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Battle wounds in corsetry...
Dec. 4th, 2010 10:57 pmToday was hard on my hands. I had to pry my corset out of TheBitch's claws twice - the second time around I actually gave up and called the HG to the rescue after hitting the machine with the first thing I had at hand. That didn't convince her but I managed to slice my right pinky finger open, as said first thing was my pair of scissors. I know, dumb. But the HG did save the corset.
After that, I decided I was done with TheBitch ans switched over to my 1930s Singer, aka TheSphynx. I miraculously remembered how to thread it and wind a bobbin (though she's not so good at bobbin winding), and marveled at ther regularity and smoothness while applying bias binding and lace to the Erris corset. Binding included many pins that were very keen on stabbing my otherwise intact fingers. Ouch !
But the thing is, the top of the corset is bound, the bottom is partially done, and I think I'll be able to complete the corset (minus lacing cords I still have to buy) by the end of the week-end.
As for TheBitch, I'm debating between keeping her as a bobbin winder for the Sphynx (they use the same bobbins and bobbin case) and giving her back to the original owner, my Mom, so that I'm no longer tempted to ever, EVER sew anything with the cursed thing. A sewing machine that almost comes to a halt every time her path crosses a pin ? That doesn't know there's such a thing as "stitch length" ? (I mean, there supposedly is such a thing in the settings, she just does her own thing... one long stich, five short ones, let's make them longer again...) That gets stuck with the needle down repeatedly ? That basically messes up everything you do ? - until you try to stitch on a fabric scrap. everything's always fine on scraps. I'm not even sure she'd work as bobbin winder right now - although she repeatedly set herself on bobbin winding mode on her own today, the seems totally stuck now, and I very much don't want to shell out 80 to 150 euros to repair a thing I despise that much.
The good side of it is that I made friends with TheSphynx (I even hugged fer a few times today), I went back to the Singer website, found out she's from 1930 rather than 1933 like I thought, and even downloaded the manual - so that now I know what the mystery feet are ! large and adjustable hemming feet ! I'm thinking about hunting down a new basic foot for her, some bobbins (foot and bobbins are a bit rusty), and possibly a ruffler... I just adoooore her. The light is also exactly in the right position and exactly the right intensity - those who updated her to electricity did a really good job ! I worked a bit with the (electric) pedal, and a bit with the hand, and was able to get more precise stitching than I do with TheTank.
... so now I kind of want a hand-crank machine... oops !
After that, I decided I was done with TheBitch ans switched over to my 1930s Singer, aka TheSphynx. I miraculously remembered how to thread it and wind a bobbin (though she's not so good at bobbin winding), and marveled at ther regularity and smoothness while applying bias binding and lace to the Erris corset. Binding included many pins that were very keen on stabbing my otherwise intact fingers. Ouch !
But the thing is, the top of the corset is bound, the bottom is partially done, and I think I'll be able to complete the corset (minus lacing cords I still have to buy) by the end of the week-end.
As for TheBitch, I'm debating between keeping her as a bobbin winder for the Sphynx (they use the same bobbins and bobbin case) and giving her back to the original owner, my Mom, so that I'm no longer tempted to ever, EVER sew anything with the cursed thing. A sewing machine that almost comes to a halt every time her path crosses a pin ? That doesn't know there's such a thing as "stitch length" ? (I mean, there supposedly is such a thing in the settings, she just does her own thing... one long stich, five short ones, let's make them longer again...) That gets stuck with the needle down repeatedly ? That basically messes up everything you do ? - until you try to stitch on a fabric scrap. everything's always fine on scraps. I'm not even sure she'd work as bobbin winder right now - although she repeatedly set herself on bobbin winding mode on her own today, the seems totally stuck now, and I very much don't want to shell out 80 to 150 euros to repair a thing I despise that much.
The good side of it is that I made friends with TheSphynx (I even hugged fer a few times today), I went back to the Singer website, found out she's from 1930 rather than 1933 like I thought, and even downloaded the manual - so that now I know what the mystery feet are ! large and adjustable hemming feet ! I'm thinking about hunting down a new basic foot for her, some bobbins (foot and bobbins are a bit rusty), and possibly a ruffler... I just adoooore her. The light is also exactly in the right position and exactly the right intensity - those who updated her to electricity did a really good job ! I worked a bit with the (electric) pedal, and a bit with the hand, and was able to get more precise stitching than I do with TheTank.
... so now I kind of want a hand-crank machine... oops !
