Friday, June 4, 2010

New Sewing Machine and Lessons




[My new, powerful machine]

It's funny how things work. I stopped by to talk to Karen, the co-owner of Select Designs, a production sewing shop in Wolf Creek (and, incidentally, one of the few businesses in this tiny town.) I just wanted to ask if she had a source for used commercial sewing machines.

Well, as it turns out, they are changing directions with their business and have some machines on hand that they're ready to part with. I've been shopping online for a few weeks, so I know a bit about what's out there. She quoted me a fantastic price on a beautiful machine and then, as if that weren't enough, offered to train me on it and let me come use it under her tutelage until it's paid off.

Sweet! Today we sealed the deal and she got me started on it.

This machine is made to do only one thing very efficiently: stitch in a straight line. No fancy stitches or fiddly mechanisms to go out of temper - just lots of power:
- The 1/2 horsepower clutch motor can run the machine at 5500 stitches per minute. That's 10" of sewing per second. Scary! Productive!
- It uses a brake that lets it stop as fast as it runs.
- It has a knee lift so I can keep both hands on the work and turn corners quickly.
- It holds two cones of thread so bobbins wind automatically while sewing, not as a separate operation.
- It sits in a sealed oil pan and is lubricated continuously by an integrated oil pump.

Even if the machine didn't run faster, these last two features would save me an hour every day.

This was a short day in their shop so I just ran through lessons for a couple of hours. She had me do exercises to focus on speed control, straight lines, turning corners, braking, and continuous turning of the work to follow a line. This machine works just like the home machines I've used for decades, but WAY faster, more powerful and more responsive. I'm pretty good with it after just a couple of hours. I think it'll surpass the speed of my home machine the first time I use it for real work and still leave plenty of room to grow.



[Tonight's sunset at Wolf Creek Sanctuary. Breathtaking!]

This stuff with my dad has me turned inside out emotionally. I'll get through it and definitely be better off.

It's funny that I have no problem setting boundaries around energetic availability among the rest of the people in my life, but family is different. They treat me like crap for decades and I keep on working to gain their approval. There is no amount of work I could do that would cause them to treat me like a member of the family so I need to stop trying and remember that I have another family that appreciates me.

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