Monday, September 12, 2016

Viking Mania (and not the Minnesota Vikings)

I'm not a big fan of football and coming from Chicago to the Twin Cities didn't help either. I did go to a couple of seasons of high school football when a son-in-law was coaching. I did find that way too much fun but wrestling with little ones got to be more than my daughter was willing to go through so I was back-on-the-bench. So even though I now live in the land of the Minnesota Vikings, I don't really care but I have to tell you that my fascination for the Husqvarna Viking sewing machines hardly has abated even though I have bought, sold, and used so many models.

It all started with upgrading my Kenmore sewing machine after 35 years of use and I went for a Viking right off, a lovely Fressia 415. I then bought a Viking 1100 that I used for the next three years as my main sewing machine. In the meantime I bought and sold a whole variety of models but was quickly disillusions with the 6000 series. This is a whole big group of models that have not stood the test of time and, yes, I bought several of these in hopes I could repair them. My skills are not at this level yet so I hold on to them in hopes that I can have a serious week of Viking Repair. Yea, right.

But for now, I have several Viking Husqvarna's that are in good shape and I connected with Marilyn yesterday who wanted to look at the model 1070. It had a cabinet. Oh, be still my heart, I might even get one of the cabinets out of the garage! Marilyn had a similar model Viking that gave out so she knew what she was getting and liked how it performed so it was sold. Then we started to talk about sergers and she wanted to see what I had. I brought up a Kenmore and a White but that Kenmore took so much fussing to get it out of the rolled hem mode that we turned to the White 543. This wasn't easy going either as I had to thread it up from scratch yet Marilyn watched every move, all of the tension adjustments, so she really got a lesson in how to use a serger. Sold!
Viking Husqvarna 1070
One last trip via the garage to see if she would take the cabinet and she did. Although Marilyn wasn't sure if she was going to use it, since it was a package deal she might as well. It was a more modern cabinet with the machine getting bolted down, not slid in on pins, but it had a nice extension leaf, maybe for a serger?

It ended up being a surprising afternoon with one sewing machine sold, another serger sold, and a large cabinet walking out the door. Marilyn got a tour of the garage sale items that were waiting patiently for the sale (what choice did they have?) and took down the date and information to share with friends. Ah, she had a sewing daughter, too. Yup, it's getting exciting! October 1 and 2 from 9-5 on Saturday and noon to 6 on Sunday. Come one, come all!

1 comment:

Thin Man Sewing said...

Vikings are great machines. It would be grand to come to your sale.