Oh goodness! My sewing machine stopped being able to do a zig zag stitch a while back. It was all a bit hard to think I might need to save to replace her given how much work she saves me, so for a good month or so I’ve just not felt confident and have felt overwhelmed. I couldn’t find any explainers as to what might be going on so I figured I’d start with the advice I give everyone when their machine isn’t operating as expected- clean for dust as it gets everywhere especially places you can’t see.
For my machine this is exactly what was going on. I did have to sacrifice some of the grease as dust absolutely got embedded in some. Luckily it’s over the disks that change the stitch type and I should be able to safely replace that.
But it totally shifted my mood when I was able to use my machine, and the very generous width the zig zag offers, to make over a dress I got second hand. I was also able to close a hole in the seam of my super cute A line tunic in violet, teal, and black striped mix. I realised why I was drawn to this fabric only recently when mum brought out her last pair of knitted footie-slippers Oma made which have the same marled pattern.
But more than that suddenly my options for how to get the brocade onto my velveteen for my Cleves gown has opened wide again. Same with hemming. And I absolutely can think about my other pieces languishing in storage boxes because this was such a barrier.
But yes. Dust, it’s nearly always dust.