I posed the question "what sewing machine do you use?" on my
Giveaway Day post, realizing later that I never answered the question myself! Currently there are three sewing machines that live in my house.
Believe it or not, I acquired this machine using points from my grocery store. I have no idea really how much it would have cost had I bought it in a store. It is a very basic, non-computerized sewing machine that has served me well sometimes (after all it did get me through the piecing and machine quilting of
Owen's quilt, the
Swoon quilt, and many other smaller projects in between), and other times I have wanted to toss it out the window and not look back. It has tension issues, where sometimes it needs to be adjusted drastically higher, and sometimes drastically lower, with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Needless to say it has not felt like a very reliable machine and has at times been very frustrating to use, which is why I finally sucked it up, payed the $60 and took it in to be serviced today. What will come of it is yet to be seen.
Contestant #2 -
Kenmore Model 158.13200
This machine belongs to my mom, she bought it new in the 1970s. I have borrowed it off/on, when I was first learning (before I got the above mentioned Janome) and now and again when I've been frustrated (with the above mentioned Janome!) This machine weighs a ton, works nice and smooth, really nothing wrong with it. I like having it around as a back-up, but maybe one day my mom will need it when she decides to become a seamstress. ;-) What do you think, Mom?
Contestant #3 - Singer 15-88 treadle machine
This little beauty belonged to my Granny, my Dad's mom, who passed away in 2007. I believe that it was the only machine she ever sewed on in her adult life. It lived with my aunt for quite a few years before making its way to me, and I feel grateful and privileged to have it.
And now, a little wrap-up of the question I asked: "What sewing machine do you use?" - comments on the
Giveaway Day post will close tomorrow so a few more answers may trickle in yet, but out of curiosity I tallied up the results as best I could and this is what WE use....
Singer - 65
Brother - 51
Janome - 49
Bernina - 40
Kenmore - 30
Husqvarna/Viking - 22
Pfaff - 20
Elna - 12
Babylock - 11
Do not own sewing machine - 7
New Home (Janome) - 4
Necchi - 3
EuroPro - 2
Aldi - 1
Donna - 1
Juki - 1
Shark - 1
Toyota (
Lucy!) - 1
I just finished telling Debbie, in an email, that pincushions are one of those things I just won't make because of the "what do you fill it with?" dilemma. But then I saw Lucy's pincushion (scroll down a ways in the post to see it), which led me to this tutorial at Ellison Lane Quilts, and I was sucked in! Jennifer suggested crushed walnut shells as a filler in the tutorial, which believe it or not is sold at pet stores for lizard litter (!!), which I had every intention of looking for but eventually realized that at this time of December, do I really want to be going into any store when I don't have to? I don't think so! So I ended up using uncooked rice, which I think worked fairly well in the end. I stuffed it pretty full, which I think helps as well. My plan also was to go around the edges and do a top stitch around just to secure it all a bit more, but with how full I stuffed it, it just wouldn't have been feasible on the sewing machine so instead I took some Perle Cotton embroidery floss and did a neat little blanket stitch. The jury is still out on how well it will actually work as a pincushion, so I'm not getting rid of my pink tomato yet, and I'm not sure how I feel about the raw edges of the patches, but it's cute for sure.
