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mrsbrownWhen I was a child (before my parents separated when I was 5) my mother made all of our clothes. I spent hours sitting on the dining room table, talking to Mum, collecting pins, turning belts and waistbands with a wooden spoon, watching everthing she did. Some days she would pull the sewing machine open, clean out the lint and oil it. It became my job to open the machine and clean out the lint. The machine had easy access to the underneath, you just rotated the holding catch and it hinged up. Then I used the brush Mum had for the purpose and cleaned it all out.
I have three sewing machines; The one I inherited from my grandmother - it's the same model Lemair as the one my Mum had, a 30's singer treadle machine and a really modern Janome J "borrowed" from his mum and she eventually gave us.
Lately (probably the last 18 months) the Janome has been running really roughly. I've been thinking that my treadle machine was better, because I use it, and it just works. I've read the manual for the Janome, I've looked for the maintenance requirements I've cleaned under the feed dogs as suggested, I've changed the needle more often. It's still run roughly. It's a modern machine, maybe it's got some special way of keeping lint out of the mechanism, I thought.
Finally today I got completely fed up and decided to pull apart the machine and work out what's wrong. I undid two screws and pulled off the base. There was enough lint to fill my next pin cushion!! It's now clean and running much more nicely.
What sort of society are we living in when the manual for a sewing machine doesn't include complete instructions on how to maintain it? Is it assumed that we should send the machine off for a 'service' because we are incapable?
What's the difference between consumers today and when I were a lass? What are the values of a society that has to pay others to do simple things for them? It's all crap!!
btw writing the first paragraph was like poking a sore - it made me cry. Why?
I have three sewing machines; The one I inherited from my grandmother - it's the same model Lemair as the one my Mum had, a 30's singer treadle machine and a really modern Janome J "borrowed" from his mum and she eventually gave us.
Lately (probably the last 18 months) the Janome has been running really roughly. I've been thinking that my treadle machine was better, because I use it, and it just works. I've read the manual for the Janome, I've looked for the maintenance requirements I've cleaned under the feed dogs as suggested, I've changed the needle more often. It's still run roughly. It's a modern machine, maybe it's got some special way of keeping lint out of the mechanism, I thought.
Finally today I got completely fed up and decided to pull apart the machine and work out what's wrong. I undid two screws and pulled off the base. There was enough lint to fill my next pin cushion!! It's now clean and running much more nicely.
What sort of society are we living in when the manual for a sewing machine doesn't include complete instructions on how to maintain it? Is it assumed that we should send the machine off for a 'service' because we are incapable?
What's the difference between consumers today and when I were a lass? What are the values of a society that has to pay others to do simple things for them? It's all crap!!
btw writing the first paragraph was like poking a sore - it made me cry. Why?
...when I were a lass...?
Date: 2004-05-08 03:52 pm (UTC)Ah the good old days, eh? Not only was the stuff we bought back then better, but the people that bought it were better too. Next time you're in a sore poking mood, why not ask J how much he thinks fish and chips should cost.