I thought I was getting a new machine...

13 years ago

On Friday I was free motion quilting a table runner on my 40 year old Sears Kenmore machine. (I am quite the novice @ FM.) For the past few days I've heard a "bird chirping in it", but when I would call my husband in to listen to the machine, it would stop chirping. Isn't that always the way?

So I had been sewing for a while & had the intermittent chirping, & was pretty close to finishing when the machine wheel on the right just locked up... froze with the needle in the fabric. I thought, well that's it. Time to buy a new sewing machine. I immediately started looking on-line & comparison shopping.

When dh came home I told him what happened & he says, "Well buy a new machine. We don't have anything else around here still functioning after 40 years - except us." He gave this one to me our first C-mas after marrying, so it is special to me.

I called my bff & fellow quilter & shared the sad/happy news. We talk machines & plan to go shopping together. She is even more excited than I.

Later in the evening my dh, a renowned Mr-Fix-It, decides to tear into the machine. He found the culprit, a bearing that needed grease, not something you would normally access for routine maintenance. He gets it put back together & it is purring like a kitten!

When I told my bff, she was sooo disappointed in an amusing way. She said, " I thought after we talked that ... just watch he'll look into it & fix it."

Comments (5)

toolgranny
13 years ago
But fixing an old machine doesn't mean you don't need a better model. I used an old Kenmore at least 40 yrs old and then discovered I could do FMQ much easier and faster on a different machine. So, I still have it and use it for other things but go to a new machine for FMQ. The FMQ machine doesn't zig-zag for instance.

If you can afford it, it's sure worth the investment. It saves on the wear and tear of YOU.
K8Orlando
13 years ago
Keep shopping! Now that yours is working you can hold out for a great deal, but get that new machine. You'll love having two that you can use.

Kate
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bee0hio
Original Author
13 years ago
I'm really tempted.....

I do have other machines:
*The Featherweight that I take to my splinter group's Red Cross sewing & also to workshops.
*The basic (zig & straight) Brother that I take in the travel trailer when we go on trips.
*Then I don't really count the old Singer treadle from my mom. It is in the basement, collecting dust, & never sewed well even when I was a child. I've "thought" about getting it refurbished....

But you ARE right. A new machine that can handle FMQ (& other things) IS very, VERY tempting....
TxMarti
13 years ago
How disappointing, but the new machines have so many things that make them faster and easier that it might be worth getting one anyway. You can always keep the old one to do other things.
nannykins
13 years ago
My Pfaff is over 25 years old and works like a charm But I fear the day it gives up. So recently I have been thinking "new machine". This morning while working on some piecing, it decided to act up and I thought this was the day. However, rethreading fixed her up and she is good to go again. Must have been reading my thoughts.