Singer 337 problems

There's no way I'd ever live in a city! It's hard even living on the edge of a village! Give me Stornoway...

If we move, it'll be to a similar size of house somewhere in the midlands, a bit closer to Himself's father. We'd still be looking at village locations. If the GMNT ends up somewhere like Welbeck for his A levels, we could go in a year. Otherwise we'll be here for at least another three years, until he leaves school.

The stuff doesn't bother me when folk put it away after use. I just loathe housework! I only do it because I hate dirt more! :D

Update:

1. As per Kate Quintuple-X's suggestion, I took the bobbin carrier out, no burrs or other things. I also fiddled with the springy thing that keeps the bobbin carrier from falling out, no effect.

1. The needle plate has no rough spots or rust or anything.

2. I did notice that when I pull the needle thread, rather than offering a smooth, steady resistance, it tends to hold and then let go, as if the tensioner plates were sticky. I took the thread tensioner apart and cleaned the plates (stainless steel?) with every solvent known to man, with no effect.

If I hold the thread against the case of the sewing machine, thus increasing the resistance, it vastly improves the stitches, in a way that fiddling with the tensioner doesn't. If I pull on the thread by hand, I don't notice much difference in the tension, though.

1. I do plan to take the machine back to the shop. Unfortunately, I have a rather busy life, and it's about a 1hour round trip, which I haven't found time for yet. (Sewing is snuck into the odd 15 or 30 minutes of down time; the 30-45 minute train ride to/from work is great for hand-sewing, seam ripping, and pinning up gathers.)

I love being right in the city - strange, I grew up in an English village - but when I think about it, I realize this neighborhood is really just a village itself. Most things I want or need are within a couple of miles and many of them are in walking distance. However, I am absolutely delighted that most of my friends want to live either out in the 'burbs or right out in the country - leaves room for me here, and if everyone wanted to live here it would be unaffordable for the likes of me. I happily entertain my friends when they want a taste of the city, and completely ignore their comments about city noise. I also chortle when they talk about crime in the city, and then the tv shows they have just as many robberies and murders out there as we do in my 'hood.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

I could cope MOST of the time with living in the middle of somewhere like Durham or Lincoln. Not London or any other big city. Suburbia would drive me bonkers in days. The Kent countryside is mostly OK, but I would prefer somewhere like the Yorkshire Dales, Weardale, the Borders, or the Highlands and Islands. It isn't going to happen, so I make the best of living opposite a cherry orchard (newly planted this year!), and being within easy reach of the V&A. We are barely five minutes from town, and only ten from the railway station outside the rush period, and within spitting distance of the A2, England's oldest and busiest motorway (other than the M25, which is an 80mph traffic jam, or an elaborate way of parking... it is most truly the Sigil of Darkness), and yet frequently people get lost trying to find us! Kent really is a county of two very different halves: madly busy townships and rural backwaters cheek by jowl! And the roads all go east/west because of the lie of the land, so getting from here to somewhere a mere

it would never do if we were all the same. :)

My early years were spent in a town of 2500 people, and I returned there every summer until high school. Now, I live in a mid-sized city (which has grown tremendously since I first came here in 1968) and I live almost downtown. But there is a city park across the street, and we have the largest yard in the area and it's filled with trees, some quite old and tall, others smaller because we planted them over the past 30 years. There is a hospital just past the park and over the freeway, a grocery and drug store about four blocks away. There are several shopping centers and restaurants within a few more blocks, and we're 10 minutes from the airport. The downtown central area is about 10 blocks away, and when the casinos have fireworks displays, I can watch them from the front windows or the front porch. When we first moved into this house, the neighborhood was a little iffy and the house had been burglarized often. Since we've been here, we've had two burglaries, but they were during the early years. We have added some security, but no alarm system. Plus the neighborhood has improved. The park is a mixed blessing - it's lovely to look at, but it does draw some unsavory types. The city noise is now much reduced since we installed double-glazed windows. Like you, Olwyn Mary, I like living here in the heart of things.

The 'symptom' you describe is very similar to a problem I had with a Fashion Mate, where the tension 'stud' gear -- which the tension spring is held against - was plastic (previously these were metal) and had a barely discrernable crack in it due to age/brittleness. The result was that every revolution of the check spring would result in a 'loosening' of tension because the crack would expand at that point, throwing the spring off.

Your service tech can verify this by removing the tensioner and checking the tension stud gear.

-Irene

Hey, Joanne, welcome back!!! Hope all is better, we missed you.

I live just south of a largish city, in what was originally a small self-contained town, but is now "the suburbs". I love where I live, I'm just minutes away from downtown, and I have some space here. Both my DDs opted to live in the city, in 1930s era houses with very small lots. Different strokes and all that.

Our house was built in 1917, it is 2,000 sq ft., sitting on a minute lot. This area was developed long before cars - some houses on this block are ante-bellum - so they had to be close enough for people to walk to work or at least to the horse-drawn streetcar. We have a pocket handkerchief size lawn in front, and a tiny yard, about 1/3 of which is taken up by the "little tin shed" containing dh's tools, another third by a tiny patio just big enough for two garden chairs, a little table and a pathway to the shed, and the rest is in ground cover. Quite enough work for dh to maintain, thank you, we would rather sit on the patio for morning coffee and just look at the ground cover, or sit on the front porch in the afternoon or evening and watch the world go by.

Speaking of which, we have director's chairs on the porch, plus lots of potted plants on the porch steps. The chairs were once covered in bright yellow canvas which has now faded severely. While I was buying lots of fabric a couple of weeks ago to make my summer wardrobe I also bought new canvas to recover the chairs, and it really is time I got at it. I have made two pairs of pants and two floor-length divided skirts in the last two weeks, plus tops to go with them, and am now awaiting the arrival of some knit fabrics to make tops to go with the remaining pants fabric.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Aha! I just knew someone had to be doing some actual sewing. Good luck on the canvas chair covers, did you get Sunbrella?

No, after I read up on the subject, including advice given on this board, I chickened out and bought simple cotton canvas. It has been twice through the "hot wash, cold rinse, hot dryer" routine to shrink it and is awaiting my kind attention. However, so is a small heap of household linens to be mended, so I will make myself do that first - today, I hope.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Wouldn't you have saved time and aggravation by getting the Sunbrella? I mean, how much did you save in initial $$ that you wasted on water and electricity with multiple washings and dryings?

No, actually, the price was not a consideration. However, so many places had awful warnings about how this stuff really needs a commercial machine, and how it can ruin a domestic one, etc. etc., and I know from past experience that my good old White machine can handle both duck and sailcloth, so I decided to stick with what I know in this case.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Thanks, I have never used Sunbrella, so never investigated the possible issues. Good to know. I'd like to make some covers for patio furniture one of these days.

YMMV. When you get ready to think about it, look it all up again. They might have improved things by then, who knows?

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

And at $30 or so a yard..... I have used duck for several outdoor projects and it was just fine. The huge cushion on the couch on my front porch is duck. The only thing I do special is spray with Scotchguard after the project is finished. Seems to work just fine.

That might be a good idea for you to keep in mind with your directors chairs, Olwyn Mary. As damp as things get down your way (humidity much??? lol) That will help I would think. We are pretty humid up here too (not quite to your standard, but almost.) The Scotchguard seems to help keep the mildew down.

Sharon

Hey, I'm doing some actual sewing too. ;) Working on the wedding dress still. Will post pics when it's done.

Anyone wanna come help weed the garden???? I'll send you home with a baggie of green beans too. ;)

Sharon

Not always:

NAYY,

Is this for the older bride, the sensible one? ;-)

Pass, although I wouldn't mind some vine-ripened tomatoes...