By: Chuck Miller
Having Fun

It only took 45 minutes or so…

I recently purchased a secondhand sewing machine for future art projects.

Yep, here it is.

After much detective work, I found out that my sewing machine is a Singer Merritt 2502C, an introductory standard model.

Now I’m sure that a sewing machine expert can look at this thing and determine everything on it.Β  Me … I’m just looking at a sewing machine.

But then again, I’m the kind of guy who can determine the age of a phonograph record by looking at the etching code in the runout grooves.Β  You gotta play to your strengths, people…

After watching several YouTube clips, and reading the enclosed manual (which still read like a dissertation on the infield fly rule), I realized there was some necessary prep work before I could stitch my first stitch.

I have to wind a bobbin to put in the bottom of the machine.Β  That took some time to figure out, but I eventually succeeded.

Then I had to maneuver my thread through this hole and around this post and past this hook and …

Wait, you want me to put the thread through THAT tiny needle eye?

That thing’s so small, it might require Raquel Welch and three scientists in a miniaturized spaceship to see what I’m doing.

A few tries, though … and eventually, 45 minutes after I initially put the sewing machine on its pedestal, I had it threaded up.

Okay … now all I want to do is make one attempt at stitching.Β  I had some scrap fabric – some colored, striped cotton panels – and decided, for a test, to stitch two scrap pieces together.Β  And to prove that I actually DID stitch this together, I turned one of the stripes at a 90Β° angle.

Both pieces in the machine.

Lock in place.

Slowly step on the foot treadle… and …

SING SING SING SING SING

Okay… and …

I have stitches.

No, not the kind that I got at the hospital.

The stitches are actually in this fabric.

Achievement unlocked.

Now does this mean I can actually put together an entire wardrobe for a fashion show tomorrow?

Not a chance.

Does this mean I can have a full-length quilt crafted by next weekend?

Yeah, right.

But if nothing else, I can at least sew two fabrics together.Β  And maybe down the road, I will make a quilt.Β  Or I might make a handmade shirt – heck, I think they still make those Simplicity pattern books, don’t they?

But if nothing else … I’ve gotten this far.Β  And what was once an intimidating device …

Now seems less intimidating and more intriguing.

We shall see how things progress.