New Leaf

The Big Room Switch continues as I sort and arrange the supply of sewing machines and all of the paraphernalia that goes along with repairing and selling them. Now that I'm past the shock of it and getting some of the less glamorous parts taken care of (boxes of foot controls, motors, and electrical parts) I've been able to examine some of the machines that have sat idle too long without any solution or even a label. I decided I needed something that could take the place of the large table that held so many of the repair supplies and found this rolling set of mesh baskets on Craigslist:

IKEA cart

It's really pretty big but I love how much it holds and with wheels I can pull it out to get to the shelves behind it, when necessary. There is a small cabinet next to this, holding a Singer 15-91, that I can put a machine on as a small workbench. It's not ideal but it does fit and works for most of the jobs I do. Bigger jobs will still require me to use the dining room table but it's not a bad compromise.

As I was checking up on various sewing machines that were a bit of a mystery, I found this one way in the back:

White 674

The case was marked "White - stitches" so I expected it to not stitch quite right. Nope, not a thing wrong with her. She is just lovely with a good stitch and she sounds so quiet. Accessories still need to be gathered but I think I'm going to pass on finding the right set of cams for decorative stitches. I've had this model before and know that the designs on the cams are a bit weird and they are difficult to remove. It still stitches zig zag and straight stitches with reverse and can even drop its feed dogs so it's a great basic machine. The case is in poor shape so I want to recover it and then find someone who will love it!

There were some machines that I found I don't have the skills to repair so I set them aside to work on over the summer because I'm going to get those skills real soon: I registered for Ray Whites Sewing Machine Repair Class April 21-23! I'm so excited! My husband has agreed to drive down to Missouri with me even though he's not taking the class, we have reservations at a local motel, and I got the class reservation confirmation this morning. Yea! There are rave reviews for his class and I think this is what I need to fill in the gaps of what I've learned ...but not enough or the right way. I'll keep you informed of my progress!

My wall of shame is turning into more of a storage unit but here's how it looked after a weekend of organizing:

This will motivate me to sell, sell, sell so I can walk around in there and keep me from buying that next "bargain" when I already have one of those models. Whew! The sewing takes place on the other side of the room and I hope to be getting back to that very soon. It does feel good to have all of this in one place and I'm not too mad at my husband about it now - but don't tell him that.