My New Sewing Machine

[mattl]

My sewing story...

I've been painting and wallpapering since I was an early teen.  Got to the point a pro paper hanger asked if I wanted a job. Anyway I papered our kitchen and my mother had purchased a matching fabric to make cafe curtains with a solid color side panels, very on trend for the early '70s.  She was working a lot at that point so I figured if I could match wallpaper patterns I could do the same with fabric. I taught myself how to make lined, pleated cafe curtains and side panels.  Just went on from there, made draperies and curtains for various rooms, then started doing it for family members. Have made some intricate styles over the years.

 

The only other sewing I did as blind stitching my dad's pants. As he got older he shrank and all his pants had to be shortened even  newly purchased items as it was hard to find the correct length. Never had any interest in doing other sewing but still enjoy doing draperies. I think at some point I might explore upholstery since new furniture has gotten so expensive.

 

[cfz2882]

Singer clone...

made in Poland in the early 1980s is my "go to"machine-it is loud and a little primitive,but a strong responsive motor is a strong point-can sew fast with this machine

 

[askolover]

I can do some of this stuff....all on a straight stitch machine...preferably my Japanese Singer clone.

 

[ea56]

I learned to use a sewing machine on my Grandma’s 1919 Singer Treadle machine that my Mom got when my grandparents moved into a mobile home in the early 60’s. Soon after the Singer came to our home the leather belt that ran the treadle broke. I was able to patch it together a few times because it kept breaking, Finally I couldn’t patch it together anymore. So I fashioned a replacement by tying together three heavy shoestrings from old tennis shoes and voila, the Singer was up and running again.

I used that machine to peg my pants, remember this was during my time in HS during the 60’s and we all wore skin tight pegged pants. I learned to do it by watching my other grandma doing alterations in her Dry Cleaning store.

When I left home I bought a new Bradford Sewing machine at Grants. I believe it was $69.00 and I paid for it at $5.00 a mo. I used this machine to make curtains, alterations on my pants and finally I started to make kaftans and shirts. In fact the night I met my husband I was wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt that I made myself, I wish I still had it, it was one of my favorite shirts of all time.

Finally in the early 90’s the Bradford machine became too troublesome to fool with anymore. So I bought a used Singer portable from the 30’s. I still have it, but haven’t used it in over 10 years. I bought a new BOL Singer about 10 years ago because I wanted to have zig zag capability and also the free sole plate arm for the added convenience of sewing pants cuffs and sleeves. Like Matt’s dad, I’ve shrunk too. My legs have always been short, I work a 29” inseam in HS, in my 50’s I needed to shorten to a 28” inseam, now I wear a 26” inseam after my last hip replacement, so the Singer comes in handy.

Eddie

 

[cavimum]

Launderess - In case you are interested, there is a wonderful BerninaThirtySomethings online group that provides help and support for fellow owners. Because one always needs another online forum, right? They are quite knowledgeable and if you have questions about your 930, they can answer it.

https://groups.io/g/BTS
https://groups.io/g/BTS