Redsquirrel

So, I joined a guild this year because my mom is in it and I enjoy sewing with her. Note that I'm am 34 and the youngest by FAR at this guild which meets on Monday mornings. So add my bright red hair and the fact I'm young and at a quilt guild during working hours on a monday and I bring my Featherweight, I stand out....just a bit. I often will catch a women looking at me with that "deer in the headlights" look.

This guild has 30-40 women every week and there is only one other lady that brings a featherweight too. All the other women ironically are old school hand stitching, or using their fancy Babylocks. They like the look of the featherweight but are TERRIFIED of trying to work on them themselves and are dead set on the thought that if they got one it'd have to be taken in to the repair shop to get working. When I say that I work on them myself, they look at me with that "deer in the headlights" look. When I say I replace the power cords myself they really stare at me for a while. And god forbid I say that I have a treadle machine at home that I use, because that really makes them look at me for a while. I sometimes feel like they are snobby towards the old machines and think that they may be a joke.

I find this ironic as most of these women would have grown up with the old Singers and I hear many stories of the new really expensive machines are in the shop a lot too, and there is no way in heck you can work on those unless your a computer programmer.
Does anyone else here find their guild members a little snobby when it comes to old machines? I would like to try to change the attitude of the group a little to be a little more open.
Just a little story I'd like to share.

GEMRM

I don't think it's a snob thing, more than likely it's surprise and maybe even a little envy? It's more common that people take their machines in for servicing, than it is that the person does it themselves.
I find there is such a wide range of tastes with respect to sewing machines with each person having strong views on what one should use.
Maybe the older members are happier with the newer machines simply because they started out on the older ones?

Tiggersmom

Some guilds have 'featherweight groups' that meet and bring their machines. You Must have a featherweight to be a member.

I have a FW, but to be honest, I love that my Babylock cuts the thread, has needle up/down, etc. I prefer to sew on it than the FW.

To each his own.........some of the older women [I'm in that group] think things math and working on 'machines' is a mans work.

Sideways

I think what confuses my quilt friends is all the model numbers we talk about. "A 301,a99,a500, wait what the heck are you talking about?"

That's ok, they don't have to love what I love, they enjoy it that I love it so much!!

Let your quilt ladies enjoy how special you are, and use the opportunity to teach them about how special vintage machines are!

thimblebug6000

I envy you being able to join the same guild as your Mom, how special is that? You might like to ask if anyone would like you to do a mini service on your own machine for them to watch one day, that might interest even those with high end machines.

vanginney

I'm 40 and have been quilting for 20 yrs...seen many guilds events with lots of cliques but have also meet so many great people too. I wouldn't worry about what others think and chart your own path. Go vintage!!!

Redsquirrel

Great replies. Thank you. Puts it into perspective for me.

zozee

I am chicken to change my own power cord. How do you do that safely? Seriously, I am afraid of being electrocuted, but if it's a simple thing, why pay someone big bucks to do it for me? I admire people who fix machines and want to learn more myself.

zozee

You can PM me the answer if you want, as I realize this is slightly a rabbit trail off your main thread questions.

Redsquirrel

I use lamp, VCR, or other electronics cords from thrift stores for cheep. Otherwise you can go to a dollar store and buy the right colour of extension cords and cut them down. Basically open up the end- be it the plug or foot controller- take off the old wire and replace it exactly the same way with the new cord. No special tools required. I don't even use wire strippers, just scissors to take the plastic coating off. Its super easy and as a safety note, when testing new stuff, I always plug it into a power bar extension cord with the built in circuit breaker. In fact this is what I use with all my vintage machines anyways. My house doesn't have good electrical outlets, they aren't grounded. I learn't that lesson the hard way when I first plugged my 1939 featherweight with original end plug into the wall, it was fine until I tried to pull it out, that's when the sparks flew. Boy that was scary. I always replace the cords and especially plugs after that experience.