Sewing Silence

I was steaming toward the end of my commissioned costume (which I am excited to unveil here soon) when suddenly, my machine made a HORRIBLE noise. If it was my car, I would have had to pull over to the side of the road. It sounded like someone threw a pebble into the gears, it made a loud angry grinding noise. I carefully took the machine apart and pulled out 4 lbs. of lint and glitter.

Here we are at the start and by the end…

I was pulling out balls the size of house cats. (And we don’t have cats!) I took my bottle brush pipe cleaner and got in under the bobbin casing. It was a little bit horrifying. LOOK at all the glitter?!?!?

That cleaning seemed to make a difference and I got the costume finished. (whew) But then I went to go sew a book binding for the tiny author in the house. She was helping me by pushing on the pedal, when she pushed down, the machine let out a growl so loud and fierce that we both jumped back. I held out my hand like it was going to bite her and we shut it off. The author was super sad that we were not going to be able to do our project and I was super sad that my lovely trusted friend machine was so sick.

I set about to find a sewing machine repair shop in our “new” city. I assumed I would need a “sewing machine and vacuum repair shop” (why is that a likely pairing? Is that “repair for the little-lady-of-the-house” tools?) Instead, I found THE perfect shop, Ray’s Sewing Machine Repair. It was in a little strip-mall section, just as you would expect. Inside, it was clear that they had never hired a consultant help them with “retail flow” or “staging”. They were BUSY, and as I waited my turn, I soaked it all in. What it lacked in clean lines and eye catching displays, it made up for in sheer volume.

The “show room” portion of the shop has new machines set up on tables. I would have LOVED to test drive some of those machines, but there was no one available to help me (they were both answering calls, and helping customers) Maybe when I go back? If you know our family, you know we are “mid century” all the way. My husband was born in the wrong country and about 40 years too late. We have mid-century lines, furniture, and lights all over our house. And as I looked around at everything in the shop, I knew I had found the right place for my machine.

I mean, look at the logo alone. That says it all. They have a one week wait. The machines that are in for repair are on the floor, lined up, and encroaching into the sales floor, the “isle” and the riding towards the counter. I smiled. I have to say, I was sad to have to turn my machine over and even sadder that it will be gone for at least a week. I am sure that some of their customers bring their machines in as part of a new year’s resolution to “get that thing out of the closet and start using it!” and I applaud that. I really do. But for me, it is a job now. While I may not sew every day, I for sure sew more than once a week. I really have nothing to panic about. My job is not in jeopardy and I finished the costume before this horror. I also have the key to the marvelous Stitch Lab, featuring 6 great machines so, if I need to I can go into school early and work on “my own” stuff. (Of course, that would likely be project models for the Stitch Lab anyway.) But even so, I hate to have it out of the house.

I’ll let you know what they say. Stay tuned friends.

(FYI: This post was not sponsored by Ray’s, just in case you are wondering.)