Trauma
Trauma time. Yes, once again, I find myself regrouping over trauma. OK, that is a bit of an exaggeration. However, my beloved Bernina 990 needs emergency life support and it is all my fault. Last Friday, I was doing its bi-weekly maintenance. All was well until I dropped the needle into the bowels of the machine. I stayed semi-calm. Surely I could extract it. But no, it had disappeared completely. So, I called the sewing center and was told the needle was probably resting safely out of the way and I could go ahead and sew. Being a cautious sort, I decided to turn the hand crank a few times before actually turning on the machine and sewing. Good move. A worse trauma was averted. I didn’t like the whisper of a scraping sound I was hearing.
Tip
Here are two ways to avoid finding yourself traumatizing over a needle getting lost in your machine. One is to insert the needle into a scrap of fabric before you attach the needle. This way the fabric will keep the needle from falling directly through the hole in the stitch plate. The other method is cover the stitch plate, so the needle can’t fall in the hole.
Time to Regroup
Instead of fixating on not being able to sew or embroider for 5 weeks, I have decided to focus on the studio and business side of things that I tend to put off in order to sew. For example, I have reached out to a web master/technician to help me resolve a change in WordPress that MailChimp (the entity behind the scenes that handles sign up for my newsletter and disseminating it) basically disabled a few weeks ago. To think I thought that was a trauma.
The upshot on the needle disaster, is we took the machine to the sewing center on Tuesday and there is… wait for it… a 4 – 5 week queue before my machine can be repaired and receive its annual maintenance. Yikes! Now that is trauma.
I am also able to take advantage of the summer and start painting fabric again. Bet it has been more than a decade since I have dyed or painted fabric.
Sky Dyes
It was probably in early ’00s that I took a class with Mickey Lawler. She was the go to teacher to learn how to paint skies and other techniques. I had drooled over her work for years before that. She is a fabulous, engaging and encouraging teacher.
What I love about Mickey’s technique for painting fabric is how easy and safe it is. For example, the fabric only needs to be washed and the paint is a water color. Therefore, it is safe to use and pour down the drain, unlike dyes, that are labor intensive and require all sorts of protection. It is also an opportunity to delight in the serendipitous. The color changes as it dries (preferably in the sun) and like any water color paint, one color may bleed slightly into its neighbor. The result are happy accidents.
Rainbow Scrap Challenge
The week before the disaster, I started piecing my June cat blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Here is the partially pieced block with an olive background.
Keeping It Reel
If you want to see all my sky fabrics laid out side by side check out the reel on either Instagram or Facebook.
Question of the Week
Are you able to forgive yourself for making a stupid mistake? If so, how?
I’m linking up to the following posts:
I would personally still be kicking myself, so no help there! But I sure like your tip on what to do so it don’t happen, thanks for that. Maybe you have to treat yourself to a back up machine, five weeks is a very long time to be without one. Sorry that happened to you.
I probably would still be kicking myself, too, Vicki, in the past. Not quite sure why I am seeing this as an opportunity. We’ll see where I’m at 3 weeks from now. Glad you like that tip and thanks for the condolences.
Being without a machine is trauma! What a weird way to “lose” a needle! Five weeks would feel like an eternity to me. While I’d forgive myself; I’d remember not to have that “journey” a second time! I’d probably even laugh at myself. . .eventually! Your sky dyed fabric is beautiful!
Yes, it was a weird way to loose the needle. I had the straight stitch plate on. This means the needle had to drop directly into the tiny hole. If I had wanted to make this happen, I doubt I could have aimed with such precision. The reason for those tips is hindsight. Once I realized what I had done and they why, I needed to think about future prevention. It doesn’t hurt to forgive yourself and laugh a little. After all, there isn’t much to do after the fact, but what I did – pass it onto the experts. It is actually a very simple fix for the technician. They only need to unscrew a couple screws and remove the outer casing of the arm. We could actually see where the needle landed. Just didn’t want to start removing parts we (being SEDOSO) and not being able to put it back together.
I confess I’ve never lost a needle down the hole in the soleplate…but that’s because the hole would only accommodate the eye-end of the needle; the top of it would get stuck and block a further fall. Phew! Just explaining that to you makes me realize what a blessing that is!
Also, when my Pfaff Performance 5.2 goes in for TLC (due soon), I have my ancient but workable Husqvarna Lily 555 as back-up. You can tell by these models that I don’t do the sort of fancy stitching or embroidery with my machines that you do with yours. Not my cup of tea.
But yes, I have a hard time forgiving myself for stupid mistakes. I don’t suffer fools gladly, and that includes me!
Sounds like you are very fortunate with machine’s design, Margaret.
Many people are like you, with backup machines, often lighter weight models they can take to class. I’m strictly a one machine at time person. Gave up taking classes requiring I bring my sewing machine. Actually, I can’t remember the last time I took an in-person class now that I can take them from home and often at my own pace. In the past I rarely had to wait for service, either. Think a week turn around was fairly typical.
It’s taken years for me to forgive myself human error. Now I am far more resilient. Thank goodness.
Machine repair wait times here are very long also, so I have a back up machine which I also use as a travel machine for workshops. We, who view ourselves as competent and capable, really get a wakeup call when we do something stupid. So a lot of kicking ourselves in the ego ensues. Best coping is to learn from it or apologize and just move on.
So true. Never would I have thought something like this could happen to me. Excellent advice. I did apologize and then forgive myself fairly quickly. Simply sharing it here so others don’t have to repeat my error.
Oh 5 weeks!!! that is a trauma – love your tip tho – I will remember that!!
Enjoy the fabric painting – that looks so cool
I knew the quilting community would understand just how traumatic my situation first appeared. Now I am seeing it as an opportunity to approach my studio days differently. It’s a great excuse to do other quilting related experiments and projects I tend not to do because I love piecing, quilting and embroidery so much.
Yes, fabric painting is such fun.
sorry about your experience with your machine glad you went slowly and didn’t cause more problems
Thank you, Karen. I’m relieved I didn’t make things worse, too.
what a freak accident. Thanks for ways to avoid it! That’s a long time to wait for a repair/maintenance
I loved meeting Micki lawler and still have some of her fabrics. I love painting on fabric too. Sonja in Hawaii paints on fabric regularly in many ways. Seta color is thin enough to use as is on fabrics
luckily you probably have your old Bernina to use…
LeeAnna
Yes, it was a freak accident. If I had wanted to make it happen, I doubt I could have.
I do thin my Seto paints, both with water, but also with the medium infused with either silver or gold. Love the shimmer it gives.
Unfortunately, I sold the Bernina 1260 in about 6 weeks ago. So, no back up machine. I do have my mid-arm quilting machine, but can’t piece on that. There are fellow art quilters who use their longarm machines. For example you can create a quilt sandwich, then layer with bits of fabric and ephemera. Finally stitch on top to secure the fabric. Think appliqué or collage. I have a friend who covers similar work with tulle.
Some of my accidents become design elements. 🙂 But I do a lot of frogging. So glad you are able to get your machine up and running again, even if it is going to take a while. Your fabric painting is beautiful!
Yes, accidents in art can turn or be turned into design elements. Thanks for the encouragement.
My Pfaff has a tool that holds the needle while I take one out or put the new one in. It’s very helpful! Unfortunately one day recently, I had an airhead moment and didn’t use the tool, and also dropped a needle down under the bobbin case. Mine seems to have a big empty space down there, so it’s not causing any trouble, but I still feel pretty stupid! Not having your machine for several weeks could be traumatic, but coming up with a different kind of creative project is a great idea!
When I was at the sewing center I was shown a tool that I could use to help with changing the needle. It was the standard brush for clearing lint from the machine, but at the none brush end there was a pock mark to support the needle. No way with my hands would I be able to balance a needle in a brush, deal with the screw that secures the needle and hold the brush. Hence my tips that leave both hands free. One to hold the needle and the other to tighten and loosen the screw.
I had hoped my needle would have fallen into that empty space. The SEDOSO found it. Somehow the needle managed to wedge itself on a diagonal slant between various parts that control things like the feed dogs and thread cutter. We both felt it safest to bring in the professionals.
You and I are not the first, nor will we be last to drop a needle into the machine. Makes me wonder why ways to. avoid this isn’t automatically covered when reading or viewing instructions about maintaining the machine and/or changing the needle.
Thank you for the vote of confidence.
How scarry! I don’t like crazy sounds coming from the sewing machine. I’m so glad this happened right after you finished the wedding quilt! While waiting the return of the machine, you found a great activity! I love your skies and other patterns, and it’s great to use safe products. As a teacher, I try to apply to myself what I teach my students: you learn by making mistakes 😉 Thank you for sharing and linking up.
When I used to lecture to quilt guilds my tagline was, “There are no mistakes in quilting. There are only learning experiences and creative opportunities.” Guess we know which one the needle debacle is.
In fact it was completing Love Blooms that had me maintaining my machine in the first place. I try to sweep out the bobbin area every other week or so and at the end of a major project. Since the Bernina 990 recommends maintaining the thread cutting and automatic thread cutter be done with the needle off the machine,I was replacing it at the very end of the maintenance procedure, dreaming about returning to piecing.
I’m glad you enjoyed the skies. I’m still relearning the best way to paint them.
I think we all feel that trauma when our machines go to the shop, especially for such a long time. My main machine needs to go in for a thorough cleaning soon and I’m dreading it. I have a backup, but it’s just not the same. LOL Beautiful fabric painting.
When you sew the way you and I do our machines are a natural extension of our body. Coping without my Bernina 990 feels like waking up to find I have become an amputee. I need to learn how function again. In the past, I would try to bring my machine in for a professional cleaning when I knew I was going to be out of town for several weeks.
Glad you appreciated the fabric painting. I had fun doing it.
Oh no! I feel your pain about the needle. I have done that before too. I used a long magnetic gizmo to get the needle out. I may have also taken off the bobbin door or bottom of the machine or just turned the machine upside down and shook it until the needle fell out. Somehow I did all these things with different machines. That is one reason I have several machines as it can be 4-6 weeks before the service tech can even look at the machine, let alone fix or service it. So I always have other machines to use or I would go bonkers not sewing!
I love that painted fabric!
The first thing I tired was a magnet. No luck. The SEDOSO and I turned the machine upside. We were tempted to unscrew a couple of obvious places that aren’t unscrewed as part of routine maintenance. Opted not to. Fortunately, I do have a mid arm quilting machine. It only handles FMQ though. So, I am thinking about doing some whole cloth quilting.
Thanks for the compliment on my painted fabric.
Have you thought about purchasing a smaller, less-bells-and-whistles type of sew machine? It could be your back-up for when things go bad for your Main Machine. I’ve got 2 machines and that’s what I do. When one goes to the spa for a refresher, I’ve at least got something to sew on. Your painted fabric looks amazing. Glad you’ve found something to keep your creative juices flowing.
Excellent advice, Sue, if I wasn’t at a time in my life when I needed to downsize significantly. The SEDOSO and I will be moving into a CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community) sometime between a few months from now (unlikely) to a year or three away. This requires a significant reduction of equipment and supplies on my end. My studio space and office space combo will go from over 1,000 sq ft to around 100 sq ft. Currently we have an attic and an unfinished basement for storage, as well as multiple closets.The storage space will be greatly reduced as well. So, I bought the Bernina 990 in order to get down to just one machine in a cabinet.
The good news is the sewing machine will be repaired. I am not dependent on it for a living. Now that I have gotten over kicking myself an the trauma, I’m quite proud of how creative I am about finding different ways to utilize my studio time and provide that excitement I get from sewing by doing things such as painting fabric.
Your machine will come back better than ever. Love the dyeing, in the meantime. As for forgiving yourself, here’s some words that encourage me–“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” (Philippians 3:13) Keep reminding yourself.
Thank you, Nancy. Excellent words to live by.
Six weeks is a long time to be without a machine, especially with all the work you do. My older Bernina is my backup and I actually like it better for some things, like filling a bobbin. But just when you do make a “mistake” like sewing thru your finger and thinking that you will never do that again, I did and it was really bad the second time. I hope there will never be another third.
I love Mickey Lawler fabric and she is a lovely lady, too. I haven’t done it in a while, but it was fun. I do like what you have done.
Yes, six weeks is a long time to go out without a machine. I will cope. What choice do I have. I am enjoying the excuse to “play” in my studio.
Ouch, Norma. So far I have managed not to join the ranks of rotary cutter blade or sewing through my finger accidents. Sorry to hear the latter happened to you twice. I hope there won’t be a third time for you either.
Isn’t Mickey great? She was such a generous teacher. Still no creates skies like hers.
Being without our dear sewing machine is indeed trauma! (Ask me how I know, after mine ‘died’ and in the end I purchased a new one. My old machine is repaired and up running again). First I panicked, but after a few days I calmed down and got busy with other things. 5 weeks will pass by quickly, before you know it is fixed and back home. Thanks for the tips! Pretty fabric painting, I love the sunrise.
Unfortunately, buying a backup just doesn’t make sense, since we are in that phase of life when downsizing is our goal. The good news is I am finding myself enjoying the slower pace and excuse to explore new ways of working. Still may miss my machine, though.
I love making quilts of sunrises, so painting a sunrise sky was a natural choice. Glad it appealed to you.
Yikes! It is definitely trauma. But your painted fabrics are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing in Sew & Tell.
Melva, it seems you and others agree with me. Being separated from your sewing machine, while it is being repaired, qualifies as a trauma.
I had missed painting fabric. So glad I relieved being without a machine was perfect excuse to give it a go again.