giving up the ghost

The replacement sewing machine 

Her days were numbered. She had given me more than 20 years of service, most of it trouble free, and with very little maintenance. I suppose it was only a matter of time before she died. But why did she have to die on Wednesday of all days? Talk about Murphy's Law.

At precisely 8.36am on Wednesday, the day before Magnolia Square, my trusty Singer 6233 gave up the ghost. I tried all the normal fixes. To no avail. After googling the problem I quickly discovered that it was most likely that the gear that drives the feed dogs was broken. It seems they were made of plastic and have a habit of disintegrating. After opening her up and having a look, Drew was able to confirm this was the problem. So no more sewing for number 6233.

Now, you are probably thinking that's the end of the story. An unhappy end where greenolive doesn't get to finish the pile of scarves and bunch of Harris Tweed handbags that are needed for Magnolia Square. 

Well, that's what I thought at first. But then we remembered Drew's machine. He has two actually. Both vintage, both Singers. And luckily, both working, thanks to his fiddling and twiddling. They are big, black and heavy, and one has an ornate metal plate. From its serial number we were able to date it to 1938/39 manufacture and it comes with a knee attachment so you can drive it with your knee. (Yes, we thought it odd too when the sewing machine guy told us about it. Apparently it was developed because during the war when women were sewing on these machines, they developed injuries from using the foot peddle all day.) 

I used the older machine, sans knee lever, and it makes a soft plop-plop-plop noise as it sews. The fact that I was using a vintage machine to sew Harris Tweed was rather appropriate I thought. However, while the machine does straight sewing like a dream, it doesn't do zig-zag or free arm sewing. So sewing the linings in & top stitching the finished bag was a bit of a challenge. A challenge that I wasn't quite up to on account of my lack of sleep and very long to-do list.

At least I was able to finish one bag to use as a sample at the show, to garner interest and get feedback on new range. All positive thank goodness, and one lady bought the bag on the final day. Yippee! Alas, I didn't take a photo of it, so you can't see how lovely it was. You'll just have to take my word for it – it was lovely.

Now I'm back in the land of reality after four long days of markets, I need to look into having 6233 fixed. If the repairs are going to be costly, I might have to look into a plan B – a new (old) machine.

And I also need to start finishing those Harris Tweed bags! We have piles of Harris Tweed and wool jackets in various states of deconstruction all over the lounge room – there's no room to sit down anywhere!

Comments

[Joy]

From personal experience, repairing that particular problem can be costly. Barry's sewing machines in Ringwood is a good place for 2nd hand, reliable machines. He could tell you if your machine is repairable too.

[Charis]

My sewing machine collection = 0. Your sewing machine collection = 3. Hhhhhhhhmmmm.... no fair. Admittedly you are currently down to 2... but they are beautiful Singers :)

[Michelle]

What a beautiful old machine! So lucky to have it so close to an impending deadline!