Model 52
I remember taking offense when a friend referred to me "very domestic." I'm not domestic! That means someone who likes cleaning, decorating, arranging things and making sure that the house is in good shape and...
Oh, okay. Maybe I am like that. At least sometimes.
But there are many "domestic" tasks that I have never mastered. One of them being sewing.
My mom has always had a sewing machine and breaks it out occasionally. But she doesn't seem to have a very good idea of how to run it. And, certainly, never was able to explain to me how to run it. In my mind, sewing machines have always been mysterious objects that don't work right and only appear once every two years or so.
But, there have been many recent situations where it seemed that a sewing machine would come in handy. I'm pretty good with machines and figuring things out. So, I searched along on Craigslist and found an old one that seemed to do what I need (namely, be durable and able to sew through more than just one or two layers of fabric). In fact, the older models seemed more useful to me (made of metal rather than plastic, easier to repair, more likely to be able to sew through leather or other materials like that). In case you're curious, here's a video of what it looks like and some different things it can sew through: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQOhIbh0fMI.
Thanks to the manual and youtube videos, I've been able to figure things out as I go along. ("Oh... increasing the tension of the top thread will eliminate those annoying loops of thread under the fabric!" or "If you don't stop with the thread take-up lever at it's highest point, the thread will keep coming out of the needle when you try to start again" or "Is it really that easy to get the bobbin thread up? I thought it was much more complicated.")
In the last few days, I've sewn the straps onto my Morris bell pads (finally!!!), fixed some clothes, fixed some blankets, and re-stuffed a cushion and sewn it back up much nicer than by hand. I've learned that using a sewing machine is a lot easier than I thought. Now, if I could just learn how to keep sewing in a straight line...