I found someone locally who does both repair and resale – he was nice enough to take the time to speak with me about what I was looking for and has a suggestion from his stock – I’m wondering … any of you smart, smart people who are knowledgeable about sewing machines, what do you think?
It’s a Singer 301-A ($175) he sent me a few videos of it running and sewing, and he just serviced/tuned it up.
He said it would be good for at least some moderate heavy duty, but not heavy heavy duty.
Also is portable (enough) for me to haul to class a few times a week for a month or so.
The Singer 301A is a beautiful, reliable machine, but I’m pretty sure it’s straight-stitch only. If you want a general-purpose machine, especially for e.g. sewing clothes, I think you want something that can do a zigzag stitch at least, and perhaps also automatic buttonholes. You’ll need zigzag stitch in order to “finish” your seams in clothes (prevent them from fraying) or in order to sew with knits.
That being said…if you were like “oh yeah I’m just gonna do quilting and home dec,” straight-stitch-only machines can go zoooooom super fast and are very reliable.
Thanks! I wouldn’t have even thought of that. When I did sew I just sewed everything straight and never thought about it (20 years ago).
He also has a very nice Nelco machine that does multiple types of stitches and is smaller + has a carrying case.
I appreciate your thoughtful feedback!
Thanks everyone!
I’m the happy new owner of a freshly serviced Nelco Goldenstitch 525 & now know a person who can do professional service on the machine (and any with mostly metal internal parts) and will meet me at a designated safe exchange zone that’s less than a mile from my house. Yay! I’d better get one of the 12 spots for the sewing class at the library next month or I’m throwing punches (kidding. kidding?).
So I’m wanting to use my yoga mat more (very easy yoga but mostly stretching and mobility honestly). It’s a fairly thin mat and I have a hard floor. Does anyone have suggestions for something to put underneath it? Do I just put a random rug? Not really sure what to search for. I don’t need like a ton more cushioning but a little bit more would be nice.
Depending on how price shakes out, you can also get thicker mats. I got a manduka mat for my bday from my mom years ago and it’s dreamy even on hardwood.
I got my (admittedly thin) yoga mat probably 20 years ago for like $15. It’s…functional, haha. I cannot even imagine how cushy and amazing a manduka mat would be.
I guess I didn’t realize I was fancy! Both members of my household have Manduka yoga mats, and we each purchased ours independently before we met each other. I’ve probably had mine more than 10 years though and I’m sure I didn’t pay as much as they charge now. But they are nice mats.
I’ve used bathmats for this to good success. Means I can just steal it from a bathroom when needed and they usually have the grippy backs to keep from sliding around.
I’m not sure if this exists but if it does I would be so happy!
I’m looking for an app(preferably) or a program that I can take pictures of hand written recipes and compile them with typed recipes if needed and make it shareable.
Back story is my grandma passed away a few months ago. I have been tasked with figuring out a way to digitize and share her massive amounts of recipes. I’m finally feeling like it’s something I can start to tackle.
