Come Stitch With Me

Meet Juliette. She’s a base model Featherweight. No special badging, no special paint job, just a sweet little machine that sews like a champ. I paid $350.00 for her in late 2009. And I thought that was a lot of money at the time.

Fast forward to 2021. Can you believe some base model Featherweights are selling for close to $1,000.00 now? A repainted Featherweight can be double that!

It’s kind of like the houses in my neighborhood. Home values have really jumped over the past 18 months due to desirability of the area and scarcity of available homes. It’s the same with Featherweights.

I also wonder if part of the recent spike in prices and demand for Singer Featherweights was driven by people stuck at home with nothing else to do with their time and money except buy 70-year-old sewing machines.

We’ll see what happens once the world comes back to life post-COVID.

Littles can be anyone from preschool to college age.

Start with hand sewing, embroidery or cross-stitch. Embellishing jeans is a great project for tweens & teens. Basic sewing supplies are readily available at big box stores or borrow from a friend/relative.

If their interest in sewing becomes more than a passing curiosity, enroll them in a beginning sewing course or ask around to see if a friend has a machine you can borrow while your “little” explores creating with a sewing machine.

Sewing does require a certain investment in a quality machine and supplies, but no more so than baseball, cheerleading, color guard or other activities.

If you do have a serious, talented sewist on your hands, let your friends and acquaintances know. There are many folks sitting on an abundance of sewing machines, supplies and fabric stash who need to downsize. They would LOVE to support a young person with a serious interest in sewing. All they ask in return is a simple thank you.

Three of my favorite memories are: (1) the reaction of a very deserving SCAD student who was gifted a really nice sewing machine and every tool she could possibly need for her apparel design program and (2) the ongoing pictures posted by my niece of all the clothes she’s made for her kids since receiving her “new” sewing machine and (3) the change in attitude of a surly ‘tween who was struggling in class with her old machine once I moved her to my sewing machine. (That became “her” machine during classes and mom eventually bought her a similar machine of her own.)

I’m exhausted. I mean bone-tired and worn slap out. It’s been a doozy of a school year.

Other than the fact I’m still in the library next year, I have no idea what my actual areas of responsibility will be. I don’t even know if I will have a library helper or not. I can’t worry about that right now, though.

I need to recharge my batteries. Sleep for a week. Read a book. Play with Sadie. Work in my garden.

Plus lots of sewing.

Tomorrow evening, I will continue the tradition of kicking off summer break with a sewing project and a glass of wine!