Steven is a great father, grandfather and yes, great grandfather. He is such a good dad that he offered to mend Badger's blanket. Badger is a horse. The blanket is huge. The straps have been torn off in several places. He was going to sew it by hand. I scoffed.
Me: Why not do it on the machine?
Him: The machine can't sew through all those layers of strap and the blanket too. I have mended many a tent by hand. I am sure I can do it.
Me: Have you looked at it?
Him: No.
Me: We should look at it.
So Molly came by with the horse blanket today. Kota and Theo were thrilled. I checked out the job.
Two straps were double thickness polyester webbing. One was single thickness. I got the 15-90 off the shelf, switched it out with the 201-1 that was in the treadle stand. Put a 110 needle in and some 40 weight thread (I had nothing heavier, it will be fine) and in less than an hour fixed all three straps. One was totally missing so I found a ring I had in my purse hardware and constructed a replacement strap. Easy Peasy.
There is no way Steven would have been able to get a hand needle through all those layers. Shit, the man has a really bad Dupuytren's contracture on his right hand. Sure, he used to be able to sew tents, but tents don't have three layers of webbing and horse blanket.
Anyway, I showed off. The 15-90 did the trick, no sweat. I'm not sure that the 15-91 would have done so well. That's why I love the treadle. I think you get better power with feet. I love the 201 but if I had to have only one machine, the 15-90 would be it. It's just so strong.
Isn't there a line about 'she doesn't need to know about the new golf clubs/he doesn't need to know about the new sewing machine'?
ReplyDeletePraying for you with a smile on my face. I believe showing off is a teeny sin, thus my prayer. ;)
Stephanie
You are one of the baddest sewing machine obsessed I've encountered, and it's been such fun reading about it all. I finally got a treadle together a couple years ago, but I've had toddler explorers living in the house non stop and I've removed the needle and don't play with it. You are piqueing my interest in it again.
ReplyDeleteHa, that's awesome! & You got free prayers, I guess. So, bonus!
ReplyDeleteThat is so funny.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it was a lie exactly. You were just being careful, you could have got lost & been late.
OMG!! I'm just about to roll on the floor laughing! I can't TELL you how many machines I've sneaked in the front door and hidden back in my sewing room somewhere. I have a modest pension that I get every month, so he usually doesn't know what I spend. One or two of them I've not even gotten around to opening yet because I'm currently working on my prized, recently acquired 201-2. Not long ago, I had picked up a mint condition 301-A for a paltry $50. It's black, gorgeous and I had it out for him to see when I cleaned the outside (it didn't need anything else). Shortly after, when I bought the 201, I first put the 301 out of sight and set the 201 up where the 301 had been. He never noticed the difference. My sweet, darling, wonderful husband of almost 50 years is charming, loving, funny and generous, but when he discovers I've bought another machine he wants to know: "What did it cost? Could we make some money on it?" Ultimately, I do tell him what my machine(s) cost, but I buy only some machines for re-sale, the 201-2 is MINE!!! 😁😊
ReplyDeleteAnd a note to SJ Kurtz: Hubs IS a die-hard golfer and has more golf shirts than I have clothing in my whole wardrobe. At my last count there were at least 75 of them! And that was AFTER I donated a whole bunch of them to Purple Heart because they were too small for him anymore. I won't even go into the number of golf bags and clubs he owns. I'll just say rarely a day goes by when I don’t trip over one. So, whenever we get into that discussion about how many sewing machines one person needs, I just ask him, "Sewing is my ‘golf’ Honey, how many shirts, bags and clubs do you need?". He just rolls his eyes and walks away. God bless his dear soul.
Perhaps I need some prayers too!?
OMG!! I'm just about to roll on the floor laughing! I can't TELL you how many machines I've sneaked in the front door and hidden back in my sewing room somewhere. I have a modest pension that I get every month, so he usually doesn't know what I spend. One or two of them I've not even gotten around to opening yet because I'm currently working on my prized, recently acquired 201-2. Not long ago, I had picked up a mint condition 301-A for a paltry $50. It's black, gorgeous and I had it out for him to see when I cleaned the outside (it didn't need anything else). Shortly after, when I bought the 201, I first put the 301 out of sight and set the 201 up where the 301 had been. He never noticed the difference. My sweet, darling, wonderful husband of almost 50 years is charming, loving, funny and generous, but when he discovers I've bought another machine he wants to know: "What did it cost? Could we make some money on it?" Ultimately, I do tell him what my machine(s) cost, but I buy only some machines for re-sale, the 201-2 is MINE!!! 😁😊
ReplyDeleteAnd a note to SJ Kurtz: Hubs IS a die-hard golfer and has more golf shirts than I have clothing in my whole wardrobe. At my last count there were at least 75 of them! And that was AFTER I donated a whole bunch of them to Purple Heart because they were too small for him anymore. I won't even go into the number of golf bags and clubs he owns. I'll just say rarely a day goes by when I don’t trip over one. So, whenever we get into that discussion about how many sewing machines one person needs, I just ask him, "Sewing is my ‘golf’ Honey, how many shirts, bags and clubs do you need?". He just rolls his eyes and walks away. God bless his dear soul.
Perhaps I need some prayers too!?