Dinosaur goes shopping for new machine

I was a seamstress for 45 years (did mostly alterations) and last time I went to the MD I found her looking at my right leg with a puzzled look on her face. She knew I was a seamstress but didn't think about that. Right leg considerably larger than left. LOL SHe was relieved upon realizing that. :-) Audrey

:-)) I too use both hands for sewing so I'm wondering if these new machine need one hand to be used on the button all the time or is it a case of push the button to work and them push again to stop it?

If it is a case of 'use one hand on the button all the time', then I'd just prefer to go back and use my ancient Singer with the hand crank. It has wonderful stitch quality.

Push to work and push to stop... But the button only works at one speed on the ones I have tried. Most come with a foot control as well, and you choose which to use.

Whew! I was beginning to think that improvement not necessarily is always for the better. Anyway, Cea, I learned to sew on my mom's old 1960s Elna that has a knee control. My new Bernina has a knee lever to lift/lower the foot and I always tried to start it with that knee thingy. Even though I had been sewing for the last 20 plus years with a foot control. Which means: Old habits die hard. ;-) BTW, don't go for Brother, the plastic is to tacky.

Oh, that reminds me of something I saw on TV not too long ago. It was something about planned obsolescence. Meaning: If you think that things break just after the warranty runs out it's not just a figment of your imagination, they were really manufactured that way. Yes, I know that our system lives of selling things and making more, but how much more do we need? And what if we can no longer afford to buy a new whatever every two years? Sometimes I have a really dreadful feeling of foreboding about it all... and then I turn to the old Singer and Elna in my cupboard, stroke them gently, and feel much better again.

U.

Either way, I'd regard the machine as somewhere between totally unusable and "I dropped it -- as hard as I could"*.

cea wrote: : Well, that's what it felt like...the sales/repairman, lacking any Janomes, set me up on a Brother machine, and walked away to tend another customer. : I spent a couple of weird minutes rooting around on the floor, trying to locate a foot pedal. Looking about, I realized none of the machines had one. That's when it dawned on me--Oh, sure,I leave the sewing room for 10 minutes, and they revolutionize machines. : Pushing a button to run the machine seems so odd.

Get a better salesman. the machine's supposed to have a foot pedal. Either he's a clueless idiot, someone's stolen his foot pedal, or he's too lazy to set the machine up right. Whichever way, don't give him your money.

the button is just there for certain operations (free motion quilters seem to like them), but it doesn't replace the foot control.

As for the knee lift, I couldn't use a machine without one, once I got used to using one. (Well, I could cope with a foot pedal operated lift, like fancy industrials have, they're very nice.)

That's a problem with the wider zigzag widths... they require the feet to be pretty wide. The one on my Singer 15-91 looks positively diminuative in comparison to the (7mm wide capable) feet of my Juki F-600.

Then again, I'm not one to let a foot stop me by what name it's been given. I bought a spare zipper foot and cut the toes off wayyyyyyyyy back when (gads, nearly 50 years now!) when I was making Barbie clothes. Could get into some remarkably tight spots.

The Juki does have needle up/down capability and that can come in handy when you're doing something really fussy where you need half-stitches. But the two things I'm really appreciating on it now are the knee lift and the thread cutter on the pedal (toes down to sew, heel down to cut). And the fact that like all of the modern servo/stepper motor machines, you get full needle punching force even at very slow speeds.

Kay

"cea" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com...

Well, that's what it felt like...the sales/repairman, lacking any Janomes, set me up on a Brother machine, and walked away to tend another customer. I spent a couple of weird minutes rooting around on the floor, trying to locate a foot pedal. Looking about, I realized none of the machines had one. That's when it dawned on me--Oh, sure,I leave the sewing room for 10 minutes, and they revolutionize machines. Pushing a button to run the machine seems so odd. The trouble is, my sewing brain is now in my foot. I cannot simply push a button and let the machine do the work. It feels disembodied. My foot was doing a jig beneath the sewing table. I've pedaled for so long, I don't know if I can break this habit. I always pictured the morgue folks doing the autopsy on me, saying, "Yep--another tailor--lookit these muscles on her wrists, and see how dis-proportionately large her right calf muscles are!"

As I do (or did) a lot of altering of ready-made garments, I need a machine with the option of a foot with small toes, the better to work in tight spaces and folds. Every machine in the shop had hideously huge, clunky feet. I had the odd feeling that I was viewing them through a magnifying glass.

Well, back to my collection of old-tyme Singers, with their tidy little straight-stitch foots...feets..footsies. Cea (Stegausauras Rex)

Just a note about foot controls vs. push button start/stop.

I began sewing on my DM's 1930 Singer, pedal-powered machine. I made my first dress for church when I was 11-years old in late 1943-early 1944. And over the past some 69-years, I have sewn on many different machines, always with a foot pedal with one exception, the slant-needle Singer 504's control can be used with the foot or the knee, which I learned to love using.

Then, about 6-years ago, my DS, with whom I live, gave me a BabyLock machine with the push button start/stop option. It took me about 2-minutes to become accustomed to it, and although it has a regular foot control, I have never used it. I told my son the other day, it is a good thing it has this option or I could not have finished my DGD's first maternity outfit in time for her to wear this weekend. I have severe arthritis that gives me fits at times.

This machine has a slider to control the speed from extremely slow to very fast; I keep it about half-way for regular sewing. It takes a second to move it, leaving both hands on the fabric almost continually.

Emily

--------------- I always think of (the fictitional) Sherlock Holmes--one of the cases he 'solved',identifying the dead individual by his calloused hands, or some s imilar occupational give-away. I used to have pretty big wrist muscles from shoving fabric under the needle. I guess by now y'all know you push the auto-button to both start and st op sewing. I agree about the knee-lifter. I had an old Necchi with one, an d loved it. David---nope--there was no access port at all on the machines for a foot pedal plug. I checked--. And I did consider that an auto button would be nice later on, when the R H arthritis gets worse. That, and some of those side-threading needles, and I'd be set. Until then, like Ursula, ya gotta love the old stand-bys. I go t my grandmothers old black Singer humming again a couple of years ago. Too bad we can't take all of the features we like about our different ma chines, and send off for a custom-made model. Wouldn't that be lovely? We'd all think we'd died and gone to sewing nirvana. What, though, do we do with our (grown adult)children when they start sc olding us to "get rid of some of that stuff"? I sent him home. But I think he is worried that I will croak and leave him with the stash. He's really w orried. This guy is a collector of stuff, too, so, as I remind him, he really doesn 't have any room to talk. (But do ya think 17 machines are too many?...I may be up to 18 or 19--it's been a while since I did a head count.) Cea

Thanks Kate. I must go look at new machines at some time in the next decade just to see what they are like.

:-))) I too know that feeling.

: David---nope--there was no access port at all on the machines for a foot pedal plug. I checked--. : And I did consider that an auto button would be nice later on, when the RH arthritis gets worse. That, and some of those side-threading needles, and I'd be set. Until then, like Ursula, ya gotta love the old stand-bys. I got my grandmothers old black Singer humming again a couple of years ago.

do you remember what model of machine this was?

I only have a fraction of that many, but I have given one to a niece, another to a great-niece, one to a daughter and a serger to another daughter, leaving me with 7 of my own, plus DS has his aunt's old early 70's Kenmore. He usually uses the BabyLock though because he enjoys embroidering. He says after crunching numbers all day, he is an auditor, it is a very relaxing hobby. Emily

"cea" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com...

On Saturday, November 10, 2012 6:20:03 PM UTC-5, coooooool grandma wrote:

--------------- I always think of (the fictitional) Sherlock Holmes--one of the cases he 'solved',identifying the dead individual by his calloused hands, or some similar occupational give-away. I used to have pretty big wrist muscles from shoving fabric under the needle. I guess by now y'all know you push the auto-button to both start and stop sewing. I agree about the knee-lifter. I had an old Necchi with one, and loved it. David---nope--there was no access port at all on the machines for a foot pedal plug. I checked--. And I did consider that an auto button would be nice later on, when the RH arthritis gets worse. That, and some of those side-threading needles, and I'd be set. Until then, like Ursula, ya gotta love the old stand-bys. I got my grandmothers old black Singer humming again a couple of years ago. Too bad we can't take all of the features we like about our different machines, and send off for a custom-made model. Wouldn't that be lovely? We'd all think we'd died and gone to sewing nirvana. What, though, do we do with our (grown adult)children when they start scolding us to "get rid of some of that stuff"? I sent him home. But I think he is worried that I will croak and leave him with the stash. He's really worried. This guy is a collector of stuff, too, so, as I remind him, he really doesn't have any room to talk. (But do ya think 17 machines are too many?...I may be up to 18 or 19--it's been a while since I did a head count.) Cea

Emily ________________

Nice to 'see' you again, Emily--

I've given three machines away, but I think these machines are up to nefarious mis-deeds in their (sometimes)dark corners...they do seem to be reproducing. And at least one of them has come back home to roost. My Babylock is a serger, so it took me a minute to re-program my brain. Of course, Babylock makes 'regular' machines. The little serger has been a great, durable machine Cea

Emily ________________

Nice to 'see' you again, Emily--

I've given three machines away, but I think these machines are up to nefarious mis-deeds in their (sometimes)dark corners...they do seem to be reproducing. And at least one of them has come back home to roost. My Babylock is a serger, so it took me a minute to re-program my brain. Of course, Babylock makes 'regular' machines. The little serger has been a great, durable machine Cea

I have 2 BabyLock machines, a combination sewing/embroidery machine, the Ellageo, DS gave me several years ago for my birthday(Dec. 19)/Christmas gift. Then I have a BabyLock serger with air-threading I love.

Of the machines I've given away, I know one doesn't get used is one I gave a daughter; she has never enjoyed sewing, and only wanted a machine for altering pants lengths for a while. Now that she found a dealer who sells pants the length she likes, she never uses the machine. The niece and great-niece use theirs often, and send me details of what they're doing. The great niece has a new-born baby girl, and made many items for her.

The daughter, to whom I gave the serger will son be busy making baby clothing for her 1st grandchild due in early May. (They are on a cruise this week to celebrate the pregnancy.) I've given her a copy of SEWING FOR BABIES book and Kirsten Martesson gives directions for using a serger. I'm making the maternity outfits for the DGD, which is why I am not online as often as I'd like.

One of my other nieces is going to use one of my other machines till she can have time to find "her" new machine to purchase. Of course, she wants an embroidery machine and a serger. She is still using an old Singer that is a very basic machine she received for a wedding gift in the late 70s.

Emily

Oh, surely there's no such thing as too many machines.

Hear! Hear!

------- I dunno...I give them away, and they keep coming back home--showing up on the doorstep, like rejected foundlings. Cea