she ain't pretty, but she's all mine

if there were a cash for clunkers program for sewing machines this little gem would be worth its weight in gold. i know a lot of the new models out there are super cool, full of whizbang awesome features that embroider monograms with a push of a button, automatically sew button holes, and probably make wicked capuccino...this is certainly not one of those. the new machines are thoroughbreds, the race horses of the sewing world. this old gal is the workhorse, the old nag. sure, she's been around the farm a few times but she has a lot of life left in her yet before the glue factory comes calling.

the users manual that came with her says that she was purchased at the sears & roebuck in oakland, ca in december of 1977. for those of you playing along at home, that means that this beauty is as old as i am. she was given to me by a friend who inherited it her from the mother of another friend who was giving away all her worldly possessions before a move to thailand, or maybe indonesia, or somewhere else really far away, thus prohibiting the relocation of an 80 pound sewing machine.

she might not be pretty, but she works like a champ. she's actually very similar to the machine i learned to sew on when i was a girl; my mom's old singer that she got for her high school graduation in 1964. incidentally, my mom still has that sewing machine and it still works just fine. a few months ago i opened up the outer case to oil the inner workings. this gal is solid! all metal, nary a piece of made in china plastic to be found. i imagine that with the proper care, i will be teaching my daughter to sew on this same machine in a few years and it will still work just perfectly. maybe someday i'll invest in one of those newfangled fancy thingamajigs with the whatnots and the buttons, that is, if i ever learn to sew more than just a simple straight line.