Tuesday, March 10, 2009

movin' on up

i owe you a post on that very bodacious of birthday gifts, my new sewing machine! for you to get the full weight of the thing, i should back up a bit and first show you the machine i've had all these years:


a Singer 401A which my grandmother Donna Mae got when it came out in 1957. This is the same year she had my mother, the eldest of four children. My grandparents were not very well off and she made what money she could as a seamstress. i always loved seeing old pictures of the clothes she made for my mother and her siblings and hearing stories of her time altering gorgeous wedding dresses in the fancy department store across town.

i learned on this machine and i love it dearly so of course i will never get rid of her, what blasphemy! truly, singer sewing machines never die, they just get ornery and decrepit, haha. my grandfather rehauled the entire thing a few years back for me and it still runs like a gem, but, alas, it just can't handle the interfacing and multiple layers of fabric i work with for my shop. this has left me sewing everything by hand. i don't mind it actually, i just can't grow the shop any more at such a dusty little pace. which brings me to the Singer HD110 Heavy Duty Professional Sewing Machine (insert choir of arch angels singing the hallelujah chorus here)!


i've already whipped out a few projects on it that otherwise would have taken me several days each and i gotta tell you, it runs like BUTTAH ;)

7 comments:

Unknown said...

i am very jealous...and I may have to save up for one of those soon, my machines doesn't like layers either.

Pen said...

Ooh, that looks slick indeed! I am rather jealous as I just broke mine oops.

:)

Anonymous said...

ok... I need a new sewing machine too. I did get myself my very first sewing machine, but it doesn't do large layers. I'm new to sewing, so it could be that I'm not using the right needle or somthing. lol I envy you:)

www.akanedesigns.blogspot.com
www.akane.etsy.com

belinda marshall said...

the old one looks gorgeous, but it must be so satisfying to jump on one that works perfectly!
thanks for your comment on my blog :)
belinda

TheresaJ said...

"Like buttah"... I love that! What a great story about your grandmother and her machine. And what a gem of a grandfather to tweak it a bit and pass it on to you. I say there's nothing wrong with a workspace having two machines -- imagine the possibilities! :)

thestoryofkat said...

thanks for all your comments, i do love reading them so much.

and best wishes of new sewing machines to you all! i'm still a bit in awe of having a new machine of my very own..so worth the wait!

Tati said...

Hi !!!:) So I have this machine and I lost the manual...Would u happen to know how to set a straight stitch ?