10.11.13

Winter Squash of the Day for October
I am in "jail" . My MAIN sewing machine, which you know has been giving me fits for almost 16 months (It has visited the doctor three times) is now is giving up the ghost. 

It kept having some sort of power problem. It was either the circuit board or the power supply. It had a power supply transplant that did not a lot. Then I figured out it was probably just the wiring at the plug. It worked fine for a few months than started giving me trouble this week. I finally had it working fairly smoothly and then the pedal refused to affect the action of the machine in any way whatsoever. I have that "work horse" machine on standby, so I tried THAT pedal. No go, and I mean that LITERALLY. 

So today, I am off to look at sewing machines. I will most likely NOT go Bernina for my third machine. I would really, really, really like a Singer Featherweight, but it is trial and error to get a good one, and not everyone is trustworthy on eBay. I will most likely go with BabyLock or Janome since there is a dealer not too far from here. I have a list of what I want to see in a machine  before I plunk down my money. Our money. Household money. 

Sometimes the order of importance changes.
1. Wider harp. My current machine opening is 7 inches
2. Automatic needle down option--very important for machine quilting, dollmaking, curves, turns, pivots
3. Easy to be accurate quarter inch. Either great quarter inch foot, guides, what have you. Actually, this is easy to achieve with addtional stick-on accessories.
4. Perfectly lovely open toe foot. This is important to anyone trying to follow a line drawn on the fabric--dollmaking and quilting.
Bonus: best buttonhole maker. This is not a deal breaker since I never mastered machine button holes, I have managed to avoid them. I WOULD like to make some shirts, though. A buttonhole maker would go a long way to making me happy.

No comments: