My new power tool

Check out my new power tool:

A fantabulous Bernina Activa 220 sewing machine.  I love it!

My mum and dad gifted me with my current sewing machine for my 21^st birthday (I might be off by a year or two).  

It has served me well – making fancy dress costumes in university, sewing up home decorating projects, and more recently branching into craftier stuff.

A few weeks ago, mum planted a seed in my head that maybe I should consider upgrading my sewing machine.  She suggested I might enjoy an upgrade now that I’m using it more regularly… and she added that she would be happy to inherit my old one.  Hmmm…  Anyhow, I hadn’t started to do any research because it seemed like a big task.  Where to start? I figured that it would be a good activity to do when it is cold and rainy outside. 

Imagine my surprise when I received an email on Tuesday morning from a friend who owns a knitting/sewing shop in North Vancouver, offering up one of her sewing machines for sale.  She opened her business in February and set up a craft space in her shop.  Her store is kitted it out with a few sewing machines and a couple of sergers for people to rent by the hour, or to use during a class.  I guess things have been slow with people renting machines by the hour, and she prefers teaching smaller classes, so she decided to sell a couple of her sewing machines.  The sewing machine has been barely used…maybe 2 hours since she bought it…so practically new. 

She sent out an email to some of her crafty friends on Tuesday to see if any of us were interested in buying one of her barely-used sewing machines, before posting it for sale on Craigslist.  I did some quick internet research, and the machine has some great reviews.  So, I went for a “test drive” on Tuesday night and I went back to buy it yesterday.  It is lovely.  It is so smooth… like butter.   I started getting to know her (my sewing machine) last night, testing out some of the fancy stitches and buttonholes...she’s a beauty.   

I expect that I'll mostly use the straight stitch and the zigzag, but it was fun to try out some of these features!  

I have a feeling that this is going to be a long lasting friendship.  Hmm…maybe I'll name her Heidi, in honour of her Swiss manufacturer.

Mum, if you’re reading this…you are now the proud owner of a Serger sewing machine.  You can pick up it up on your next trip through North Vancouver!