retromania
Well-known member
Does anyone know when Singer Sewing Centers ceased to be?
Singer Sewing Centers
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danemodsandy
Well-known member
That Started....
....In the '80s; the stores got much scarcer. More work, fewer husbands, less time all conspired to make home sewing less commonplace.
And Singer didn't help. While Singer made an excellent product, and backed it quite well, it was an expensive brand. List prices on machines were high, and Singer didn't give anything away.
A case in point from the '70s will show what I mean. In 1975, Singer came out with my favorite Singer product, the Athena 2000, the first electronically-controlled machine for home sewers. It had phenomenal stitch quality, incredible ease-of-use and a "magic" buttonholer that would automatically sew the correct sized basic shirt-type buttonhole for any button dropped into its slot.
List price was $1500 at introduction, though that was soon dropped to $1200. But that $1200 was equal to nearly five grand in today's money. For that, you got the machine and a small box of basic feet, period. If you wanted the fancy buttonholer that did bound buttonholes, or a monogrammer, those were extra. You didn't get a carrying case for that nosebleed-high price. Cabinets were expensive (the TOL cabinet was $400), and if you preferred using your controller as a knee control rather than a foot control, the bracket needed for that was extra, too. The bracket was all of $5 extra, but when you'd just paid $400 for a cabinet (equal to more than $1600 today), it felt like extortion.
Contrast that with my other machine, a TOL Sears Kenmore 1914 from the same year. It was an all-mechanical machine, but it had more stitches built in than the Athena did and it came with more attachments than most home sewers knew what to do with, including the fancy buttonholer and a monogrammer. Made by Japan's Maruzen, it was priced at one-third the price of the Athena, and carried a stronger guarantee.
Singer's pricing policies were created at a time when the brand was absolutely unassailable - if you purchased a machine from anyone else, you were getting something that probably wasn't as good in the first place, and certainly did not have the world-wide network of service and support that Singer did. But those circumstances changed; other brands got much better, and so did their support.
It was Singer's bad judgment and bad luck to be trapped in its short-sighted pricing policies just as the market went South. Within ten years, the Singer Sewing Centers were basically no more. Had they offered better value, they might have fared better, at least with the dwindling number of consumers who were still dedicated to the idea of home sewing.
Interestingly, a lot of independent dealers are faring quite well in today's smaller market, by offering what Singer used to - a showroom, demonstrations, on-site service and sewing classes.
....In the '80s; the stores got much scarcer. More work, fewer husbands, less time all conspired to make home sewing less commonplace.
And Singer didn't help. While Singer made an excellent product, and backed it quite well, it was an expensive brand. List prices on machines were high, and Singer didn't give anything away.
A case in point from the '70s will show what I mean. In 1975, Singer came out with my favorite Singer product, the Athena 2000, the first electronically-controlled machine for home sewers. It had phenomenal stitch quality, incredible ease-of-use and a "magic" buttonholer that would automatically sew the correct sized basic shirt-type buttonhole for any button dropped into its slot.
List price was $1500 at introduction, though that was soon dropped to $1200. But that $1200 was equal to nearly five grand in today's money. For that, you got the machine and a small box of basic feet, period. If you wanted the fancy buttonholer that did bound buttonholes, or a monogrammer, those were extra. You didn't get a carrying case for that nosebleed-high price. Cabinets were expensive (the TOL cabinet was $400), and if you preferred using your controller as a knee control rather than a foot control, the bracket needed for that was extra, too. The bracket was all of $5 extra, but when you'd just paid $400 for a cabinet (equal to more than $1600 today), it felt like extortion.
Contrast that with my other machine, a TOL Sears Kenmore 1914 from the same year. It was an all-mechanical machine, but it had more stitches built in than the Athena did and it came with more attachments than most home sewers knew what to do with, including the fancy buttonholer and a monogrammer. Made by Japan's Maruzen, it was priced at one-third the price of the Athena, and carried a stronger guarantee.
Singer's pricing policies were created at a time when the brand was absolutely unassailable - if you purchased a machine from anyone else, you were getting something that probably wasn't as good in the first place, and certainly did not have the world-wide network of service and support that Singer did. But those circumstances changed; other brands got much better, and so did their support.
It was Singer's bad judgment and bad luck to be trapped in its short-sighted pricing policies just as the market went South. Within ten years, the Singer Sewing Centers were basically no more. Had they offered better value, they might have fared better, at least with the dwindling number of consumers who were still dedicated to the idea of home sewing.
Interestingly, a lot of independent dealers are faring quite well in today's smaller market, by offering what Singer used to - a showroom, demonstrations, on-site service and sewing classes.
In the mid 50s, when our neighborhood's shopping center opened, there was a Singer sewing center in it. I remember going there with my parents in about 1960 to buy mom a new Singer to replace her treadle machine. In the 70s, they bought my sister her own Singer and she went to sewing classes for two summers. In Home Ec in high school, she and the friend who went to the classes with her were accused by the teacher of buying the blouses they had to make for a class project because they were so well constructed. Their mothers had to tell the teacher about the classes for the girls to get their grade. Singer had a good education program and good machines back then.
retromania
Well-known member
Thanks Sandy. The reason I asked is because we had a Singer Sewing Center. It moved a few times before it closed. We then had a Singer store in the mall, but I couldn't we had if we had SSC and a store in the mall at the same time. I wondered Singer closed all its centers at the same time. Funny thing is the Singer store in the mall lasted a good little while, but I never saw anyone browsing in there. I would go in there to look at the machines and the sales person working there would give me the 'Kid, why are you wondering in here look!'
danemodsandy
Well-known member
One Other Thought.....
Singer, like most sewing machine stores, operated something like a car dealership. They accepted trade-ins, there was dickering on the price and there was a lot of room for a salesman to move you up from the basic machine you had in mind to something fancier - with more profit built in.
My very first machine, which I did not have long, was a BOL Singer flat-bed zig-zag machine, the very cheapest they made, without a single bell or whistle. With no trade-in, I had to pay full list, which was $79.95. But I had to be one tough cookie to get out of the store (at Cumberland Mall in Cobb County, GA) with that machine; they worked on me - at the very highest of pressure - for quite a while. My resistance to their blandishments was not made any easier by the fact that the machine I really wanted - that $1500 Athena 2000 - was front and center on the showroom floor, with their veddy best salesman assigned to demonstrate that and nothing else.
By contrast, Sears' price was the price, unless they had a sale; they didn't take trade-ins and they certainly didn't dicker. It made determining the value of your deal a lot easier.
Singer was the best, no mistake, and entering their stores wasn't just similar to entering a car dealership - it was like entering a Cadillac dealership. Which can be very enjoyable if you have the price of a Cadillac on you.
I did not, and I never quite shook that feeling of second-class citizenship I got when I made them sell me what I could actually afford. I've wondered ever since how many other folks got that same feeling.
Part of my delight in owning the TOL Singers I have and have had has come from the fact that I finally got what I wanted - years later, for next to nothing and without having to put up with the Singer "experience."
Singer, like most sewing machine stores, operated something like a car dealership. They accepted trade-ins, there was dickering on the price and there was a lot of room for a salesman to move you up from the basic machine you had in mind to something fancier - with more profit built in.
My very first machine, which I did not have long, was a BOL Singer flat-bed zig-zag machine, the very cheapest they made, without a single bell or whistle. With no trade-in, I had to pay full list, which was $79.95. But I had to be one tough cookie to get out of the store (at Cumberland Mall in Cobb County, GA) with that machine; they worked on me - at the very highest of pressure - for quite a while. My resistance to their blandishments was not made any easier by the fact that the machine I really wanted - that $1500 Athena 2000 - was front and center on the showroom floor, with their veddy best salesman assigned to demonstrate that and nothing else.
By contrast, Sears' price was the price, unless they had a sale; they didn't take trade-ins and they certainly didn't dicker. It made determining the value of your deal a lot easier.
Singer was the best, no mistake, and entering their stores wasn't just similar to entering a car dealership - it was like entering a Cadillac dealership. Which can be very enjoyable if you have the price of a Cadillac on you.
I did not, and I never quite shook that feeling of second-class citizenship I got when I made them sell me what I could actually afford. I've wondered ever since how many other folks got that same feeling.
Part of my delight in owning the TOL Singers I have and have had has come from the fact that I finally got what I wanted - years later, for next to nothing and without having to put up with the Singer "experience."
Death Of Home Sewing
Or rather major drop off in levels as there are still a decent number of those who continue to do so for pleasure and or profit came also for a simple reason: less expensive and wider range of ready to wear clothing.
Up until the 1970's or so off the rack clothing either was expensive, did not come in many sizes or a mixture of both. The answer to both problems was for persons to sew their own and or have to make alterations to store purchased clothing.
Those of us of a certain age will remember our mothers or other females having to go for "fittings" either because she purchased something from a shop that had to be altered, or was having something run up by her dressmaker. Samantha Stephens gets in on the act (to the dismay of her mother, Endora) when the former drags the latter along to a store dress sale, but then notices the time and that she has an appointment for a fitting but also must run an errand (meet Darrin?).
It may be hard for most to believe today, but there was a time when clothing in particular that for ladies came in a few sizes. If one was not one of those "standard sizes" you either run up your own things or had purchased items altered to fit.
There was also lively work in sewing children's clothing and or altering "hand me downs", to stretch the household budget.
It isn't just Singer sewing centers that have vanished, but Pfaff and Viking similar stores have mostly gone as well. Allot of this had to do with the economic upheavals all sewing machine makers went though during the 1980's or so. IIRC at one time one company had all three.
Or rather major drop off in levels as there are still a decent number of those who continue to do so for pleasure and or profit came also for a simple reason: less expensive and wider range of ready to wear clothing.
Up until the 1970's or so off the rack clothing either was expensive, did not come in many sizes or a mixture of both. The answer to both problems was for persons to sew their own and or have to make alterations to store purchased clothing.
Those of us of a certain age will remember our mothers or other females having to go for "fittings" either because she purchased something from a shop that had to be altered, or was having something run up by her dressmaker. Samantha Stephens gets in on the act (to the dismay of her mother, Endora) when the former drags the latter along to a store dress sale, but then notices the time and that she has an appointment for a fitting but also must run an errand (meet Darrin?).
It may be hard for most to believe today, but there was a time when clothing in particular that for ladies came in a few sizes. If one was not one of those "standard sizes" you either run up your own things or had purchased items altered to fit.
There was also lively work in sewing children's clothing and or altering "hand me downs", to stretch the household budget.
It isn't just Singer sewing centers that have vanished, but Pfaff and Viking similar stores have mostly gone as well. Allot of this had to do with the economic upheavals all sewing machine makers went though during the 1980's or so. IIRC at one time one company had all three.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Launderess:
Singer is presently owned by SVP Worldwide, which also owns Pfaff, Viking and Husqvarna, so the ownership you mention is still current.
I should be clear that the problems I've noted with Singer in the old days have nothing whatever to do with SVP Worldwide, which did not own Singer until years later. The old Singer ceased to exist in the 1980s, with the sewing machine division being sold off for the first time in 1989. The holding company that owns SVP acquired Singer in 2004. [this post was last edited: 10/19/2012-20:49]
Singer is presently owned by SVP Worldwide, which also owns Pfaff, Viking and Husqvarna, so the ownership you mention is still current.
I should be clear that the problems I've noted with Singer in the old days have nothing whatever to do with SVP Worldwide, which did not own Singer until years later. The old Singer ceased to exist in the 1980s, with the sewing machine division being sold off for the first time in 1989. The holding company that owns SVP acquired Singer in 2004. [this post was last edited: 10/19/2012-20:49]
Really?
Thought the Pfaff family took the company back. Oh well live and learn. Thanks for the information.
If you want to hear horror stories about vintage sewing makers you should read up on what happened when Pfaff was sold off.
According to things one has read on Interent sewing postings and elsewhere dumpsters were placed outside Pfaff's headquarters in Europe (Germany?) and then began a wholesale destruction/throwing out of tons of stock that went to the crushers. Spare parts, manuals, machines, archives, old stock you name it and it went. Apparently the new owners were choosy as to what would be kept and or sent to China (or elsewhere) and it wasn't that much. Some workers tried with various levels of sucess to save what they could, but soon the "suits" started searching people as they left plants/offices and enforcing policies that forbade pretty much taking anything that wasn't personally one's own.
Some workers tried to hide machines and things until they could come back later with transport, but most only arrived back to find the stuff gone. When all was said and done those dumpsters were sealed and sent away for contents to be smashed.
This is one of the reasons why so many vintage Pfaff machine parts and other spares like motherboards are NLA. People are willing to pay good money for electronic control boards for the older Pfaff 14XX and similar series, but aside from what stock dealers had (which is long gone now) there is nothing left.
Thought the Pfaff family took the company back. Oh well live and learn. Thanks for the information.
If you want to hear horror stories about vintage sewing makers you should read up on what happened when Pfaff was sold off.
According to things one has read on Interent sewing postings and elsewhere dumpsters were placed outside Pfaff's headquarters in Europe (Germany?) and then began a wholesale destruction/throwing out of tons of stock that went to the crushers. Spare parts, manuals, machines, archives, old stock you name it and it went. Apparently the new owners were choosy as to what would be kept and or sent to China (or elsewhere) and it wasn't that much. Some workers tried with various levels of sucess to save what they could, but soon the "suits" started searching people as they left plants/offices and enforcing policies that forbade pretty much taking anything that wasn't personally one's own.
Some workers tried to hide machines and things until they could come back later with transport, but most only arrived back to find the stuff gone. When all was said and done those dumpsters were sealed and sent away for contents to be smashed.
This is one of the reasons why so many vintage Pfaff machine parts and other spares like motherboards are NLA. People are willing to pay good money for electronic control boards for the older Pfaff 14XX and similar series, but aside from what stock dealers had (which is long gone now) there is nothing left.
whirlcool
Well-known member
We sew on rare occasions. Not usually clothing (unless something needs to be hemmed) but mostly curtains and slip covers for our furniture to keep the dogs from making a mess of the fabric on it.
Back in 1986 my sister gave us a Simplicity sewing machine for Christmas. It's actually very nice, fully manual but a huge variety of stitching and other options.
We made the slip covers for our sofas & chairs out of cotton duck fabric back in 1987. That was heavy & stiff fabric, but the Simplicity made it through it all. We still have and use those slip covers and since the fabric got softer with each washing I should say that they are now as soft as cashmere.
When we are in a store sometimes I'll just look at the sewing machines. The new ones seem very flimsy compared to our Simplicity. The only time we ever had a problem with it was when a friend of ours borrowed it for a weekend. She called us on Sunday and told us it quit working. When we took it in to the repair shop the guy who worked there told us that this is not a commercial sewing machine and somebody was trying to use it as such. So we asked the friend who borrowed it what she was using it for. She said she had to sew 3,000 bandana's for the upcoming rodeo over a weekend. So this machine was running at full speed 16 hours a day and without lubrication it overheated and locked up. Fortunately the repair was only $40.00 or so and the machine is still running great. But I wonder how many years of service were taken off of it by our "friend"?
Back in 1986 my sister gave us a Simplicity sewing machine for Christmas. It's actually very nice, fully manual but a huge variety of stitching and other options.
We made the slip covers for our sofas & chairs out of cotton duck fabric back in 1987. That was heavy & stiff fabric, but the Simplicity made it through it all. We still have and use those slip covers and since the fabric got softer with each washing I should say that they are now as soft as cashmere.
When we are in a store sometimes I'll just look at the sewing machines. The new ones seem very flimsy compared to our Simplicity. The only time we ever had a problem with it was when a friend of ours borrowed it for a weekend. She called us on Sunday and told us it quit working. When we took it in to the repair shop the guy who worked there told us that this is not a commercial sewing machine and somebody was trying to use it as such. So we asked the friend who borrowed it what she was using it for. She said she had to sew 3,000 bandana's for the upcoming rodeo over a weekend. So this machine was running at full speed 16 hours a day and without lubrication it overheated and locked up. Fortunately the repair was only $40.00 or so and the machine is still running great. But I wonder how many years of service were taken off of it by our "friend"?
Now You Know Why
Those who sew often and have a machine they treasure won't let it out of their sight or house for that matter.
There are lots of girls and guys in the various sewing newsgroups one frequents that had to wait until death to get their hands on their mother's beloved sewing machine. Especially the older Pfaff, Elna, Viking and Singer models.
Neither my Elna Supermatic nor Pfaff 1209 leave my house under any circumstances other than for service. Nor are they used by anyone else but Moi. Everything is set up the way one likes and to suit.
My Bernina five thread overlock/serger same. Because it is such a PITA to thread it remains with five different colour threads and no one is getting near. The fear of having to rethread that thing is just too great.
Those who sew often and have a machine they treasure won't let it out of their sight or house for that matter.
There are lots of girls and guys in the various sewing newsgroups one frequents that had to wait until death to get their hands on their mother's beloved sewing machine. Especially the older Pfaff, Elna, Viking and Singer models.
Neither my Elna Supermatic nor Pfaff 1209 leave my house under any circumstances other than for service. Nor are they used by anyone else but Moi. Everything is set up the way one likes and to suit.
My Bernina five thread overlock/serger same. Because it is such a PITA to thread it remains with five different colour threads and no one is getting near. The fear of having to rethread that thing is just too great.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Yup!
Borrowing my sewing machine is simply not on. There are too many things an inexperienced sewer can do to any good machine that would be harmful, and the machines I like are too hard to have repaired for that. With an electronic machine, you don't use it without being plugged into a surge suppressor, you don't sew during storms and you unplug it entirely when not in use.
Simple enough instruction, but you cannot be certain another person will actually do it.
Borrowing my sewing machine is simply not on. There are too many things an inexperienced sewer can do to any good machine that would be harmful, and the machines I like are too hard to have repaired for that. With an electronic machine, you don't use it without being plugged into a surge suppressor, you don't sew during storms and you unplug it entirely when not in use.
Simple enough instruction, but you cannot be certain another person will actually do it.
We traded in the head of mom's treadle machine for the one she bought. They were pushing a less deluxe machine at the time that came with a FREE floor polisher, but we did not polish floors and got the better machine. It was shown on the sales floor with the cabinet. I don't know if it was extra or not, but we got it. The machine they were ushing looked older and was black while the one mom got was beige. There was a discussion about how difficult it was to use a portable machine that sat on a table. We kept the funny old treadle cabinet for years and occasionally played with the treadle to get the fly wheel going really fast. Then we stopped pumping the treadle and the fly wheel would keep it going. The cabinet had an L-shaped door and a top that folded back to give a very large work surface. The inside of the door had all kinds of nooks and crannies for thread and stuff. I guess the door, in the open position supported it. Mom was the oldest of 9 and sort of got burned out on sewing with all the clothing she and her sisters had to make for the family, like underwear out of flour sacks, etc. They boiled the sacks first to remove the dye so no one had a Gold Medal tushie. I don't remember her using either machine very much except for maybe hemming something. When she made osnaburg curtains in the late 60s for the bathrooms, she made them by hand. I deeply admire people with talents who can do things with their hands. My hands have the fine motor skills of an elephant's foot.
In factories where women used treadle sewing machines, the leg motions induced orgasms. It was obvious who was having one by the sound of the machine speeding up.
In factories where women used treadle sewing machines, the leg motions induced orgasms. It was obvious who was having one by the sound of the machine speeding up.
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Tom:
Sewing is more a matter of paying attention than it is motor skills. I've known older people with palsy who were very good sewers, though their hands shook like crazy.
Certain things are harder than they look, like hemming something evenly; shirt hems are a particular challenge. But careful attention and patience will definitely get the job done.
If you can write or drive - two activities requiring lots of hand-eye coordination - you can sew, whether you think you can or not. Whether you have the interest in mastering the skills is another matter, of course. Lots of people get through life just fine never threading a needle.
Sewing is more a matter of paying attention than it is motor skills. I've known older people with palsy who were very good sewers, though their hands shook like crazy.
Certain things are harder than they look, like hemming something evenly; shirt hems are a particular challenge. But careful attention and patience will definitely get the job done.
If you can write or drive - two activities requiring lots of hand-eye coordination - you can sew, whether you think you can or not. Whether you have the interest in mastering the skills is another matter, of course. Lots of people get through life just fine never threading a needle.
There is a lot of difference between sewing on a missing button and creating garments. I can do the button and even have a neat little gadget to help thread a needle. I sawed down and cut up a tree yesterday.
westingman123
Well-known member
- Joined
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Singer Sewing Centers!
Now, this is a random memory, but the Singer Center at Northwest had an organ just inside the door. The salesman (possibly the veddy best, Sandy?) sat and played until some unsuspecting person wandered in.
Now, this is a random memory, but the Singer Center at Northwest had an organ just inside the door. The salesman (possibly the veddy best, Sandy?) sat and played until some unsuspecting person wandered in.
Sewing Is about 80% Or More Knowing How To Use The Machine
As most of the best or even middle line sewing machines (if not the better BOL as well) can and will sew straight without any assistance from the user. All one has to do is gently *guide* the material where it needs to go. Pushing, pulling or whatever is not required as the "walking dogs" do all the work.
What also seems to bother persons is tension. Knowing what it is, what to look for and how to set it is again a major part of sewing by machine. This is one reason so many do not like lending their machine out. It's like the presets in one's car only worse. Sewing on with badly set tension causes problems for the sewing machine and can even lead to damage.
The final thing that bothers many is simply following a pattern. Laying out, marking, cutting out etc is just either tedious or they cannot be bothered. However that again is a major part of the job. Once things are cut out and properly marked running them up is the easy part IMHO.
Must also say think some persons are scared of just how fast machines can go. Though as with a car no one is saying you have to speed through. Unlike the roads there aren't laws against curb crawling when it comes to machine sewing.
As most of the best or even middle line sewing machines (if not the better BOL as well) can and will sew straight without any assistance from the user. All one has to do is gently *guide* the material where it needs to go. Pushing, pulling or whatever is not required as the "walking dogs" do all the work.
What also seems to bother persons is tension. Knowing what it is, what to look for and how to set it is again a major part of sewing by machine. This is one reason so many do not like lending their machine out. It's like the presets in one's car only worse. Sewing on with badly set tension causes problems for the sewing machine and can even lead to damage.
The final thing that bothers many is simply following a pattern. Laying out, marking, cutting out etc is just either tedious or they cannot be bothered. However that again is a major part of the job. Once things are cut out and properly marked running them up is the easy part IMHO.
Must also say think some persons are scared of just how fast machines can go. Though as with a car no one is saying you have to speed through. Unlike the roads there aren't laws against curb crawling when it comes to machine sewing.
whirlcool
Well-known member
My mother used to sew a lot. She'd make some clothes for us, drapes, bed spreads, reupholster chairs,etc. She ws very good at it. Anything she did ended up looking as good as store bought.
She had a Vigorelli sewing machine. She bought it in the mid 50's with cabinet (blonde wood). She tried to show my sister and myself how to use it. She said men should learn how to sew too.
My mother would sew a line of stitching and then we'd have to try it under her supervision. It would go fine for her, but when we tried it the thread would get caught up in the bobbin, it would jam, the thread would break, etc. But then she'd try it again and it sewed perfectly. So I quickly gave up on this project and my sister did too soon after. Even a cousin of mine came over to sew something of hers and she got the same result we did. My mother always said that we all are doing something wrong because this machine never does this to her. My sister inherited this machine and it sits in a spare bedroom to this day. She took it in to a sewing machine shop and they cleaned and lubricated it and pronounced it in excellent condition but my sister still couldn't get it to sew right. So it just sits there.
Karen is a pretty good sewer, and urged me to take a sewing class at the local Singer Sewing Center. I was very surprised that there were more men in the class than women. But the first few lessons were all about all the adjustments and guides on the sewing machines and how to choose what stitch and what stitch density you should use for various types of sewing. In that class I made a somewhat fancy bread machine cover which we still have to this day.
And for straight seams, always pin and use the guide where the needle goes in to keep things straight and don't go at full speed less you lose control of the fabric.
But I still wonder why that Vigorelli machine only worked for my mother and nobody else?
She had a Vigorelli sewing machine. She bought it in the mid 50's with cabinet (blonde wood). She tried to show my sister and myself how to use it. She said men should learn how to sew too.
My mother would sew a line of stitching and then we'd have to try it under her supervision. It would go fine for her, but when we tried it the thread would get caught up in the bobbin, it would jam, the thread would break, etc. But then she'd try it again and it sewed perfectly. So I quickly gave up on this project and my sister did too soon after. Even a cousin of mine came over to sew something of hers and she got the same result we did. My mother always said that we all are doing something wrong because this machine never does this to her. My sister inherited this machine and it sits in a spare bedroom to this day. She took it in to a sewing machine shop and they cleaned and lubricated it and pronounced it in excellent condition but my sister still couldn't get it to sew right. So it just sits there.
Karen is a pretty good sewer, and urged me to take a sewing class at the local Singer Sewing Center. I was very surprised that there were more men in the class than women. But the first few lessons were all about all the adjustments and guides on the sewing machines and how to choose what stitch and what stitch density you should use for various types of sewing. In that class I made a somewhat fancy bread machine cover which we still have to this day.
And for straight seams, always pin and use the guide where the needle goes in to keep things straight and don't go at full speed less you lose control of the fabric.
But I still wonder why that Vigorelli machine only worked for my mother and nobody else?
danemodsandy
Well-known member
Allen:
"But I still wonder why that Vigorelli machine only worked for my mother and nobody else?"
This is going to sound very weird, but I swear that sewing machines can tell who likes them or doesn't, and who's afraid of them.
I've worked with Athena and Touch-Tronic owners who have tangles, bobbin jamming, tension problems, you name it. All I've ever had to do was to clear a jam, rethread and maybe wind a new bobbin, plus adjust the tension the way it says to do it in the instruction manual.
They always start sewing perfectly. And the instant their hateful/frightened owner lays hands on them again, they mess up again.
<i>Doo-doo-doo-doo....<i>
"But I still wonder why that Vigorelli machine only worked for my mother and nobody else?"
This is going to sound very weird, but I swear that sewing machines can tell who likes them or doesn't, and who's afraid of them.
I've worked with Athena and Touch-Tronic owners who have tangles, bobbin jamming, tension problems, you name it. All I've ever had to do was to clear a jam, rethread and maybe wind a new bobbin, plus adjust the tension the way it says to do it in the instruction manual.
They always start sewing perfectly. And the instant their hateful/frightened owner lays hands on them again, they mess up again.
<i>Doo-doo-doo-doo....<i>
norgeway
Well-known member
My Mother//
First bought a Modernage Japanese machine ,which she said was next to worthless!!The machine mechanics at the Blue Bell plant where she worked, worked on it for days!!! then in 1958 She bought a Singer 301 Slant Needle portable, which I have now, She used it 40 years and it NEVER has had a service call yet!! I would bet if all the stitches that thing has produced were streched in a line it would rech from coast to coast!! I still use it to patch vacuum bags etc and it is still quiet as a mouse and very smooth running...The 301 was Singers best straight stich machine then, I worked in a sewing vacuum shop in the 80s and hardly ever did see one of the Featherweight, 201 or 301 machines for anything other than cleaning and lubrication...But my favorite machines to work on, were the 1940s and 50s Kenmores and Domestics.
First bought a Modernage Japanese machine ,which she said was next to worthless!!The machine mechanics at the Blue Bell plant where she worked, worked on it for days!!! then in 1958 She bought a Singer 301 Slant Needle portable, which I have now, She used it 40 years and it NEVER has had a service call yet!! I would bet if all the stitches that thing has produced were streched in a line it would rech from coast to coast!! I still use it to patch vacuum bags etc and it is still quiet as a mouse and very smooth running...The 301 was Singers best straight stich machine then, I worked in a sewing vacuum shop in the 80s and hardly ever did see one of the Featherweight, 201 or 301 machines for anything other than cleaning and lubrication...But my favorite machines to work on, were the 1940s and 50s Kenmores and Domestics.
