My new sewing machine

I grew up around sewing machines.  My first sewing machine, which I still have and use, was a 1976 Singer.  It is built like a rock (and weighs about as much as one), and 31 years later still compares favorably against most modern home sewing machines.  I've since added a serger (a.k.a. over-locker) to my toolkit, and have been fantasizing about a cover stitcher.  But yesterday, when I went with my mother to help her pick out a new sewing machine, I was utterly charmed by a little chain stitcher.

This post has moved.  Read the entire post at http://wombats-and-cents.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-new-sewing-machine.html

Comments

[Ruta]

Courtney, I must admit I am even more surprised by your talents. I really thought that sewing belonged to my part of the world, where women and young girls learned this art just to compensate for empty clothing stores. And even when I found one sewing machine at your home in Ann Arbor, I thought it belonged to your grandmother or somebody else. I wonder if your Mother remembers the night gown that I made for myself when I was staying at your place in 1991. I think that was the last item I had sewn. Independence brought in prosperity to Lithuania, and shame to me, I don't sew anything anymore. I tried knitting when I was raising my second son. That was supposed to be a sweater for a one-year-old. I didn't make it past the back of the sweater. The front and the sleeves were finished by his gorgeous nanny. By the way, if you still use your sewing machine, what exactly do you sew?

[Ruta]

Your post about the sewing machines is definitely responsible for my decision to get one myself. Of course, the decision was also prompted by the fact that both of my boys are so good at tearing the knees and the bottoms of their pants that I saw no other way of coping with this problem. Also, my husband is an ardent participant of orienteering competitions and comes back from the woods and swamps with torn-down tracksuits. This morning we went to a shop and bought an electric Husqvarna thing, the first electric one in my life, as my mom has a foot-driven one that I was using too, but the hems had to be done by hand as it didn't have this hemline stitch. A huge progress now!