NotSoThoreau

You might remember that I have several treadles and haven’t had any posts about sewing lately. The treadles were moved out of the office into another room, as we were going to redo the floor in here. That still hasn’t happened. I tried to hem one of the skirts I’d put together, using the SuperNova. It didn’t work out well. The hem was too wonky and I wasn’t happy with it. But, for some reason, Cleo was left in the office. Cleo is the machine I used for my wedding skirt and blouse. I shuffled things around yesterday and brought her over where I can use her. Today, we sewed!

Cleo is a no drama machine. I used her for the wedding clothes because my prettier, older treadle just needed more attention than I could provide at the time. I paid more for Cleo, than most of my other machines. I think I had to rescue her, because they’d put an aquarium on top at some point and ruined the veneer. It’s a 7 drawer base and one of my favorite designs. If you are familiar with sewing machines, you will run across those that are well loved and broken in. They have an easy movement to them. I like to buy those. They aren’t as pretty but they work. Cleo is always ready to sew. Sew a skirt that really needs to be ironed because it’s a wrinkled mess? Okay, let’s give it a go. That skirt is likely going to be a work skirt anyway and I had to use white thread for the hem because I can’t find my blue thread. But it’s hemmed and I’ll run it through the wash again, to let the dryer take out the wrinkles.

The best thing is the sound of the treadle. There’s no starting buzz as the motor kicks in. It’s easy to treadle and I don’t feel rushed when I’m working. I just know that it’s going to work. I am thinking again that I should find new homes for the two electric machines I have. I don’t care for rotaries and I just don’t enjoy sewing when I use electrics. I hesitated to get rid of the Fashion Mate, as it’s another no drama machine. I need to work with my step daughter in law and get her comfortable with sewing. I can hand it off to her. The SuperNova is a nice machine but we’ve never bonded. And I think I’d rather have one of those mechanical zigzaggers for the few times I could use a zigzag. I have a buttonhole attachment for the Free, so I’m set there. I prefer working with wovens rather than knits these days. But I won’t do anything rash just yet. I just had a nice relaxing day sewing, which is something that doesn’t happen often.