn't know it. Have I mentioned that I'm an inexperienced, mostly self-taught seamstress?)
I still remember standing in line at Target all those years ago (ahem, five, I think), on that dark and chilly Black Friday morning... Feeling irritated when some ne'er-do-wells cheated their way ahead of us line-abiding folk... Hurrying back to the sewing machines with my shopping cart, as though there would be a rush on sewing machines, of all things. As it turned out, I didn't have to race to grab a box before they were all gone-- didn't have to defend my prize from a crowd of dangerous-looking crafters. In fact, I seem to recall an associate asking me what I was looking for and looking slightly amused when I told her. She was probably thinking, "Honey, you could've slept in this morning and still have gotten a sewing machine, no problem." But where's the fun in that-- and why leave something so important to chance? I believe I was among the first to check out. Ah, happy times... ;o)
(I believe I mentioned that it had suddenly stopped working? The needle had stopped moving, and I was afraid it would be impossible or too expensive for its value to repair, and was dreading having to shop for a new or used replacement machine.)
We took the whole case off, as best we could, and looked it over. It's amazing, all the components and moving parts that go into something as (seemingly) simple as a basic sewing machine! I'll never understand how anyone ever managed to figure out how to make one in the first place-- but I'm glad they did. (g)
Well, long story short(ish), we think he's gotten it working again! At least, it was working when we put the case back in place. How long it will continue to work is anyone's guess, but there's no reason why it shouldn't last for months, if not years.
It would be nice to have a new machine with a few extra bells and whistles, but as long as this one works, I'm satisfied with it-- especially since I can sew my heavy denim quilts without feeling as though every stitch may be slowly killing a nicer machine. I don't mind putting my "old" sewing machine through such trials, since if it does finally go kaput, at least I won't have ruined a fancy, expensive investment. It's just my old "learning" machine.
Still, I think I'll try to take it easy on Ms. Singer, for a while... Not push her to her fastest limit, for instance. She's still recuperating from her operation, you know. ;o) And I don't want to outright kill her. We've shared some happy times. Er, when she wasn't jamming or otherwise making life difficult, and I wasn't cursing her to the skies. (To be fair, most of those times, I was probably doing something wrong and just didn't know it. Have I mentioned that I'm an inexperienced, mostly self-taught seamstress?)
I still remember standing in line at Target all those years ago (ahem, five, I think), on that dark and chilly Black Friday morning... Feeling irritated when some ne'er-do-wells cheated their way ahead of us line-abiding folk... Hurrying back to the sewing machines with my shopping cart, as though there would be a rush on sewing machines, of all things. As it turned out, I didn't have to race to grab a box before they were all gone-- didn't have to defend my prize from a crowd of dangerous-looking crafters. In fact, I seem to recall an associate asking me what I was looking for and looking slightly amused when I told her. She was probably thinking, "Honey, you could've slept in this morning and still have gotten a sewing machine, no problem." But where's the fun in that-- and why leave something so important to chance? I believe I was among the first to check out. Ah, happy times... ;o)