The Surprising Genius of Sewing Machines

[Sedalia Dave]

 

 

 

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

 

 

 

 

 

[Sedalia Dave]

 

 

 

[Rye Miles #13621]

17 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

 

 

 

 

My mom had one and used it all the time for different tasks. 

[Subdeacon Joe]

The exacting geometry and timing of them rivals any internal combustion engine, it might be even more exacting.  At the air filter company I worked for I would have to adjust the timing on them sometimes.  Frustrating.

I leaned to sew, or at least use my Mom's Singer, much like the one in the THG video, but with the motor mounted on the table behind the machine,  when I was about 6 or 7, and she taught me how to wind the bobbins a few years before that.  It was fun watching the spool spin around and the bobbin fill up, and having to just barely touch both so they didn't overspin and cause a snarl.  

Started off doing things like hemming a frayed handkerchief, or maybe a pair of cutoffs.  From there to patching the knees of jeans.  I think I was 9 or 10 before I actually made something from a pattern.  A simple pull over shirt.  Attaching the collar gave me fits.  50 years or more and I still remember that!  Most complicated things I made were square dance dresses for my ex.  And Tudor shirts for myself.  

[Rye Miles #13621]

2 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

The exacting geometry and timing of them rivals any internal combustion engine, it might be even more exacting.  At the air filter company I worked for I would have to adjust the timing on them sometimes.  Frustrating.

I leaned to sew, or at least use my Mom's Singer, much like the one in the THG video, but with the motor mounted on the table behind the machine,  when I was about 6 or 7, and she taught me how to wind the bobbins a few years before that.  It was fun watching the spool spin around and the bobbin fill up, and having to just barely touch both so they didn't overspin and cause a snarl.  

Started off doing things like hemming a frayed handkerchief, or maybe a pair of cutoffs.  From there to patching the knees of jeans.  I think I was 9 or 10 before I actually made something from a pattern.  A simple pull over shirt.  Attaching the collar gave me fits.  50 years or more and I still remember that!  Most complicated things I made were square dance dresses for my ex.  And Tudor shirts for myself.  

Hey there’s a great part time job for you when you retire!!

Seriously I applaud you for learning how to sew. 
 It’s not easy, my mom wanted teach me some some basics and I didn’t want to learn. I can hand sew a button! That’s it!

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Hey there’s a great part time job for you when you retire!!

Seriously I applaud you for learning how to sew. 
 It’s not easy, my mom wanted teach me some some basics and I didn’t want to learn. I can hand sew a button! That’s it!

 

But that would make it work rather than a hobby! 

Quote

Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world, after all. He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it — namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. And this would help him to understand why constructing artificial flowers or performing on a treadmill is work, while rolling tenpins or climbing Mont Blanc is only amusement.

There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign.

 

I haven't used a machine in about 10 years, with the price of fabric it's less expensive to buy off the rack, and I'm not doing any sort of reenacting anymore, so I don't need to make things for myself or my wife.  Back when I was doing a lot of sewing I could go to one of the mill ends stores and buy stuff that had minor flaws or was a large remnant for a buck a yard.  

I think my mom taught me because she was tired of patching things - I'm the youngest of 4 boys, and there is 7 years between me and my youngest brother, and 12 between me and the eldest.  So I learned household skills early on.  Sewing, ironing, cooking.  With my brothers so much older, by the time I was in 4th grade they all had jobs after school, and both parents were working.  I'd get home, do my homework, get a pot of coffee started so it was ready when my folks got home, and often I'd start dinner, or at least do some of the prep work for mom.  

All in all, it's stood me in good stead because some of the concepts can be applied to other things.  

[Trailrider #896]

Back when the Space Shuttle was flying, the boosters were recovered using 136 ft. diameter main parachutes, which were made of nylon ribbons, about four inches across by maybe 3/8" thick, crisscrossed. When recovered from the ocean, the chutes were taken to a facility at Cape Canaveral, washed to remove the salt, and any repairs were made using some old Singer sewing machines! These were biggies, with large throats.  Must have been at least 50 years old. The machines were used until they couldn't get parts for them, at which point they were replaced with more modern machines. 

I bought my wife a sewing machine for our first anniversary, fifty-three years ago. She never used it, but it has served me well for light fabric jobs. I also have a Juki TSC-441 used for my Trailrider Products leather work. It's a walking-foot, with a slow-speed control, that will sew through heavy leather.    

I call my Juki, "Kate" because Juki is owned by Mitsubishi, that made the WWII Japanese torpedo bombers. 

[Blackwater 53393]

Very similar to sewing machines, believe it or not, are hay balers!  The ones that are used to make the traditional square, stackable bales use the same principle and require the same sort of timing.

 

Before I got married, back in 1976, I worked for a tractor and farm implement company.  Timing balers was one of the most tedious and sometimes challenging jobs in the shop!

 

 

[Calamity Kris]

9 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

The exacting geometry and timing of them rivals any internal combustion engine, it might be even more exacting.  At the air filter company I worked for I would have to adjust the timing on them sometimes.  Frustrating.

 

YES!!!  I purchased my first 4 spool overlock machine used because I wasn't sure I would get enough use out of it.  Well, I found out why it was for sale.  I learned how to thread it without any problem could only stitch it for about 5 minutes before the threads became a huge ball inside the machine.  After struggling with it for a few months, I took it to a machine repair shop who happened to know about sewing machines.  He said the tolerances on the frame were off by just a tiny amount.  That was enough to throw the timing off and over a brief period of time, it caused issues with the thread.