Weekend Warrior

This past weekend started out fun with a woman coming over to buy her first sewing machine. I'm not going to guess her age but she said she had teenage children but wanted to sew a few things she could sell. Because she was interested in a sewing machine that wasn't the best to look at and didn't want to spend too much, she came to try out the Signature I had in trade with Cheri:

Signature

It worked just fine and she didn't mind the nicks in the paint but it didn't come with a manual and that was a deal breaker. Could you find one online for $10? Probably, but I hadn't found one just yet. So she asked what else I had for sale and as I turned the corner heading to the basement I pointed out the nice Brother 2010 in a cabinet:

Brother 2010

This sewing machine came to me from an ad I posted for another vintage Brother, asking if I would be interested in theirs. It came with a small cabinet, all of the original accessories, and that prized manual. Without even sitting down to sew on it, she was sold due to the detailed manual. I gave a brief overview and ran it so she could hear how it sounded, but she was sure this was the one.

The next morning I made a house call to Ellen's to clean up a treadle that is going to Haiti. The treadle mechanism was jammed but with a tap from a hammer (last resort) it popped free. I worked on the head while Ellen washed windows and promised to clean up the base another day. A small SUV was in the driveway getting packed for shipping to Haiti but this treadle wasn't going to go on this trip. As it turned out, I had to take the head home with me because I couldn't get it to stitch. After much tinkering I discovered I had put the bobbin race in wrong. This is a great sewing machine and I've heard White Rotary are one of the best treadlers, but you have to keep in mind it runs backwards to the Singers: instead of turning the hand wheel toward you in a counter-clockwise motion, the hand wheel turns away from you in a clock-wise motion. Sounds simple enough but it can keep the machine from sewing stitches if this is forgotten.

Classic White Rotary head

I came home to work on sewing up more of the men's shirts as aprons when I started to feel a cold coming on but dreading I had the same virus my husband has. That has laid me low but I'm off to the doctor today to hopefully get antibiotics before this turns in pneumonia like his. And to complicate matters even further, our kitchen sink has backed up. Plumbers are on their way but I'm thinking "What else could happen?" but we will try not to go there!

UPDATE: Before I could even get this posted I have been to the doctor and now on antibiotics and other things to easy my respiratory distress and the plumber cleared the clog. It does have a silver lining: the plumber was very interested in the vintage sewing machines and took great delight in the bentwood cases since he's a woodworker, too. You just never know, huh?