Major DUH! moment

[sealion]

I may have mentioned before that whatever sewing I do by machine is done on a Janome Sew Petite that was originally purchased for sewing on scrapbook pages. Anything heavier than shirt weight fabric over works this machine. I was attempting to sew heavy wool melton cloth to make a "medeivalish" coat for my husband, Tom, and broke the machine. I was nearly in tears because Tom needs the coat for tomorrow and there was no way I could have in done today doing it by hand.
My son, Jason, used to do maintanence at an apartment complex and sometimes brought home things that tenents left behind when they moved out. He brought home an at least 50 year old boat anchor of a Kenmore sewing machine that sat around for a couple of years before I finally located a manual for it online. It is a machine that requires cogs/discs to do different stitches (cuz it's that old!) and I still haven't been able to get my hands on those so the machine has still been just sitting.
Being totally desperate and not knowing what else to do I pulled the heavy old machine out and discovered that I don't need the cogs to do a straight stitch! Woohoo! I could really kick myself now for not figuring that out a long time ago!
Now that I have publicly admitted to being stupid I'm going to go finish my sewing project. LOL

[LadyShadow]

I am glad to hear that you were able to get a working machine in a hurry.  And I must admit I have had a similar experience with my current machine and an old 19-teen's sewing machine   

Hope all turns out well.

[Master James]

My wife has a Kenmore of that vintage that was her mother's.  Its a 49 year old machine and it work BEAUTIFULLY!  She even has all the cogs and such for it!  In the 49 years that this machine has been in existance, the only thing that has gone wrong with it is 3 years ago the motor died and had to be replaced.  Other than that, its run fantastically and she makes everything on it including leather bodices and vests!  I think it is the best machine ever made for durability at least.

[gem]

Cindy, love, I think it's more than time for you to get a real machine!

[sealion]

Cindy, love, I think it's more than time for you to get a real machine!

Yeah, but I'm a dork and enjoy hand sewing. LOL And this ancient machine ran like a dream today! I have no need for the fancy stitches so it suits me just fine I just wish I would have realized sooner that I could use it without any cogs.

[flidais]

hehehehehe

I am so happy that you able to finish Tom's garb.  I wish I had more patience for handsewing.  So I don't think you are a dork at all. 

You've been just flying threw garb making with that little machine and handsewing.  Huzzah!!!

[gem]

I love hand-sewing, too!  I forgot that you mostly hand sew everything.  (But, still--you can get a decent machine that will sew more than scrapbook paper.  You know, just in case.)

[Kate XXXXXX]

Those cog things are called cams, or sometimes stitch pattern disks.  Machines that took them come in all flavours, and were very popular for a while, so there may be old disks hanging about on ebay.  Type in the model number and cams, and see what pops up.  Particularly useful ones are those for zigzags, blind hems, and buttonholes...

More modern mechanical and electronic machines also have cams, but they are on a built-in cam stack, inside the machine.  Fun to watch if you take the top off to poke about inside...