Adding to the 'stuff'

[pyoor_excuse]

So, freecycle Slough finally came up trumps, and in our kitchen sits a sewing machine. I've been trying to find one for *ages* - mostly for Kathryn, because frankly my sewing is laughable. But occasionally it's seemed like we could do with a machine. I was hoping to pick up an ancient singer with the hand-crank. This would be easily transferable to Canada but after countless lost auctions (and annoyingly never by much) I'd kind of stopped poking. And then this came up.

The Alfa 50 sewing machine. I've no idea of it's exact age, but it's an external motor/belt driven whatsit. It's in need of a thorough clean but after lord knows how many years in the shed I checked it all turned over and moved okay - plugged it in, and pressing the foot pedal spurred it into life.

I'm quite impressed. It does, however, weigh the same as an African elephant.

I'm hoping that Kathryn knows how to thread it too, because to me sewing machines essentially look like a way to generate a cat's cradle very quickly. She, however, is possessed of clue on the whole 'sewing machine' issue, and therefore there is a possibility that she could just by the power of her mind discover the correct routing for thread.

Otherwise it seems to be about a fiver for the manual - downloaded...

Anyhow, Kathryn's home now...

Comments

[quercus.livejournal.com]

Can't trust those Alfa sewing machines, full of rust, never sew straight in the Winter...

The Haynes manual for them is a little yellow thing from TAB Books, called "How to fettle your entire sewing machine, no, really, you've got an MZ and a bunch of Dafs, how much harder could it be?" As most maintenance is basically cleaning away fluff and only ever oiling with the _lightest_ of spots of oil (also fresh needles and good quality thread), it's really not that scary.

Which I why I have nearly as many half-fettled sewing machine projects in the shed as I do cars. Hmmm....

[pyoor_excuse]

I see. You're not filling me with confidence. The machine however, lept into life at Kathryn's touch and popped some stitches in some fabric, so yay... :)

[quercus.livejournal.com]

Sewing machines have acquired an awesome reputation for being unmaintainable and unfixable, but this is usually from people who only sew with them, rather than people who also collect Dafs / Alfas and aren't scared to dive right in.

They do need a light touch though! The only real maintenance that's practical is cleaning out the dust bunnies (artist's paintbrush), but that's all they almost-always ever need. If your hooky-wook (technical term there) really has worn beyond serviceability then the difference in shape might be too subtle to ever see it and you just need to buy a new one. Practicality of that depends on parts sourcing and age (anything "industrial" seems to be available forever, anything "domestic" is an utter pain). In practice, very few machines are used enough to get that far, so you're only ever at the "clean it and it'll be fine" stage.

I think I've acquired 5 machines by now, plus Rachel's, but only one is set up & working (but two hundred miles away!). The two good ones just need setup, but I live in hope of getting a proper sewing room organised and they've been waiting for years now. In the meantime I tend to cheat and go use jarkman's instead.

Needles do make a surprising difference, as does good quality (non-fluffy) thread. Get a pack of mixed needles, at least a 5-pack of each likely size, and don't be afraid to either swap to the right size for the fabric or swap out a blunted one. I buy this sort of thing from Morplan, who have a moderate minimum-order as they're trade, but they're cheap for thread if you have a big project (lovely, lovely Mundial scissors too).

[wibble-puppy.livejournal.com]

cooooooooooooooooool :D

There was a hand-cranked Singer on our local Freecycle today. I think it's taken but I've emailed just in case...

[pyoor_excuse]

They come up now and then but always disappeared. I think this one was mainly because it was simply described as old, heavy and probably needing a service. All of which are probably true, but it does work (Kathryn largely got the threading, I just made a suggestion that was the final wiggle in the thread to make it work) and off it went.

Having proven that it works I spent 5 quid on a PDF download of the manual (having not managed to find it free anywhere) and here we are :)

G'luck with the hand-cranked singer :)

[wibble-puppy.livejournal.com]

Yay! Go sew! :D

The Freecycle singer has indeed gone. We have two machines already (I won't let Griff use mine, and his gives you an electric shock at random intervals) - I had just wondered if you would like it as well as your Alfa. (Liking the appropriateness of the car connection btw ;) )

[pyoor_excuse]

Thanks! I think one machine will do us, I can't sew at all, anyway, (seriously, I can stitch people, but sewing is an otherworldy skill and I have immense respect for Kathryn's abilities in that regard*) and since she can't use two machines at once... I assume...

The car connection's good isn't it, and one of the reasons I love my wife was notable when she was dinking with it. "It's got soul" she said, "not like those modern white things".

* My mum can sew very well, but it appears to be a process which involves a great deal of swearing.

[quercus.livejournal.com]

Two machines at one isn't unusual.
jarkman uses three! (overlocker too)

All worthwhile constructional tasks involve a great deal of swearing.

"Modern white things" are OK, so long as they're just '70s-'80s white things without the later Electronics Of Satan. Best Machine Ever (IMHO) is the Pfaff 1221/1222, a piece of cammy gorgeousness and purely mechanical, except the footpedal. The footpedal is also the only bit that goes wrong!

Mind you, the overlocker scares both of us. Just threading it can take a team of sewing geeks half an hour to get it all sorted.