This is my first sewing machine. Not the first one I used — that was my mother’s Kenmore that she got shortly before I was born. This is the first sewing machine I purchased.
It was the first big purchase my husband and I made after we got married. I remember it costing nearly $300. My mother was horrified at the cost.
The first thing I made on it was this dress:
Why do I still have this dress? It hasn’t fit in more years than I can count.
Over the years I made clothes for my husband and myself. Baby clothes for my sister’s kids. A few early quilts. This is the machine I started piecing my Double Wedding Ring on.
This machine did anything I asked it to do – until 2002. That’s when I discovered heirloom sewing. I couldn’t get the machine to make a perfect straight stitch on the lightweight silks I was using. So, I went out and bought my Husqvarna Quilt Designer. My mom just thought $300 for the Kenmore was outrageous.
Since I didn’t need two machines, I gave mine to my sister. It was still a good machine if you weren’t working on delicate fabrics and with 3 boys and a tomboy girl, it wasn’t likely. The only thing I know she made on it was a jeans quilt for our mom.
When she moved this spring she was going to toss it out since it “didn’t work”. My husband brought it home – sans accessories and it’s been sitting in our garage. We decided to Freecyle it and I brought in to see how bad it was. After a bit of dusting out the bobbin case area and re-threading the machine I have to say it works as well as it did when I gave it to my sister. The dark thread is from the Kenmore — the light and red stitching is from my QD.
Who knew I’d get misty eyed over giving away my sewing machine to a stranger. But I really don’t need another spare machine. I have the Singer Genie 354 that my husband bought me at a garage sale a couple of years ago.
P.S. Would you believe that the gal who got my sewing machine knew me from Knitting Camp? I’m sorry I didn’t remember her, but she knew me and remembered that I went to camp pulling a U-haul trailer (there were 4 of us and we needed more room for our machines, projects and clothes). What a small world.
