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Sewing Machines are in Demand Again
During this Covid-19 shut-down, I’ve wanted to do some crafting and sewing. I’ve been buying (my husband says ‘hoarding’) fabric for years, so I would have it when I had time to spend sewing. My thought has always been that ‘someday’ I would have time to sew. Well, someday finally arrived.
😊
Then disaster struck. At least it felt like disaster. I have two nice machines, one a basic sewing machine and one an embroidery machine. They’ve both been in storage the last few years, then when we moved, I made sure they were in the moving truck. Again, with hopes to have time to sew someday.
The basic sewing machine was damaged and can’t be used. I can only assume it was during the move. Unfortunately, the only store in my area that services my brand is over the state line. I’m not willing right now to travel that far. The other, the convertible embroidery machine, wouldn’t sew. Being the same brand, I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) travel to get it fixed. Even if the store is open. If I wanted to go out of state, I could call, but there isn’t much point in calling at this point.
Maybe I Can Fix It Myself
So, after calming down, I took the machine apart, as much as I knew how to do, anyway. I cleaned it, oiled it, made sure all the moving parts could move easily, then put it back together. The good news is that it sews, now. The bad news is that it won’t do a reverse stitch. As best I can tell, the switch is broken. It’s an electronic/computerized sewing machine, and to get to the switch, I’d have to remove all sorts of electronic and computer components. My husband, helpful soul that he is, suggested using a hammer on it. Needless to say, I’ve hidden the hammer from him.
Now, I know enough to fix and repair a computer to some extent. I’ve replaced hard drives, power supplies, RAM, and added cards for my computer. But I’m not brave enough to disassemble the electronic guts of a sewing machine. I don’t know enough to risk it.
Birthday Offer
My birthday is coming up this week, so my husband offered to buy me a machine for my birthday. Thinking all was well and I could start sewing soon, I went online to find a sewing machine at my local discount store. Only to find out all the machines below $200 were sold out. Okay. No problem. I went to other discount stores in my area. They’re all sold out, too.
My granddaughter works in the fabric department in her local store. She tells me her store is out of machines, too. And out of cotton fabric. And quarter-inch elastic. And bias tape. And almost out of fat quarters.
I went to Amazon to see what they had. Every machine in my price range has sold out. Okay, I decided to try Singer.com. Even the Singer company posted the news online that sewing machine orders are delayed.
Now, along with other sewists, I have over the past years lamented that no one sews, anymore. So, in that sense, I’m thrilled to learn that others have decided for pleasure or necessity to learn to sew. I sincerely hope that these new sewing machine owners enjoy learning to use their machines and keep sewing for many years to come.
As far as my sewing, I’ll have to make do with what I have. For the foreseeable future, anyway. I suspect that by the time sewing machines are available again, I’ll be comfortable crossing state lines. The service center will be open, if it isn’t now, and I can get my machines fixed.
Until then, I hope you're having more luck with your sewing tasks.
I love Singer's heavy-duty machines, because they have a solid metal chassis, and are heavy enough not to jitter across the table while sewing. They can sew multiple layers of denim, and sew really fast--which is important to me. I love to sew, but when sewing long seams, such as for curtains, going slow takes forever.
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