Sewing – or – The Reluctant Domestic Student

If you put a \$ then everything after is in italics

If you put a \ in front of the \$ then \$ will be printed

Let me see if $this is true

Nope, that’s not it, but there’s some weird behavior like that

Let me experiment

I can get italics by clicking on the I ikon above, but there’s some way to trigger $$italics

Not two $s either

Whatever bonzo typed just before “that’s not lawful” is what triggered the weird italics

Whatever bonzo typed just before “that’s not lawful” is what triggered the weird italics

Dollar sign.  It’s bitten me several times…when posting from mobile.

The Janome MyStyle 100 would probably do what you need and is super discount priced at 210 dollars right now (MSRP 399). https://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/j-mystyle100.php?utm_source=criteo&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=lowerfunnel&utm_id=75791&cto_pld=XrKOuBlMAABqHpdo7h-qkQ

If you think you might be sewing mainly heavy pack materials the Singer Heavy Duty would be a good choice. It’s also marked way down at the moment. https://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/4452.php

Free shipping CONUS

+1 Singer Heavy Duty. You can find it for even less than the above price–$200 at Michael’s, for example.

I used to work at an elementary and middle school where we had kids learning to use tools from a young age, and there were two Singer Heavy Duty machines that lasted over a decade that never got serviced—and there is probably no harder use of a machine than one used by hundreds of first to eighth graders. The only thing that put one of the machines out of alignment was when someone put a coin under the presser foot and tried to sew through it.

It’s also the only machine Ripstop By the Roll sells (except out of stock there at the moment), has a free arm (removable base) and is their recommended machine for folks getting into MYOG. While it has plastic housing and doesn’t look “heavy duty,” it just always worked for me for everything from delicate fabrics to bar-tacking webbing on backpacks with little to no adjusting. I like that I can just sit down and start sewing on it.

I have been gifted numerous sewing machines when people hear that I sew…and, with the exception of a sentimental family heirloom, I’ve passed most of them on. An inexpensive or free machine can quickly become an expensive machine when it needs to be serviced—just the cleaning of an old machine can easily run $150, and repairs can run much more. Of course, you can learn how to clean, repair and service your own machines, but I would rather spend more time hiking and less time tinkering.  Some people love taking tinkering on as an additional hobby—you already know if this is you or not :)

If you think you might be sewing mainly heavy pack materials the Singer Heavy Duty would be a good choice. It’s also marked way down at the moment.

+1 Singer Heavy Duty.

I’ve had a few people suggest that to me, as a new-in-the-box option.  It certainly has everything I’d need, and then some…and with newer machines it’s way easier to get free-arm capability in an otherwise-flat machine.

An inexpensive or free machine can quickly become an expensive machine when it needs to be serviced—just the cleaning of an old machine can easily run $150, and repairs can run much more.

Years ago, my dad gave me a piece of advice: “If you’re going to buy something, buy the best one you can afford; you’ll save money in the long run.”  That’s literally never failed to be true.  It doesn’t matter if the object in question is worth five dollars or five hundred thousand: just don’t try to cheap out.

Of course, you can learn how to clean, repair and service your own machines, but I would rather spend more time hiking and less time tinkering.

Hiking is far from my only pursuit; in fact, it’s often a means to an end, for me.  Some of the photography that I do requires me to hike to access it…and sometimes, I just don’t want anyone within a few square miles of me while I sit and think about something.  Hiking is how I achieve these things…but conversely, sometimes I just get out there and walk up and down hills just to do it.  So, yes: all types.

As far as repairing goes: I like keeping old things alive.  That’s why I rebuilt the mill I mentioned earlier: I wanted it to be in service for at least another sixty years, and to hopefully teach me a bit about machining along the way.  Sewing machines look to be approximately as complex…so I’m not scared of taking one apart and putting it back together again.  Taken together, those factors open up a lot of possibilities for me.

I tried to find how much it cost to repair and clean my janome.  Something like $150.

Testing $ on my phone

Now, $ doesn’t cause everything following to be run together and in italics, weird

I’ll bet you between $1 and $5 that it does…

I don’t bet between 1$ and 5$ testtt

Ahhh… It’s if you have a \$ followed by a space.

If you want to put a \$ followed by a space, you have to put a \\ before the \$.

Today seems to be the day of old Pfaff machines; I found a few 130s, a 330-something, a 230, and a stupid-good price on a 138…and as tempting as that last one is, it’s a clutch-motor commercial.  Also, a Singer 20U popped up along with another 403…so you know what I’m taking away from all of this?  There’s absolutely zero reason to jump on the first one of anything, because there are more sewing machines on this planet than people.

Late to the conversation at this point.

I started out with an old Kenmore, it is a free arm, does zig zag and is portable. It needed some cleaning and servicing but was a good starter machine for \$25 at the thrift store. The learning curve was steep as it had issues from sitting a long time and the grease / oil gummed up. This caused stitches that were too short and the cam followers that made the zig zag and other special stitches not work or only work part way. I learned a lot about cleaning and oiling and got it mostly where I wanted it. and then I fell down the rabbit hole with a singer 201 from the 50’s from FB marketplace, it needed a foot pedal and I took a risk but for under $100 all in it sews beautifully but is only a straight stitch. It handles thin materials well though as the hole in the needle plate is only big enough for the needle so it does not pull in extra material like the Kenmore did, I say did because I have since bought a straight stitch needle plate for it. The 201 is in a table and has the original stool and I like that for most sewing tasks. The portable Kenmore only gets used for zig zag and cuffs / hemming that I can’t do on the 201. Anyway my 2 cents and beginning journey into MYOG. The singer 127 treadle I just bought, well that is another step down the slippery slope……