New Friends

Saturday was a busy sewing machine day with an invitation to talk at a quilt group meeting about vintage sewing machines. What fun! My favorite topic! It took me some time to figure out what I wanted to say and then to pick the sewing machines to illustrate my points. Here's what the table looked like:

How many can you name?

I talked about metal versus plastic, gears and belts, decals and chrome, longevity and self maintained sewing machines. Of course, I had business cards and fliers about my sewing machine garage sale so it was a bit self-serving but I think we all had fun. Everyone came up afterwards to ask questions about the models, lost foot controls, and would I hold models until the sale. I went around the room to talk with some of the women and found this lovely lady with her vintage sewing machine:

"Can you fix the bobbin winder?"

She confessed the bobbin winder wouldn't work anymore so I asked if I could look inside the front cover. Inside? She never had the cover off before, never serviced, never oiled. Here's what we found:

Bobbin winder tire: flat spot!

There was a flat spot on the bobbin winder tire, probably because it got stuck in one place due to a lack of oil over the years. As it tried to wind, it just got worn down in one place to produce that flat spot. I grabbed one off of my Brother Select-o-Matic and it was a great fit. Voila! It was working again. I forgot my sewing machine oil at home so I showed her where she could oil it herself. One very happy lady at the end of the day (me, too).

It was a great time talking about these vintage sewing machines and everyone seemed more than just polite but interested in what they might use another sewing machine for. The bottom line: every single sewing machine produced an excellent stitch. Of course. I hope to see several of these wonderful quilting women at the garage sale.

After leaving the quilting group, I spent the afternoon with Ellie on her Haiti project. Here's what I found in her garage:

Garage for Haiti?

There were at least six treadle sewing machines (2 White, one Franklin, and the rest Singers), a Singer 457, and a Kenmore 158-16?? (I'm not sure about the exact number anymore). The Kenmore got a good looking over with clean-up, oiling, and adjustment while the treadles were just checked to see if they were good candidates to send. Yup! All were in good working order and just needed cleaning and a new belt. Accessories in the drawers didn't always match the machine but we sorted them all out, matching up the right bobbins and feet for each one. In only a few hours time my work was done although I left behind all of that packing. There are several vehicles in the driveway that will hold all of this and they should be shipped in the next few weeks and received in November. Wow, this is quite a project. Somehow it made me feel better about the sewing machines in my garage but I'm afraid mine are not going to get shipped anywhere.

If you live in the Twin Cities please plan on coming to the extravaganza Sewing Machine Garage Sale on September 26!