my beloved elna supermatic is having a bad day. it was working wonderfully - it has worked wonderfully for 50+ years - and then today while i was working on some jim jams for the kiddo, i thought i'd treat it to some oil i had just bought at fabricland.
after trying to sew, i actually checked the bottle to see if i had grabbed glue by mistake.
horrible squeaking, and then a dead halt. i pulled everything apart, scooped out a ton of lint, there is nothing "obviously" wrong.when i remove the thread and bobbin and wind it backwards by hand it's fine, it's just forwards that's the problem.
i can't live without my supermatic! and i was meant to do a favour for my husband's aunt today, too. sigh.
here are the half-finished pyjamas. i didn't see piping in the right colour when i bought the fabric, so i just grabbed a pack of bias binding and some cord. it worked out really nicely - it wasn't any fussier than regular piping to pin together, and it worked out that one package (2.9m i think?) has exactly the right amount to do the trim on a pair of pyjamas and the drawstring for the bottoms as well.
so sad i didn't get these done! i have two more sets cut & pinned & ready to go, too; laid all the fabric out for cutting before i got sick (used the chest freezer, it's a great cutting table). and miracle of miracles - thanks to the wonderfulness of kai scissors i cut out the three sets at once! two broadcloth, one flannelette! that's six layers of fluffy in one easy cut! those scissors are powerful. best present i ever received.
meanwhile the movie fiesta has continued here, with the night of the iguana, synecdoche new york, and a day at the races. oh, and the party! how could i almost forget peter sellers? sadly my planned pyjama-button-sewing-extravaganza-while-watching-movies will have to wait though.
anyone know a great vintage elna repair guy? worst case, i found a source for parts online. but i'd rather put it in the hands of a pro.
I feel your pain. My Husqvarna won't go in reverse at the moment and I am anxious to bring it to a repair shop in England as it runs on North American current (I use a converter in my craft space for my machines). BTW, the pattern matching you did on those pockets is perfection!
ReplyDeleteoh, that is an extra level of angst... do you think the power converter could have anything to do with it? i remember when we were in zambia there were converters plugged into just about every outlet and some of them looked downright scary.
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