Well, it happened. The censorship bill (GA SB 226) passed. (Thankfully, the criminal penalties against school librarians were removed from the legislation.) Let’s see how many parents start hounding school principals to remove the books they find offensive from school libraries. Never mind we have a procedure in place that works well. Besides, common sense and having a open conversation with the parent usually alleviates 99% of book challenges.

Yes, every parent has the absolute right to determine what their child may/may not read. We place notes in the child’s record so that we know the kid isn’t supposed to check out that particular series, genre – whatever the parent dictates. What that parent does not have the right to do is to dictate what other kids in the school may or may not read. Parents need to be more concerned with what their kids are watching on TikTok than the books they’re checking out from an elementary school library.

And if my principal asks if we have anything offensive in our library, my response will be, “Yes” because in our current climate, anyone can find something to be offended by if they look hard enough.

Well, not my circus and not my monkeys since I’ll be gone by the time the bill becomes law.

I’m going to guess this model is a mid-to-late 1990’s vintage. It reminds me so much of Old Faithful, the Kenmore I had for 20 years before one of my students accidentally dropped it on the concrete floor at school.

Anyway, she’s definitely a happy girl – all clean, oiled and sporting a new red spool pin doily! Hard to believe this was the same machine that sat on the top of the display cupboard in Miss Pat’s shop for so many years. It literally purrs now. There’s just something so satisfying about stitching on a well-built mechanical sewing machine!

General notes:
(1) A free pdf manual (with no watermarks) is available from the Sears Parts website.
(2) Trading metal class 15 bobbins for plastic class 15 bobbins made the machine run quieter.
(3) This model has left to center needle adjustment. There is no way to move the needle to the right to achieve a scant 1/4″ needed for patchwork. Solution: Borrow the scant 1/4″ foot I use with my 221 machines. Problem solved.
(4) Switching to an LED bulb brightened up the workspace considerably.
(5) The machine sews zigzag stitches from the left needle position, rather than from the center. I use small zigzag stitches for machine applique (settings: 1.5 L x 1.5 W). They got lost when using the regular satin stitch foot. An open toe foot with a wide scoop at the top improved visibility.

Will I keep this machine? Although it would be a great machine for travel, I prefer some features that this machine doesn’t offer (needle down, fully adjustable stitch length and width, availability of a straight stitch needle plate) – that my Elna STAR does. I have a sewing friend who needs a solid, uncomplicated machine like this one. That’s one reason I took so much time to clean it up and outfit it with all the accessories she would need to be able to make projects for her grandkids.

Today, a parent dropped off an older Brother sewing machine and a current model Singer serger, plus a tub of fabric and accessories. She’s in the process of moving and doesn’t have room in her new place for all of her craft supplies. One of my coworkers took the sewing machine home once I confirmed that it worked. I brought the serger home to see if I can get it to work. If it does, I’ll keep it for myself as it’s a definite upgrade over my 20+ year old Sears Kenmore serger.

After work, I picked up two mechanical sewing machines from Miss Pat. She decided to give them to me for kid’s sewing classes. One is the very same JW5622 I gifted to the shop when we stopped doing clubs at school. The other is an earlier model of the same machine but sports a Kenmore badge. This particular model must be very popular for Janome. It’s been been around a while and you different variations of it under the Janome, Elna, Baby Lock and Necchi brands.

Anyway, neither machine had been used in a while. The Kenmore made such an awful clanking noise that I was certain it was destined for the trash. I cleaned/oiled and added a new needle to each machine. The JW5622 perked right up. The Kenmore needed a TLC booster as it was parched. It soaked up every bit of oil I applied. Still made the clanking noise, though. After consulting an online manual, I learned that the drop feed lever that was somehow not in the correct position. Everything looks good now.

Two more machines are coming my way next week. In case you’re wondering, all of these machines will eventually be re-homed. I enjoy tinkering with the machines and bringing them back to their full potential so another person can get use out of them.