The Sewing Machine

A month or so ago, while trying to create a minion for Peter's birthday present, (see here for a picture) my sewing machine broke down. It went slower and slower and finally stopped, and not even turning the wheel on the side could get it to go again. I cleaned out the bobbin compartment, couldn't find a jam, couldn't fix it, it was pretty much dead. I finished up the minion by sewing by hand, and using a glue gun.

On my birthday, Steven lured me out of the house, and while I was gone, he opened up my sewing machine, couldn't find anything wrong, blew on it, and put it back together. Once again, the sewing machine worked! I didn't have a project to work on that involved the sewing machine just then, so I didn't use it until after Peter's birthday, when I wanted to sew a scripture bag to hold the new set of scriptures he received. I got about three good seams, and then once again, it slowed down and ground
to a halt. Uggggh!

Yesterday, I was determined to get it fixed. On my most recent trip to JoAnn, I asked one of the workers if she knew of anyone local who repaired sewing machines. She didn't know any off the top of her head, but referred me to the back of the store, where people put up flyers and ads for various craft related things. There was one flier there for someone who repaired machines. When I looked up the website, however, the guy worked in a city in south Denver - way farther than I wanted to drive.

Next I asked my good friend, Mr Google. With one search, I had several possibilities, as well as a map of where they were located. Four were within the distance I was willing to drive. I started making phone calls.

"Hello, do you repair sewing machines?"
"Yes, we do. What kind of machine do you have?"
"A Huskystar."
"Yes, we can fix it. What is it doing?"
"It just went slower and slower and finally stopped working."
"Sounds like it needs servicing."
"How much do you charge for that?"
1st place:"$79"  2nd place:"$169"  3rd place:"$75"  4th place:"$99, but we had a sale last week for $79.99, and if you bring it in this morning and prepay, we'll give you the sale price."
"How long would it take to get it back?"
1st place:"one week"  2nd place:"10 days"  3rd place:"2-3 weeks"  4th place:"If you bring it in this morning, we can have it ready for you by this afternoon."

After a quick consultation with Steven (can we afford $80 to fix my sewing machine? How much would a new one cost? More than $80. Do you really need it? Um, it would be really nice... Can you put gas in the car while you're out? Yes. Okay.) I put the sewing machine in the car and, after getting gas, headed out to the 4th place I had a called, a place called Vacuums R Us.

At the store, I was greeted by a friendly man who informed me that he was celebrating 30 years of repairing sewing machines. I filled out a tag, paid the $79.95, and returned home. That was about 9:40am. At 4:15pm, I received a phone call. The machine was done and working beautifully; I could come pick it up. Fifteen minutes later, I walked into the store, showed the man my claim tag and received my sewing machine, which had been cleaned up nicely, and had a strip of heavy cloth with stitching in it, showing that the machine really was working again. He told me something about the oil getting gunked up or something; apparently sewing machines need oil changes occasionally? I don't know. I was just thrilled that the machine was back in working order again so quickly.

With dinner, Family Home Evening, and a book I was just finishing up last night, I didn't have time to try it out yesterday, but today I am looking forward to finishing Peter's scripture bag. Steven has his first day of work for Merrick today, and he dropped Hannah off to go to Beehive Camp on his way out, so it's just me and the boys at home today. I should get lots done!