I'm Free

Once you start looking for sewing machines, they just seem to fall in your lap. Or maybe it's an obsession. Either way, after my two Viking success stories, I started to find all kinds of machines. The next one was on a quiet Sunday afternoon and a girl posted to Craigslist that she just wanted the sewing machine out of her house. I was more than willing to take a look at it and the price was right: $10. As I drove to a Caribou Coffee shop, I reflected on the flurry of emails she sent me about how I could just have the machine but maybe I would be willing to buy her fabric and other stuff for $10? I thought that sounded like a possibility but I started to get cold feet. What was going on here?

When I found her standing in front of Caribou, looking somewhat miserable, she told me the story: she fell and the machine dropped, breaking the hard shell of the carrying case. She thought the sewing machine was probably okay but since she couldn't be sure she said "just take it" and gave me the bag of fabric and patterns, too. I wasn't sure about the whole transaction, thought I should give her something but just said okay and took it to my car. As I looked back I saw her limping and I was stricken: should I run back and give her $10 for her trouble? What if the machine really doesn't run?

I took it home, cleaned her up, make up a sample of stitches and posted my find to Facebook:

She was in good shape, mostly plastic, missing a few parts, but basically good.

Here's view of the top opening with storage and a chart of stitches and settings.

This sample of stitches was all it took and I got a request from a co-worker.



I gladly gave it to her daughter who was learning to sew and called it a day. A good day.