Fussy Phyllis and friends

My sewing machine is such a Karen! That 54 year-old machine has definitely gotten my attention recently. It does have a special place in my heart. I received one like it as a high school graduation gift. At that point in my life I used it to make my dresses, pajamas and blouses. It also sewed my wedding gown and later it made baby clothes, rompers and quilts. It mended a lot of little boys’ britches in those years before the popular torn look. I wore it out. I bought one sewing machine after another at yard sales until I realized I was really just looking for my graduation gift from my mom. I found a duplicate on Ebay, brought it home and tucked it into the wooden sewing cabinet I had found at a yard sale. I filled the drawers with rulers, thread, templates, pins, needles etc. My husband added rollers which raised it just right for my long legs. The machine stitched perfectly on my most recent quilt until the top thread snapped. I rethreaded the needle. I stitched two inches, and it snapped again. It continued to snap after every repair technique I tried. At lunch I told Hubby, “the top thread on the machine keeps snapping. Could you look at it?”He suggested, “clean the bobbin case.”“I did that.”“Clean under the machine?”“Did that. I also changed the needle, changed the thread and oiled everything.”He mused about that a bit then recalled, “This has happened before. Try using a different kind of bobbin.”“Oh. Right.”Months ago, I had the same problem. To assess the problem, he sat down to watch me sew. “I’ve tried everything,” I said.He shrugged, “Try using a plastic bobbin instead of the metal.”“But they are the same size,” I protested as I found a plastic bobbin. I slipped it into place and began sewing. The thread did not snap.“Switch it back to metal,” he said. I did. No more snapping.We shrugged. I have no explanation. I now call the machine Fussy Phyllis because every so often it snaps thread until I use one of my four plastic bobbins for two minutes. Then it will sew just fine with any metal bobbin.Maybe it’s her age. I prefer, and own, primarily older, all metal machines, but recently I have noticed the “Karen” mindset of Fussy Phyllis propagating to my other machines. The other day I carried my antique Featherweight to a group sewing session. Usually I volunteer to sew quilt blocks. That day I received a stack of simple sock shaped bags to sew. I decided to whip around all the inside seams before going to the next step.I pushed the machine to stitch super fast as I whipped through half of the stack. Then it quit. The motor ran, the needle did not move. Nothing I tried fixed it.When I got home I placed the box near Hubby’s desk and said, “I need you to look at that machine.”A few days later he sat down with me and the Featherweight. I lined up the fabric, engaged the speed control and it sewed without a hitch.“That was an easy fix,” he said. My only explanation is that I sewed so fast and furiously that it overheated. Whatever! that machine is now “Lazy Lulu.” because she prefers slower, less strenuous sewing sessions.Surely I would never expect her to run like an industrial machine.” No, we will leave that level of sewing to Happy Harriet, the machine I inherited from my grandmother. Believe you me, if it ever develops a Karen complex, I promise you I will rename it Horrible Harriet at the snap of a thread.