Sewing Machine Breakage, Fixture, and I Think It is Thursday…

Yesterday, I had a small hiccup with the button machine.   Basically I kept breaking needles and was forced to take it apart after struggling to get the last few stockings finished.  I have experience this before as the tension spring slips and causes the string to seize up.   This forced the needle to pull one way or another and hit the base plate…..”Plink!”   another broken needle.    At $1 each, it starts becoming expensive….and nerve wracking as the stash of emergency needles begins to dwindle and you are down to your last one with the nearest store closing in 10 minutes! 

Luckily  I survived.  We finished the stockings for the day using Cheryl’s Old sewing machine.   The back up to the back up.   It also pulls double duty as a bobbin threader.   Cheryl has been wanting to get rid of the thing…but yesterday….By “Pack- Rattery” paid off if only for a moment.  It is not as “customized” as my machine is for buttons…but It still managed to pull through.  After it was all over, I took both machines totally apart and oiled them up to a smooth running tick.

So today we had only 31 stockings, but still managed to finish around 7 pm.   yesterday we actually had more ( 34 total) and managed to fit in an Iowa City visit.  By the way…I think it is Thursday!   I swear the days are blending together now and I can’t seem to keep the cycle straight.    I guess time flies when you are having fun.   That would naturally lead you to believe that time slows down when you are NOT having fun.  ( i.e. working!)   By this definition….I guess making stockings is “fun” and not really “work”.  But I’m not really feeling that at the moment.

  Of the 31 stockings today,  only three did NOT have names.  The rest were  a mix of ( mostly ) embroidery and even some old glitter names.   I’m almost ashamed of the old glitter names now that we have the PE 770 Embroidery  Machine.   The Embroidery looks WAY more professional. 

So, as mentioned previously,  I sew on the buttons with the sewing machine.   It’s fairly easy.    I modified the button foot to hold the buttons the way I want them to be.  It’s light years faster than if Cheryl has to sew them on by hand.  The only bad part is if the machine decided to mess around for a day and that sends us into panic mode until we figure out the problem. 

By this time though,  I have a pretty good idea on most of the “problems” associated with this particular machine ( the Singer tradition)   It is a simple machine and easy to take apart and put back together. Knowing the “in’s and out’s”  of the machine help you trouble shoot things rather than have to call an expensive repairman.   Also it helps that I’m a frugal scrooge that never wants to give hard earned money away when I have the opportunity to educate myself on something new.  Namely:   How to fix a sewing machine with nothing but a screwdriver! 

So now, we are caught up with several custom orders that have been waiting on the shelves for their “unique designer” to come purchase them.  We still have several custom orders on the shelves that I’m sure we will never see those people again.  It is moments like that that make me think that this “fun” argument  previously discussed is flawed somehow

And as I write this and wind down for the evening,  I’m drinking ESB Schlafly Beer.   The ESB stands for Extra Special Bitter.   Which is deceptive as it is actually quite smooth and fruity with only a faint hint of bitter at the end.  We found this in our “Schlafly Hopped UP” 6 pack as a stowaway.  I’m sure either somebody was haivng fun and slipped a few bottles into other 6 pack containers to “mix things up”  I’m not too upset about it.  After all I enjoy finding and tasting new beers and sometimes I don’t want to pay for a full 6 pack of an unknown.  However,  the Alcohol content on this guy is only 5.8 %.   It’s good for an “after work beer”  because I really don’t need any more help to feel drowsy at the moment.

So that is it!  Stockings, Sewing, and beer!   ( Sometimes…. And only after the work is finished.)  It was a fairly busy day and I’m looking forward to a nice hot bath and maybe an anime later.  In the mean time…I’ll leave you with the shop cat…who occasionally hangs out in the studio in his pile of ruffled packing paper.