That derned serger!

I have a 3-thread Bernina serger (about 25 years old) that I adore. I replaced it once with a 4-thread Bernina, but chose to have the 3-thread tuned up and put back into service. When I did that, they lost my needle threader. If you know anything about your serger, you know you need that needle threader! I ordered another one that is a bit different hoping I'd never have to use it. I'm a firm believer in threading your serger by tying the new thread onto the remainder of the old thread and snaking it through. So, a week or so ago, a thread broke. AAAAAA. It was the looper thread that is hardest to get to and gives old sergers a bad name.
I had to thread it from scratch. I probably have done that twice in the last 25ish years! I tried to open the cloth guard and couldn't do it. I tried to thread the derned thing without opening the cover and couldn't do it. I went to consult the manual. I couldn't find it. It's been in my bookshelf for who knows how long, but it's not there now. Oh no. That would be too simple. I went online and ordered a photocopy of the manual. It came today and well, there it was, a clip that needed to be pulled back to open the cloth guard. Eureka!
It took 15 minutes more, but I got it done. I was almost ready to face the ridicule at the Bernina shop by taking it in to be threaded. But now, I sincerely rock. My serger is back in action - I faced the looper and won. Take that Bernina machine thingie!

Walmart woe!

Shock, horrors! The WalMart a few miles from me has fabric no more. I was in the store last night picking up a cordless phone and walked over to the fabric department to pick up some black cotton blend for Halloween bags. The shelves which one sported quilting fabrics, interfacing, novelty prints, and cottons were filled with colorful pillows. The table that held the flat fold remnants was gone. The rows of fabric bolts were filled with bedspreads and a variety of home decorative items. My fabric! It is gone. The pattern stand, threads, and zippers were still there, but the thread rows are, excuse the pun, thread bare. I suspect they'll disappear soon too.
I now have a Hancock Fabric Store and the online world for purchasing fabric. Time to visit yard sales, thrift stores, and all those other fun alternate sources of fabric, but dang! No more 24-hour shopping for notions, threads, and whims of amusement.

Update on Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act

According to this article, cottons are going to be exempt. The question now remains, what about buttons, zippers, trims, Velcro, thread, etc.
"Panel Exempts Some Products From U.S. Lead Rules (Update1)
By Mark Drajem
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to exempt electronic goods and products with lead embedded inside from new rules banning the metal in toys.
The two-member commission, reacting to complaints from manufacturers, also agreed to exempt natural products such as gems and cotton from mandatory testing for lead. The proposal, given initial approval today, will be open for public comment for a month and may be altered.
Companies had urged the safety commission to pass more far- reaching exemptions and to put them in place immediately, before the ban on lead in toys takes effect Feb. 10.
“The deadline is coming up very, very quickly,” said Sheila Millar, a lawyer representing the Fashion Jewelry Trade Association. Companies “want clarity and they need it quickly,” she said.
Still, companies shouldn’t expect a crackdown, said Julie Vallese, a spokeswoman for the commission.
“There’s a need for compliance, but it’s fair to say that the toy police will not be descending on all of America on Feb. 11,” Vallese said.
First Overhaul
Congress passed the first overhaul of consumer protection laws in almost two decades last year in response to a spate of recalls the year before of Chinese-made toys containing lead. While previous regulations included limits on lead, the law toughened the standard and expanded its reach to all products aimed at children 12 and under.
That expansion has ensnared makers of products such as bicycles and books that never thought of themselves as toymakers, said Ed Krenik, a lobbyist at Bracewell & Giuliani LLP in Washington.
The law also forces all makers of children’s products to get independent tests of their toys to prove they don’t contain lead.
Lobbyists representing makers of products such as books, handheld computers, bedding and shoes banded together to petition the commission to exempt them from the new lead standards. They say the independent commission should also remove glass, bolts, mattress padding and other components of products that present no risks to children.
The proposed exemptions considered today are “incomplete and provide no process for adding additional materials which are known to science to not contain lead,” a coalition of handmade- toy sellers wrote to the CPSC on Jan. 3.
The CPSC exempted wool, cotton, silk, gemstones and pearls in its proposal today.
The panel also faces pressure from consumer groups to keep the standards tight. The only lead in toys the commission ruled was “inaccessible” was that which children couldn’t touch, a standard Millar argued is too tight.
“The agency is aware that this one-size-fits-all law doesn’t necessarily fit all sectors,” Vallese said. “But the laws are set and Congress was very explicit.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 6, 2009 19:14 EST

Yard sales

I go to yard sales almost every Saturday. I go for specific items and sometimes I find them, other times I don't. What I also find, without fail, is a person or three selling their sewing machine and their sewing "stuff."
This year alone, I've purchased a Featherweight (Singer) and an Elna at yard sales. Combined, I spent less than $50 on those two machines. I had the Featherweight serviced and it's running like new. The Elna came running like a top. Both were machines of the person having the sale's mothers. It makes me wonder where mom is, why isn't she sewing anymore, and why the daughters didn't want to keep the machines and do some sewing of their own. Are people too busy now? Do they see sewing as a chore? Was it something they saw their moms do that seemed like work and not pleasure?
That's our secret - sewing is very much a pleasure. It's the thing *I* do - and I love the time I spend with my machine. Nancy, of Nancy's Notions and Sewing with Nancy, said to sew something every day. I believe it was suggested that even if it was only 5 minutes, try to sew something every day. I do try, but some days, I just don't make it.
Back to the yard sales! Today, like every other Saturday, I rummaged through a box of this and that - rick-rack, snaps, old threads, snips, hooks and eyes, ribbons, laces, and untold other treasures. There were two more sewing baskets next to this box, but I didn't go through those. I just knew I would end up buying it all and trying to figure out what to do with it, and my budget today didn't include sewing items. But as I handled the items in the box, I wondered what project this and that were from. I wondered who bought them and how they saved the money to do so. I wondered why the daughter of that someone was now selling these items and didn't she see the value? I'd say that she didn't. She probably didn't sew a stitch herself, and there are more people like that than I'll ever know.
I guess the bottom line is, sewing just isn't everyone's thing! Go figure.
My license plate says I <3 SEWING (the <3 is really an upright heart that I painted with borrowed fingernail polish!). I get comments all the time from people and today, an older woman got a kick out of it. She was at the same yard sale. When I left, she was going through the very same box of sewing supplies.
Yard sales are a treasure trove of notions and fabrics, and sewing machines. It's a truly frugal outing and sometimes, just sometimes, you can pick up a piece of sewing history and make something new and beautiful with it.
P.S. I've never bought rick-rack new. I've been fortunate enough to pick up a box full here and there at yard sales!

New machine! And a bit of withdrawal.

First the withdrawal. My trusty Bernina is in the shop for its usual checkup and, gasp!, the feed dogs are not working as well as they should. Keep my 20-year-old machine in your thoughts. Make sure it is in the good thoughts column of your brain. I really want that machine. I bought it back in the 80s and started a business sewing and adapting clothing for people who needed special assistance - Handicapable Clothing it was. I made a few caps for premature infants, sewed Velcro where there were buttons that were hard to fasten, and took the back seams out of skirts for women in wheelchairs. I'd still love to do that type of sewing, but there are many more of me out there these days and the internet makes it much easier to find someone to make adaptive clothing. When I bought the machine, I spent way too much money, but justified it because of the business and the fact that it came with a 3-thread serger, a really new thing at the time. I also got classes to learn how to use both machines. It was great and I've loved the machine ever since. I recently replaced the 3-thread Bernette with a 4-thread Bernina serger I picked up on eBay. I neeeeeed my machines!
In the interim, I've been searching for a Janome 4000 MC to make buttonholes with. I've been doing a lot of research on buttonholes, and posted about it earlier. There seems to be a love of this particular machine for its buttonhole function. Again, I kept my eye on eBay and finally found one that was a good price and in good condition. While my baby has been at the shop, I've been learning to use the Janome. It's not hard, but I'm an old dog and learning new tricks is rather interesting. This thing will write the alphabet if I figure out how! I haven't tried the buttonholes yet; I did get the tension the way I want it though. That took me a while and a half. I've made a doll outfit and played with stitches on scraps so far. I think it and I will be good friends.
It's amazing how we become attached to certain sewing machines and our sewing "stuff." I use a certain seam ripper, certain scissors, certain types of pins, a certain type of rotary cutter, and of course have preferences for certain types of patterns. I hate to sew knits, I won't sew a fly ever again, and I shy away from zippers. After 35+ years, I guess I just know what I like. But right now, I'm going through withdrawal. I want my machine back - whine, whine, whine! The good news is, it will be in better shape when I get it back than when I took it to the shop. My friend and I have a lot more years together. A lot more years.
Here's to all of our machines and sewing stuff. Long may they survive.

Scissor Tales

Scissors. Is there any more important tool in our sewing box? Maybe the needle and thread, the thimble, seam ripper, etc., but who's counting?
Memories of scissors: Growing up, you best not use mom's sewing scissors for cutting paper. There was no worse infraction of the rules than that. Even if you snuck them for one little wrapping job, she knew. It was like there was a secret scissor-watching gremlin keeping track of their every cutting task! How did she know? I'm not so sure how she knew, but now I'm the one who knows. My kids, now grown, know that you best not use mom's scissors with the black handles for cutting anyting other than fabric. And if you value your future, you're better off not using them at all. Those are my scissors. In a world of sharing just about everything, scissors are sacred. They are in my sewing area and that's that. Leave them right where they are or I'll hunt you down, wake you up, whatever it takes to get you to confess to having pilfered them. Lesson learned: Don't mess with mama's scissors.
Missing: Woe be to the people in the room when I discover my scissors are not where I left them. A hunt will ensue and all within hearing distance will be recruited. First will come the "Where did I leave them?" moment. Then, most likely, Who took them?" will come next. The search will go on, looking over, under, in, and out of furniture. And if they're not found, the "pouting" phase will begin. Lesson learned: Don't mess with mama's scissors.
Scissor vacation: My husband recently had the wonderful notion of taking my scissors to be sharpened. He had called me from work and said that the hardware store near his job said they could do them and have them back the next day. Really a nice thing for him to do! That night, I gathered all my sewing scissors, including my small snips and a pair of pinking shears, and put them in a box. Five pair of scissors total. Entrusted to the man I love and the hardware store I didn't know. It was a risk, but it was one worth taking to have a nice sharp edge that would cut through fabric like a hot knife cutting butter. Right? Every day I asked, "Are they done with the scissors yet?" Every day he would say, "They haven't called yet." A week went by. No scissors. I couldn't cut any fabric. I was starting to get the shakes. This was getting serious. I only had one pair of snips and an old pair of pinking shears at home. Of course, my rotary cutter was in the drawer with fresh blades nearby, but it isn't the same. After a week passed, I asked him if he had called them since they didn't call him. Feeling my scissor withdrawal, he decided to stop by the hardware store. And lo and behold, they never sharpened them. I asked him to bring them home, where they'd be safe, cared for, and loved. That night, he did bring them home and though they are in the same nonsharpened state, they're ready to be used anytime I feel like it. No more jonesing over scissors. Lesson learned: Don't mess with mama's scissors.
Bottom line: All in all, the lessons are the same. Our scissors are an important part of our sewing lives. All of our tools are. We're the surgeons of fabric and design. They are our scalpels and we need them to perform our magic. The bottom line will remain the same for ages to come. And we all know what that is - Lesson learned: Don't mess with mama's scissors.
Got any scissor tales to share? Click on comments and feel free.