So…
a not-so-funny thing happened a few weeks back when I was oh-so-close to being finished with the Sling Along pattern. I was clipping along on a Saturday afternoon, when all of a sudden the thread guide on my sewing machine just…. fell off. No problem, right?
Well it shouldn’t have been anyway. After all, I had the little thread guide in hand as well as the tiny screw that held it in place, and I knew exactly where it needed to be replaced, but that’s where the simplicity ended! First of all, the tiny little screw required must be the tiniest phillips head screw driver ever created and of course I didn’t have one like that. I struggled along to no avail for about an hour trying various substitutes like the pointy end of a knife or a teeny-tiny flathead screwdriver. My hubby finally volunteered to drive over to my brother’s house to retrieve the correct screwdriver and that should’ve solved the dilemma, right?
Try as I might, even when that little screw was fully tightened, that thread guide was NOT stable and would not stay in place, and my machine would just NOT run without it being secure. (How does it know that it’s not?) It just seemed like something else was missing, but since I never really got a good look at how the thread guide was attached prior to it falling off, and since I hardly ever see the attachment site since its located on the backside of my machine, I had no clue. No problem, right? I could just look in the instruction manual for a setup picture.
But guess what? There was NO picture of the backside of this area in the instruction booklet! By now I had wasted 2+ hours of my time and still couldn’t get my machine to run! But, I could just take this machine to the shop for repairs and carry on utilizing my trusty spare, right?
WRONG!
That’s because I’m probably one of the few sewing professionals in the country that doesn’t have at least one spare machine! Not too smart, right? That’s on me. It won’t happen again after this but in the meantime… I had to quit thinking like a repairwoman and start thinking like “McGyver”! I figured there must be another way to hold this little thread guide in place long enough so I could limp to the finish line with this last bag sample!
So after scrounging around the house I found an old hairpin my daughter must have left behind and as you can see ABOVE… it worked on a very temporary basis. As long as I was very careful & gentle with how I pulled on the thread it stayed in place pretty good. I finished the bag sample only having to replace this arrangement two times!
Moral of the Story? Get a Spare Sewing Machine!
Now remember that my Necchi sewing machine is the original machine I started the business with 15 years ago! It’s never had even one problem. I’ve oiled and cleaned it somewhat regularly, but its never EVER been in the shop for an overhaul (even though it probably SHOULD have been!). It’s not sleek, sexy or fancy and it has no special bells or whistles. But here’s what it is in spades….
A WORKHORSE!
Quite simply, it’s the Timex of sewing machines! It “takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’! So when faced with the daunting task of choosing a new machine, what do you suppose I did? I bought me a brand NEW Necchi of course, and here it IS (above)!
And in the meantime I took “old faithful” to the shop for a repair to that thread guide and a much-needed overhaul and now that it’s back I would be really hard pressed to say which machine is running better… my old machine or my new one! But one thing’s for sure, I don’t plan on ever being caught without a spare again! And as it turns out, there was a tiny little piece missing on my old machine and that’s why I couldn’t get that thread guide on tight enough! (Who knows when or where it fell off!)
And now…. it’s YOUR turn!
I’d love to know how many sewing machines YOU have and if any of them are what you would call “Specialty” machines? And remember, we love reading your comments and answering your questions too, so please feel free to leave either or both in the space provided below.
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