Hello, Bernina!

Five summers ago, I decided that I wanted to buy a sewing machine. I had learned to sew in high school, but I had never owned my own machine. While browsing Craigslist and Kijiji, I saw an ad for an older Bernina machine for $75. I remembered my Mum speaking very highly of the Bernina brand, and at that price, I had to try to acquire one. There was just one problem: I was in Calgary, and the machine was in Edmonton. I frantically called my friend Laura, who graciously agreed to make an appointment with the owner and to see if the advertised sewing machine was actually worth purchasing. Laura confirmed that it worked, and the owner parted with her machine, its original case and manual and nearly 4 dozen bobbins.

The whole thing smelled like cigarette smoke, but I knew it could be cleaned. Given my initial excitement, you would think that I would have immediately prepped the machine and started a hundred projects. Alas, it took me five years to finally get back to sewing! In the meantime, I did many other things, including starting and finishing a master's degree. The poor machine just sat in its case. 

Last summer, I finally began sprucing up my prized Bernina. Then a distraction happened: the sewer backed up into my basement JUST before the start of a new school  year. Sewing fell in line behind MANY other things. One of the first things that I wanted to do this summer was to FINALLY use this steal-of-a-deal machine!

Here's how my Bernina Record 730 looks after some cleaning and oiling and a few test runs: 

There's even a handy detachable storage unit for extra needles and presser feet and thread.

I found some fun fabric in the fat quarter bins at Walmart that I could test my sewing memory on. It's a secret project for the moment, but if it works out, I'll blog some more about it. As it is, it took me the better part of an hour to figure out how to switch the machine from a zig-zag stitch to a straight stitch the other night! And that was WITH the manual! Here's what the fabric looks like so far:

I'm off to work on part two!