They Don't Make Things Like They Used To

They don't make things like they used to. In this case I am glad they don't. After my sewing machine refused to cooperate, I took it in to the local shop, knowing what they would say, but hoping nonetheless that they would say they could fix it. No luck. $70 to just look at it and probably twice that to fix it and a lead time of six weeks.

Lucky for me they had a couple of workhorses on the back wall. I told the salesgirl what I was looking for - straight and zigzag stitch, gear driven, heavy duty. She showed me a Janome Sewist 500 that was just what I was looking for. I couldn't believe how easily it went through six layers of denim and then a single piece of nylon without even changing a thing! And it was on sale for $275 ($260 with the $15 trade-in for my old machine) with a two year parts and labor guarantee and unlimited free lessons. It was an impulse decision, but I bought it on the spot. I had projects to finish!

Back home I worked on the sail cover and finished up a screen cover for the hatch. I also made a new "Wrinkles" burgee. This machine is unbelievable. I am in love! It tackled all the extra layers without slowing down and then had the finesse to handle the applique portion of the burgee.

Laying out sail cover to cut

Pinning material around the screen (later filled with sand)

Prior to the breakdown I had also worked on our bimini. We thought some windows in our bimini would be nice. However, after we pulled the bimini inside and I started figuring out where to put the windows, I noticed several worn spots that needed patching. I told Mike it would almost be easier to make a new one. That got Mike thinking and he remembered the boat cover we had kept from our powerboat days. Guess what color?! Blue. So the making of a new bimini began.

When we pulled the original material off of the frame it became clear that this would not be too hard to do at all. I had the previous boat cover out in the driveway and put the old bimini on top and started cutting out pieces.

At one point, I had Mike's framing square out to help pencil in the cut out for the window. I don't usually get suntanned while sewing, but in this case, that's what happened.

Two days later, after repeatedly wrestling the material through the sewing machine, we had a brand new bimini, with windows, ready for our trip to Door County. If only I would have had the new sewing machine for this project....

Finished bimini with one window open and one closed

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