I have almost lost control of my bodily functions..

....I am THAT excited!

The search is officially over.

Meet my new sewing partner in crime (you just know that you can those drums rolling...)



Ta Dahhhh!

I just simply cannot believe my luck. This little beauty of a machine found me. Yes it's true. "We" were meant to be.

Whilst I loved the tester Barry gave me it did not seem quite right. I can't really put my finger on why exactly. I just did not feel fully comfortable using her.

Which made me even less inclined to take the plunge and purchase a new machine not knowing whether or not I would stick with this new hobby and without really getting to know what I might like in a machine first.

I have been combing op shops local, and from afar, with no luck. Most of them don't sell electrical goods anymore.

Earlier in the week I had another idea. Some time ago I joined my local Freecycle group. So I posted a "Wanted" post to see if I could flush out a beginner's sewing machine.

Within 24 hours I received an email from a lady called Kerry who offered me her mother's old machine. She did not tell me anything about it but I hastily offered to collect it first thing this morning. After navigating a petrol spill and a number of accidents during a 90 minute trip in peak hour traffic this morning - I met Kerry and her lovely family at 10.00am.

Kerry's husband insisted on carrying it to my car. "It's too heavy for you to carry!" he cried. My heart sunk a little at that point. But I decided to wait and see what would reveal itself when I opened the case at home.

I was so happily surpised when I unlocked the blue leather (or leather look?) case. A Janome 610. Made in Japan. A late 1960's or early 1970's make. A little workhorse, I am guessing she weighs around 15kg! I am going to have to head back to the gym before I can take her out for lessons!

Kerry's mum had kept all of the bits and pieces I can see myself needing for a while.



I totally dig the case!

What I really love about this machine is its simplicity. I managed to work out how to thread this thing and load a bobbin without the manual. Which is a huge deal!

The most intriguing thing about it is the way the stitches work. More modern machines change stitches at the click of button or turn of a dial.

On this machine the sewer has to manually change the stitch by changing the cam on the machine itself. That's right people, you have to flip the lid open like so...





and change the little blue wheel. Altogether there are 27 wheels with different stitch combinations. Reading the instruction manual reveals that you can set the machine to run with 2 needles and then use 2 different cams to make a combination of 2 stitches work together.

Here is a sample of what it can do..(sorry for the bad pic I sewed on calico which flashed up terribly when I took pictures with the flash).



Whilst I suspect that in time this feature could become cumbersome, at the moment I find it charming. It totally fits where I am with sewing.

I am going to have to really stop and take the time to think about what I am doing.

So I am off to share my find with Barry tomorrow. Hopefully his trained eye will find that she merely needs a tune up. Hopefully he won't need to keep her for too long....