> From: LuAnn Mason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [h-cost] Number of machines.Was Sewing and Embroidery Machines
> SNIPPED Snarling was heard over some people "hogging" the machine. > Then I had one croak in the middle of a major project, and I vowed never to > be without a backup again. SNIPPED FOR BREVITY AND THOSE WHO GET THE LIST IN > DIGEST FORM> > Sewing machines and stock pots. Got a bunch of both of them. :-) COMMENT GenTLes of the List, When our little group of living history enthusiasts were starting the "Company of The Duke's Leopards" in "old" Jersey in 2003, - one of the issues was costumes for those who hadn't already gotten them from previous involvements elsewhere. Only three of the original lady founding members had sewing amchines. Though other newbies wanting to join had probably learned to sew in "Household Economics" Classes in their schooldays, - in their modern married lives and our "disposable" society they had never needed to buy sewing machines of their own. Cheap sewing machines were needed to loan out. So I took to visiting the local Charity [Hospice} Shop warehouse, and buying every discarded older sewing machine that came in for possible sale - concentrating on "good reputation" Brand names, and those with metal gears. The average price I paid before I stopped buying was £5-00GB per machine. Then I took the machines to our local indepewndent Sewing machine Engineer [ also a re-enactor of Napoleonic Wars & WW2, so he understood our problem of DIY costuming and lack of funds] and he did me a good deal on overhaul prices. The end result, when I left the "Duke's Leopards", was that I had 11 secondhand but fully-overhauled sewing machines of varying ages and makes, - ranging from hand-operated Singers to "high-end" Berninas of the 1960's/70's - up in the loft. 2 of them [Singer "Fashionmates" with the same Model Number] I gave to our grand-daughter when she joined the SCA in the South of England. As she lives in a village in the middle of the open countryside of Salisbury Plain, miles from any sewing machine engineer, I gave her both Fashionmates so she'd have a standby one, if one broke while she was in the middle of making some garb for herself. Since those of us who are SCAdians in "old Jersey" are hoping to recruit others and found a Shire local to our island - I'm going to hang onto the remaining 9 machines - since I foresee the DIY-costuming problem arising again in that situation. I don't know how widespread "charity shops" are in the USA [here in "old Jersey we have OXFAM, MENCAP, and one for the "Jersey Hospice" and a couple of others that I've never visited; most Uk towns of any size have at least one "charity shop"] - but if you want standby machines, try haunting your local charity shop [do you call them "Thrift Shops" in the USA?]; - or what you call "yard sales" - [our UK equivalents are "car-boot sales"] - and try to pick-up secondhand sewing-machines that way. It's worked for me. In Service, Matthew Baker --- On Sun, 11/5/08, LuAnn Mason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > LuAnn _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
