Mon Memory 132~ A New Machine: An Expensive Way to Mourn?

 

This sweet Babylock Ellisimo embroidery machine

has served me well.

However, no matter how well I cleaned it,

tried different needles and threads

there were still skipped stitches?

I could sew on a double layer of binding,

 but when I turned it over to top stitch

it was impossible. 

It would not go through all the layers

without skipping stitches.

I can't tell you how many needles have been broken.

 

It would no longer back stitch without bunching up under the pressure foot.

It couldn't stitch out letters or decorative stitches without

bogging down.

 

It had started a squeaking sound.

Despite the rules I had followed to 

not oil the machine

or use canned air,

I did!

 

I used canned air in the top and bobbin area

being sure to point toward the left

away from the mechanical area.

 Despite using a very strong vacuum,

you wouldn't believe how much fuzz

came out after using the canned air.

I oiled metal on metal places especially the needle lift

where I think the sound came from.

 

 

It worked much better after this treatment.

Meanwhile, I was falling in love with

The Janome Continental M7. 

 

My prognosis for Elli was she needed

new feed dogs after 6 million stitches

and 11 years of sewing over 250 days a year.

 I would dedicate her to the embroidery tasks.

 

I bought Jan!

It took 2 ladies to load her in the back of the car,

and the muscle man across the street to

take the box out of the car,

lift her out and carry her upstairs.

He's such a big help.

(Mr. G would have done that too. He was still that strong.)

Jan came with a monster size extension table which even has a drawer.

However, my shoulder range right now

doesn't allow me to reach that far.

Maybe if I had a lower table?

So I stored it away for quilting time.

It didn't come with an efficient box like Elli did

to store the feet and accessories in my drawer.

 

There were 3 reasons I bought Jan

that Elli can't do.

A foot peddle that allows me to use my foot to cut thread.

Elli used to have an additional expensive package

that would add tasks to the foot peddle,

but it's no longer available.

Jan can sew 1300 stitches per minute.

Elli sewed a 1000.

Faster sewing quilt pieces,

and imagine how fast those 650+ face masks

 could have been made.

There is also 2 more inches, 13" in all in the 

harp area, the area to the right of the needle.

 

Best of all,

Jan can stitch through MORE than 

7 layers of fabric and batting

WITHOUT skipping a stitch!

You can see above the beautiful job.

 ***

I stopped my projects, 

because they were going to be gifted

to make this hot pad to declare as my 

FIRST PROJECT

on Jan

for future memories.

Something Jan or Elli cannot do,

is manage human error.

Still learning on that.

Something Jan couldn't do was 

correctly stitch letters over a seam.

I even tried the dual feed dogs,

but it didn't work.

I did notice the top feed wasn't grabbing.

More research tells me,

the dual feed has to be turned on in settings?

 

Anyway, memories are being made.

More projects can get done,

and Jan will help me move on in life.

I miss him SO much.

 

**Memories**