Opening Up Shop

At long last, my Etsy shop is open! You can visit it at InStitchesKarenDubay to see my crafty items, all made with vintage sewing machines. After the craft fairs were over I wanted to try this as a means of selling where I didn't have to leave home and smile for seven hours straight to sell my items. Craft fairs can be fun but they are always a lot of work and when sales are just mediocre it's discouraging. What's nice about Etsy is the wide audience you can reach. My calendar towel tote bags have a wide variety of themes that Minnesotans might not care about but those in Cape Cod or New York would love to have (those are two of the bags I haven't sold yet).

So here's what my shop looks like:

I had a graphic designer, Justin Ross, design the banner (as well as my business cards: thank you Justin) for a professional look that I really like. I took photos and started to add items for sale. Sounds easy, huh? Not so much.

1. Set up photography set: tables, backdrops, lights on poles, camera on tripod
2. Learn to use husband's new camera: don't break anything!
3. Learn about lighting: and shadows and settings
4. Learn how to download: ignore the 500 photos previously taken of scenery
5. Learn how to edit in new software program: short learning curve since I've been editing for this blog and Craigslist entries
6. Learn how to write script for items: how many ways can you say "toaster cover"?
7. Learn Etsy
8. Repeat

So now I sit back and wait for sales. Or promote my site for sales. You are reading this blog post instead of visiting my shop? Well, the link is at the top of this post so you only have to click (this is shameless advertising, isn't it?). I hope you find this interesting, no pressure to buy, but would welcome comments for improvements. Do I need to make the descriptions cuter? compelling? more descriptive? Are the photos clear? Would you actually find this interesting even if you were not in the market for a toaster cover? This is all new to me so we will see how it goes. It has been suggested that I should post my sewing machines for sale in Etsy and make them "local pick up only" so I might do that with a few that are more colorful. The portable models would look good since I can use the photo set but cabinet models are more problematic. Here's one I photographed in the photo set:

Centennial

There are always new skills to learn! But isn't that what keeps us alive the ticking?

Going in Reverse

It seems I have several sewing machines that have the same problem: they only want to sew in reverse. It might sound funny, thinking about a car that would only go in reverse, but it's really anoying. The first one was a Viking 6020 that I had fallen in love with. I found out that was common with this model and it was stuck in the buttonhole making process. When sewing machines make a semi-automatic buttonhole, one of the steps is to go backwards. Sometimes this is the first step or the third step but when the 6020 doesn't get used much or at least the buttonhole mechanism doesn't, it gets "rusty" or more likely, sluggie. It took quite a bit of work but I got it unstuck using Bill Holman's methods and great explanations. She sews beautifully!

Viking 6020

Next up is a sewing machine with the opposite problem: it would not sew in reverse. I had it for many months, trying to sell it, but when I showed it off last month it wouldn't sew backwards. I had to wonder if I had even tried out the backstitch and couldn't recall. New parts were ordered but I'm not optimistic:

Kenmore 22 Stitch

Now I have the Centennial I was bragging about in an earlier post and when it goes past a certain point on the dial for stitch selection it goes in reverse:

Centennial in blue!

And now the free White sewing machine that I was all ready to give away, since it had a cracked part, has given me this same disappointment. I went back to sew with it, thinking it would not make the stretch stitches, only to find it would only sew in reverse! It feels like a curse!

Donated White

Not to ever be permanently discouraged (never mind the Touch and Sew fiasco) I did find a solution to the Viking, have parts for the Kenmore, still have hope for the Centennial (the problem is after the buttonhole settings), and have figured the White is up for parts since it has a cracked part. But still...reverse? And so many? I hope this is not a sign of things to come but just maybe fixing sewing machines has helped me reverse my own aging process. I think it's been proven that an active mind helps keep us young, sorta like the Viking buttonholer: use it or lose it!

Don't Feel Blue

Just in case pink Necchi's are not quite your cup-of-tea, I brought home a blue Centennial sewing machine. Not quite sure who made Centennials? I had only heard of centennial Singers that marked 100 years of the company and this was not a Singer. It does have a FA-772 marked on the back, along with Janome so I can run a search for additional information.

Here's how she looked when I brought her home:

Not too bad, huh? There were no accessories or manual and this time I think I might need one. She was very slow to start so a good cleaning and oiling were first up. When I check under the hood, so to speak, I saw a plastic gear and was disappointed but it's only one and it does appear to be working fine. Here she is with the extension table that was snapped into the suitcase carrying case when I found her:

Why would I need a manual? Note the small metal loop next to the tension dial and the words "chain stitch":

How would you use that simple thread holder to do a chain stitch? So the research is on to find this out! In the meantime I start to sew with her and straight and zigzag stitches work fine, blind hemmer stitch works, dial past the 4-step buttonhole and then I  try out the feather stitch. Whoa. It only goes backwards. This sounds a bit familiar and I remember the Vikings getting stuck on reverse when they couldn't get out of the buttonholer mechanism so I'm assuming this is what's happened. Yes, when you click past the 4-steps you can see the reverse button moving in and out but not fully out again when you dial to the next stitch. You see, for a 4-step buttonhole you stitch one row of small zigzag forward, several wide zigzags at the end, and then the third step makes those same small zigzags backwards, with the final step another wide zigzag back where you started. It appears to have gotten stuck in step three, the going backwards step. Remedy? Hot hair dryer blowing on the gummed up parts and an application of oil should get this part moving again.

Update: I looked inside the cover and watched the changes as I switched from one stitch to another. It was not a malfunction of the buttonhole stitch not being able to come out of reverse but something else. I'm not sure how to even phrase the question but I will try and post it to one of the Yahoo Groups I belong to and see what develops. Now don't hold your breath while waiting for an answer but I hope to find one...eventually. Now I am blue!