Sew, sew, sew the dress....

(to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

We have two sewing machines in my house. One is my mother's, which has to be at least thirty-some years old. It's a Singer, which is a good, recognizable brand. She used to make a lot of her own clothing when she was young, so it's been put to good use. It's actually inside a table - you open the top and flip it out. Unfortunately, it's not working correctly, and then I tried to poke around inside it. In the process of doing that, I lost a miniscule screw. (oops!) So now it is really broken.

Mine was inherited. My Aunt bought it from a school that cancelled their HomeEc program, and then gave it to me when she moved out to Colorado. I tried to set it up months ago when I attempted to make a yoga-mat-bag, but it wouldn't work... and I don't have an owner's manual. It's a Necchi - which is Italian, and that is about as much as I knew. I have the model number, but as to its age or anything else? Nope.

I took mine to a repair shop. They told me what was wrong and fixed it, but said that it was in dire need of service. The cost of said servicing is $79.99... yikes! I thought that at the steep servicing charge I should perhaps invest in a new machine instead, but someone I'm in the show with said I would be making a huge mistake in doing that... that this is a quality machine and I should invest in it. (I honestly think she would have snatched it from me if I did decide to trash it!)

So, even in its needing-service state, I decided to take a chance and finally figured out how to use it... somewhat, anyway. (Being on a deadline - dress must be done by Saturday - I needed to do something!) I was able to add the piece to lenghten my costume, but if anyone actually takes a good look at the job I did, they will see I am no seamstress and that I have no idea how the machine properly works. At least from stage (and really, even up close) no one will know what I went through to get that dumb thing done!

So we cross one bridge and get to some others.... where's the $80 going to come from? And what about a manual? And I guess with all of this effort, I should really take the time to really learn how to sew, while I'm at it! ;)

Oh, before I forget - Sister update:
She's coming home from the hospital today! She seems to be doing well in terms of sensation and feelings coming back, and the lab report said the tumor is begign. :) So now we just wait for recovery and the 6 week scan to check that it hasn't returned. Good news is always something to share. :)