Sewing machines.

I promised a post about my sewing machines a loooong time ago. Here it finally is. And I know I was going to stop making these long talk posts, but I have to tell you about the machines too, photos, though they say many words,  are not enough.

I don't name my machines, but many of them have a gender, female to be precise, that has more to do with the word sewing machine, being a female word (one word) in Icelandic.

I don't have a photo of my first machine, a Pfaff 1037 that served me so very well for years. It's very tired and was a bit of a trouble machine, but I got it fixed up and it now has a new home with DD1.

This is the machine I bought when I started quilting in 1999. It is what we call a Monday machine (made on a Monday by hung over workers). Two years ago I had it fixed one more time and totally trashed it two weeks later when I forgot to change from buttonhole sewing to straight sewing after I changed the foot to the 1/4" foot. The needle arm is so bent the wheel wont move. Sigh. I have come to the conclusion that I'm not meant to own an operational Pfaff. Oh, and it always had ugly sounds, no matter how I cleaned and oiled it, loud ugly sounds.

I don't remember the year I bought my big Janome 6600P, but I LOVE her and carried her with me to lots of guild sewing days until I got scared I would accidentally drop her. She has a permanent home in a big desk that I inserted her in and I have quilted bigger than queen sized quilts on her. Not quite a king size though. She has what we call a swan neck, it's 9" instead of the normal 6".

When I got the scare I went and bought a smaller Janome. Sewist 521 Deluxe. I have no idea what the Deluxe stands for, maybe the needle threading gadget. This is a dependable machine and I like her very much, she sits on top of a Pfaff sewing machine table and one day I plan to insert her in the hole that the old machine sat in.

Few days after I bought the Janome Sewist I was given this almost newer used Toyota 4500. I use it for mending clothes and I like her very much too, no matter what I ask of her, she performs brilliantly. Just change to the right needle and then I can fix winter overalls or silk tops. She runs smoothly through everything. And the sound, like an old treadle, love it.

Then I was given this old machine, it's a bit broken down and I don't know the name, but my uncle who gave it to me said it was made in Germany in 1919 

Serger, it was an old dream to own one of these. Janome of course.

Three years ago I was given this old Pfaff 262 in a table. She had this beautiful purring sound, but could not make a straight stitch and everything was stuck and a knob was broken. So I took her to a good repairman I know in the city. He took a look at her and told me that not only was the knob broken but sadly some parts inside her too. And it would cost more for him to repair her than for me to buy a new Pfaff 4.0 So she sits in one of the windows of my sewing room and rests. I know she got worked out by her former owner. When I got her I did some internet search and found out she was made in 1968.

This February I bought a Singer treadle made in Scotland in 1912, I was told that everything works as it should, but the leather belt (new) needs to be cut to the right length. In the future I plan to do free motion quilting (on smaller quilts) on this lovely machine.

Phew, am I glad this post is done, now I need to post it while I still have power, the lights blinked just now, we are back to having North Eastern storms regularly again (since mid November) after a few days of South West winds and rain and snow and sun all in few hours time. From stillness to heavy winds in few moments. Never a dull moment.

            Sunna.