other possible machines

Price is not a reliable indicator of quality. I had one of those Athenas, Cea. My MIL and I bought it new to share. It ran well for many years, and when I passed it on to someone, it was still running. I did replace the little rubber feed dogs.

I do love those thrift stores. I can get all the retail therapy I need at a cost that doesn't keep me awake at night, and I feel I'm contributing to some worthy cause - depending on which charity operates the shop. Some are worthier than others.

Now, as for the do-it-yourself brain surgery, having dealt with neurosurgeons during my youngest's infancy, I suspect you might do better. They misdiagnosed, performed surgery - or started to - then found it unnecessary. They still billed. I concluded from this that brain surgery is not rocket science.

Well, maybe a change will be good temporarily, then he'll write some more of his great mysteries. Emily

Sounds like an interesting book, Cea! that might be a good change from some I'm reading now. Emily

I hope so. I would never nag. Just maybe remind him from time to time how much I enjoyed the mysteries......

Point him over here to alt.sewing! ;-)

CySew Mar 20, 1:37 pm show options

Newsgroups: alt.sewing, rec.crafts.textiles.quilting From: "CySew" - Find messages by this author Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 21:37:05 GMT Local: Sun, Mar 20 2005 1:37 pm Subject: Re: other possible machines Reply | Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show original | Report Abuse

Sounds like an interesting book, Cea! that might be a good change from some I'm reading now. Emily

I have found really good support from my local Wally World tech people. I took a friends sewing machine in and the guy showed her how to do what he did to repair the problem and how to prevent the problem from occuring in the future. No charge. Maybe I'm just fortunate that I live just 6 blocks from the general office/headquarters for Wal-mart but all the folks in our local wal-mart supercenter crafts department are experienced, knowledgeable and very helpful. We have year round arts & crafts fairs and lots of folks who live here are very active in all sorts of crafts. That might have something to do with it.

My local sewing machine seller is cranky and virtually impossible to deal with. They refuse to stock used machines claiming they don't have the space. They tell folks if they want a used machine to go to a Pawn Shop - name of this creep's store "Singer Sewing Center" in Rogers, AR. I was told they would do a maintance check on my Athena 2000 only if I picked it up the same day they called to let me know it was ready. If they had to wait until the next day that they would "dispose of it." I told that man to kiss my grits and that I wouldn't ever give him a chance to be rude to me again. I have subsequently learned that this jerk contracted out all his repairs to the person who now does all my maintane & repairs. This person works for Wal-mart!!

rotflmao!!! That must be it - mad bargain disease!!!

And my Viking dealer is great. I love them, and only have my machines serviced there. Been shopping there for over 20 years.

Pati, >>Howdy!

Wow, sounds like my taste in reading -- I prefer nonfiction to fiction in general. I will go check some of these books out (scurrying over to abebooks.com)

YIKES! There is one lousy sewing machine shop around here -- my friend, an expert sewer who does fancy and complicated heirloom sewing as easily as I would sew a straight seam, took her machine to this character to have it cleaned and tuned up, etc. When she got it back, it ran worse than it had before. She took it back, explaining that something must have gone wrong because the machine was working worse, and the store owner yelled at her, saying that she must not know how to use her machine.

Oh dear, it would have been rude and mean if he claimed he'd charged a storage fee for a day or two if you couldn't pick it up the same day, but to threaten to toss it in the trash--well, them's fightin' words.

The more I read of things like this, the more I wonder if it would be worth it to get repair manuals for every non-computerized Singer and start my own vintage Singer repair shop. I'm pretty sure I could learn how to repair the mechanical ones, but not so sure about the ones with computer bits in them.

Debra in VA

In article , Kate Dicey of Customer of PlusNet plc

uttered> Wilf, my O&NSMG, found needles for my 1909 Jones Family CS,You got a manual for it? Email me if you haven't.

Same here - AND iron out any small niggly faults the car may have had! We've never bought new, and our last 3 cars gave us trouble free motoring for years.

We were just thinking about selling the first Golf, when it was stolen (130,00o miles on the clock and seven years old), weren't yet contemplating selling the second one (after 5 years constant commuter use! Another 130,000 miles and 7 years old)), when it was stolen, and the little Seat is now the same age and we are just contemplating selling it with 100,000 miles and 5 years of constant driving, because James is getting too long in the legs for the back seat! It's had work recently, and we don't want to start on the expensive years! ;)

I've had new AND used sewing machines over the years, and the one that gave me most grief was a brand new Singer! ALMOST put me off sewing! I need either the cast iron sturdiness of the old machine or the precision and toughness of the TOTL newer, better built machines. Low to mid range modern machines just do not have the clout to cope with the amount and type of sewing I do.

You might also like First Flight, by Geoffrey Willum - Battle of Britain Spitfire pilot. Mum gave it to DH for Christmas, and it's scary what thet kid had done by his 21st birthday!

No, no - mad bargain disease is when you buy 11m of glazed cotton because it's a pound a metre, 60" wide, and a real bargain - if you ever find something to use it for!

Guilty as charged...

Yes, I got a manual :) Now I have more needles (she came with a blunt

14!), I can sew with her, too! Makes a lovely stitch, but I need to mop up a bit of over enthusiastic oiling on my part...