No, it's not like the Mary Poppin's bag

[Nayeli_Sabia]

Haha. I've never had anyone try to haggle on the prices of fabric. I've had ones who think the price is wrong and then make me did through the store to find the bolt only to show them I was right.

Only time i've ever argued was when the bolt was marked $x.xx per PANEL. It was a fleece blanket panel. The lady insisted on charging the $x.xx price, per yard. the panel was almost two yards. She kept insisting that even though it said per panel, the price was actually per yard... i gave up arguing, because i really wanted the material to make a simple tie blanket for my husband.

It still rather pisses me off... i never went back to that store.

[SuperRTL]

Wow, I thought she just shopped at my store! Honestly, my sympathies.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I had my grandmother's treadle operated Singer sewing machine back in the mid-70s. I made a shirt on it, and used it for repairs. I sold it at a yard sale. Sometimes I wish I still had it.

[Andara Bledin]

My grandmother had one of those tanks, and for a long time, it lived with my mom at our place.

I used to love just running the foot pedal to see how fast I could get it to go, when I was a little kid.

The machine would be in the stored position when I did that, of course.

^-.-^

[AccountingDrone]

Furrfu.

Those old Singer machines are like the Kodak cameras of that period: built like tanks, and no collector's value, because they made so many and they're mostly still around 90 years later.

We have one of those tanks ... mrDrone's great uncle from Alsatia was a tailor, he had a place in San Francisco. I don't think nuclear winter would harm one of those machines.

[morgana]

You know, this thread is kind of making me want to learn how to sew...

Do they make an inexpensive, compact, beginner-level sewing machine for a 37 year old bachelor?

Love, Who?

The local Walmart has some useable-to-learn-on machines for +/- $100. And if you can handle long-distance, over-the-web teaching, PM me. I've been sewing longer than I want to admit being alive.

[Seshat]

Absolutely. And lots of places are happy to give you lessons.

[Ben_Who]

You know, this thread is kind of making me want to learn how to sew...

Do they make an inexpensive, compact, beginner-level sewing machine for a 37 year old bachelor?

Love, Who?

[Miss Fatale]

I'm just trying to figure out how a (not industrial) machine could be made to sew buttons. The only way I know involves something that an ordinary-style sewing machine can't do.

The very little ones are more like a stapler. Probably fine if you're out somewhere and a coat button comes off and you need a temporary fix. But not so good for actual buttons.

[Shalom]

Furrfu.

She did this:

SC: Hey, hey, hey (she snaps her fingers in my face. I glance up) Show me where the patterns are.

Then she had the chutzpah to say this:

SC: How Rude,

?

Am I the only one with cognitive dissonance here?

The OP said:

Me: Miss, I think it would be even ruder for me to leave these people who have been waiting patiently.

It's a good thing you were there and not me, I'd've said "It's even ruder to snap your fingers in someone's face. Now if you have a question for me, go to the end of the line please, there are people in front of you."

My mom was (still is, I suppose!) a terrific sewer.

Uhm, you have to be careful how you pronounce that.

Warning: rambling ahead. Skip if desired.

I can barely figure out what to do with a needle and thread myself; it's just not one of my skills. My great-grandfather, on the other hand, was a tailor by trade (actually both my mother's grandfathers were tailors). He had a Singer sewing machine, vintage 1913, foot-powered, which sat in his house. In the morning he'd unscrew the "head" or whatever you call the actual machine part, strap it to his back, and take it to a clothing factory where he'd install it in their base (table, whatever) and work his shift. Then he'd unscrew the thing again and shlep it back home, while the second-shift guy came with his machine and installed it in the same table so he could work his shift. Once he got home, he'd set his machine up again and continue working; he did piece-work at home for extra money. He never electrified his machine: it was pedal-powered to the end, and still is (one of my cousins owns it now). He claimed you couldn't control the speed properly with an electric motor, and he was probably right given that the electrified Singers didn't have speed controls, only a clutch. It was either off or working at full speed... Those old Singer machines are like the Kodak cameras of that period: built like tanks, and no collector's value, because they made so many and they're mostly still around 90 years later. (Now if you just want a working sewing machine that you can hand down to your grandchildren when you retire, then it's a worthwhile investment. Just don't expect to be able to retire on the proceeds if you sell it.) My grandmother used her father's machine for the rest of her life; it mostly served as the table for the fancy Japanese machine that she did much of the lighter work, but once in a while, when she was making curtains or blankets, or repairing one of her grandchildren's school knapsacks, the fancy machine went on the floor and the old dinosaur would wake up. I don't care how heavy the fabric was; she could drive a needle through leather with that thing when she needed to.

Talking of buttonholes, one of Jay Leno's books of weird or typo'd advertisements showed an ad for a sewing machine featuring an "automatic buttholer". Leno's comment was "I don't even wanna know what that is..."

[mharbourgirl]

I'm just trying to figure out how a (not industrial) machine could be made to sew buttons. The only way I know involves something that an ordinary-style sewing machine can't do.

Easily. My mom was (still is, I suppose!) a terrific sewer. She made a LOT of my and my brothers' clothes when we were growing up. Every machine she ever had, and this is since the early 70's, had a button foot you could replace the regular foot with. Push a couple of levers or buttons and the machine was reset to do a side-to-side stitch that was brilliant for buttons. You could adjust the width of the stitch to suit the buttons you were sewing on, too.

Here is a list with photos of various feet for a sewing machine. I LOVE making buttonholes by machine. I'd lose my mind if I had to do them by hand. Zipper feet are also awesome.

[Chromatix]

I'm just trying to figure out how a (not industrial) machine could be made to sew buttons. The only way I know involves something that an ordinary-style sewing machine can't do.

That said, I can sew (not very neatly, but serviceably). I need to get around to repairing some of my trousers... but making a dress from scratch is beyond me. The trick is that I know it.

[tropicsgoddess]

Good grief, she's dumber than a sack of hammers....

[Mark Healey]

There is a regular bookstore customer who comes in with these awesome shirts. I asked him where he got them and was told his wive makes them. When I asked him to relay a request to make some for me she wouldn't even respond with a "here is a price that is so insane I don't have to say no" price.

Bummer.

[driftwolf]

Brain. Hurts. Please. Stop.

Owww!!! Condolences for having to deal with that.