Vacation Day 3

Here it is mid-week of my vacation and I'm already making great headway into projects and plans but today we went shopping. If you are a regular reader you probably have guessed it: today was senior day at Goodwill Outlet and with vacation  days I didn't need to cut my time short. But first things first.

I needed to pick up a sewing machine from their online auction so we headed there first, right next door to the outlet. It was an Elna 1010 and I'm sorry if I outbid someone who is reading this blog post. Actually, I'm not so much sorry that you didn't get the final bid, I'm sorry you don't get to use this nicely made mechanical sewing machine. It even came in the box from a shop in Rochester, Minnesota! It's as clean as a whistle and runs like a champ:

Elna 1010

We all know Elna hasn't been making sewing machines in Switzerland for a long time so now they have "Swiss by Design" printed on the sewing machines. It's a pretty basic machine with utility stitches and their stretch companion stitches:

Elna 1010 stitch sample

This model was missing extra presser feet but I have sets of snap-on feet to add to this but it did come with a reproduced manual that is pretty good. This would make a very nice first sewing machine that could really go the distance.

After picking up the auction goodies, we went next door to the outlet and met up with a friend who was introduced to this outlet a few months ago and we planned to meet up again. This kind of outlet shopping is a bit more fun with a friend who can point out an item and ask your opinion. My husband was the big winner this trip as we can get hunting and camouflage wear with amazing regularity. I think he got three pairs of pants and another four shirts while I only got a pair of jeans and some fabric. Here's the fun part: when we got up to pay and they weigh it all out, they check your senior status by your phone number and our bill went from $21 down to $16 and we had three bags full! You just gotta love it.

We brought it all home and laundered everything, checking it over for anything we might have missed (that's what pre-treating laundry aids are for) and then I did some minor sewing so everything would be ready when hunting season begins. Apparently, with a crossbow the season starts in September so now we have months and months of hunting. But he's happy so I compare it to my sewing machine madness and figure he's pretty patient with me, too.

I did get an interesting black formal dress by Jones New York that has a few of the beads missing. Once home I try it on to find out it fits great so what can I do about those missing beads (front and back):

Front of Jones New York dress

I think I can simply remove the last row of beads, maybe just from the back, to fill in for the missing beads. Have I ever done this before? Not really but there was a bridesmaid dress some years ago with pretty fancy beads that needed re-positioning so maybe I can recall how I did that one or simply learn-as-I go. After all, isn't that how all of this sewing machine business started?