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Profile for swansprite - Threads

swansprite

Tacoma, WA, US
member

When I asked my mom to teach me to sew at the age of 11 she sat me down in front of the machine she had used since she was a teenage which had been bought second had for her by my grandmother, circa 1940. She gave me a small pile of scraps, threaded the machine, and then she said “learn to sew a straight line, just keep trying”. That took me a while but I think I would do the same for anybody else wanting to learn. She still uses that same machine and feels that if she can’t do it on that machine it doesn’t really need to be done.
I left for college with a machine previously owned by my great aunt which was about the same age as hers. It lives in a solid walnut case which I now use to hold my printer, but that machine still runs just fine.
Once I had learned to sew well enough my mom no longer felt she needed to either buy or make my clothes for me; that was what babysitting money was for. These days, when you can pick up a Ralph Lauren shirt for 13.00 at a Chain discount store it’s hard to justify much of our making clothing but it is still the only way to create really unique wearable art or recreate vintage clothing from vintage patterns. It amazes me how many people I know who never even learned, how could they have not? I love that if it captures my imagination I can create it and I am not limited to only those designs created by others.

craft interests: crochet, embroidery, fashion, gifts, paper-crafts, restyle, sewing, fiber arts

Member Since: 02/08/2009


recent comments

Re: Book Giveaway: Successful Serging

I have never used a serger, probably because I didn’t have one of my own. I have never bought one simply because I don’t really know the scope of what they can do and so reading this book may well be what inspires me to learn a to use a new tool for creating both fiber arts and clothing. It would be a delight I will hope to win. Lori

posted: 2:13 pm on February 3rd  

Re: *UPDATED* The Latest in Sewing Machines

HELP- INFORMATION DESPERATELY NEEDED
I have sewn all my life, I was taught by my mother on my great aunts old 1030's electric machine with a knee peddle and then later I worked with an inexpensive Sears special, now 30 years old. I have never taken a class so I suppose I would be considered self taught though I have learned a great deal from Threads also. I have been wishing to buy a new and far better machine for some time but I am pitifully ignorant about the machines on the market today, regardless of the price range, nor do I know what to look for when shopping or exactly what questions I should be asking. That lack of information makes me leery of purchasing anything, so I just keep putting it off and wishing. I also prefer and value personal experience referrals to working only with sales people.

I do not need or want many of the bells and whistles that are on most of machines today, and I am not crazy about it being computerized. I prefer a machine with a more basic build that is less likely to need work because it has less that can go wrong with it. What I am looking for is a metal machine, as little plastic as possible, that can handle a lot of weight, has a superior high quality or professional button whole attachment, a good blind hem stitch, double needle capacity, many stitch lengths and choices and that maneuvers well for sewing-crafts projects that are a little alternative in nature and require maneuverability.

I would appreciate all suggestions, in all price ranges, and I would also appreciate any educational advice given, even about machines I have said are not quite what I want, because I am always happy to learn and I may have misconceptions about more complicated machines.

Thank you, all comments suggestions and information will be greatly appreciated.
Swansprite

posted: 6:28 pm on February 8th