Getting to know your sewing machine - and other things!

 The insides of my very old and very lovely Bernina 707.
  I took a day off today to do a 'Getting to know your sewing machine' workshop at Foredown Tower with Sara Cook. I have always wanted to do this course, but never quite found the time. Like many of you I have been stitching for more years than I care to mention, in fact since I was eighteen - so a VERY long time. I have never taken the time to learn how to service my machine and get to know all the working parts. I have five much more modern sewing machines but this one is my favourite and consequently gets a lot of abuse - no I don't shout at it!!!!

It was very satisfying to take the machine apart and oil the appropriate parts. I never knew I had an oscillating shuttle - how exciting??

I couldn't believe how much fluff and stuff was in my machine - I'm surprised it could work at all. I must admit I was pleased I had my old Bernina when I saw all the modern plastic machines. The old metal machines are much more sturdy and seem to last forever - but they are heavy.



This is an appalling amount of stuff!!! Never again will my poor machine have to strive to perform over such odds.

My machine is now running smoothly - purring even. I promise to look after it in future. Sara Cook and I used to teach together at City College Brighton and hadn't seen each other for a while. Sara is fun and a great tutor, very patient, both with students and machines. Sara also teaches Patchwork and Quilting courses - from short courses to City and Guilds. I highly recommend her if you are interested in this field. To contact her - saracook.co.uk/

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I am looking forward to my next workshop at Foredown Tower. I will be teaching 'Creating Original Designs', October 20th and 21st. It is one of my favourite workshops - to have two whole days just to spend creating and manipulating designs is a great luxury. We are going to have a lot of fun - and with such wonderful views from the tower. Go to kimsworkshops.com if you interested in any of the Foredown workshops and if the booking form doesn't work - just email me.



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Have a great weekend - I am going to!!! I may report back - let's just say the full moon bought me luck last weekend . . . . .  




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