The Interstate International Interfaith Sewing Machine Ministry

In my last post (over 4 months ago) I wrote about joking with the minister of my church about starting a sewing machine ministry and ending up with three donated sewing machines.  Two of them have found new homes by now.  One of those, a very nice vintage Elna SU, earned the church a tidy sum.

 

 

The next, a Necchi BU, has a non-functional motor.  That one is on hold while I either a) learn how to repair motors or b) find a treadler who wants one.

The third machine donated to the church was the Brother VX-808 in my last post.  Friends in Dayton, Ohio told me of a group of Congolese refugees, some of whom needed sewing machines.  So I packed up the Brother and a Singer 66 and hit the highway.

I left North Carolina with those two sewing machines.  Two Kenmores from two different thrift stores found their way into my car while I was on the road to Ohio.  I stayed in Dayton with a friend who had no previous interest in sewing machines.  We briefly turned his kitchen into a workshop and while he scrubbed the cases at the sink I worked on the machines and talked (obsessively of course) about sewing machines.  And, friends, an enabler was born.  He has since sent me links to machines on shopgoodwill.com and has taken in another machine for us to work on.  But that is a story for another time.

Before I went to Dayton I visited friends in my hometown of Hamilton.  While I was there I bought two more machines in thrift stores--an Elna Grasshopper and a vintage Pfaff.  So:  2 + 2 + 2 = 6.  My kids think I am crazy.  What's your opinion?  Feel free to shred me in the comments below.

Interstate:  North Carolina to Ohio

International:  Sewing machines for Congolese refugees

Interfaith:  The refugees are members of the Baha'i Faith and are being assisted by the Baha'i community in Dayton, Ohio

Two of the refugees are experienced seamsters who want to generate some revenue by sewing traditional African garments and selling them.  I figured the zigzag feature on the Kenmores would be more useful than the straight stitch only Singer 66.  So I brought them the Brother and one of the Kenmores.  Sadly I never got around to taking photos of the Kenmores.  But if you are a vintage sewing machine person you have seen Kenmores.  Great machines, but not what you would call stylish.

Just one thing though:  neither of them spoke English.   One of them spoke both French and Swahili, the other spoke only Swahili.  One of the local Baha'is (an old friend from my days in Dayton 50+ years ago) told me that she uses Google translate to translate English to French, and then the French speaking guy translates to the other guy in Swahili.

What could possibly go wrong, eh?  Amazingly: absolutely nothing.

The long test strips of labelled stitching (see previous post) were a real plus.  Also my two semesters of French in 1972 left me with the ability to count to five in French, as well as the words "mal" (bad) and "bonne" (good).  Google now tells me that "mal" is a word only used in connection with state-of-being verbs.  I know none of them. Do sewing machines even have a state of being?  But I think the meaning got through.  And the stitch width indicator only went up to 5, so I was covered there.

Between talking slowly in English, pointing at the machine's controls and then the test strip, we managed very well.  I believe the French speaking guy understood a fair amount of my English.  Both gentlemen clearly knew their way around sewing machines.  I'm pretty sure I was even able to communicate the limitations of the tensioner on the Brother VX-808 (as discussed in the earlier post).  

I am EXTREMELY CAREFUL about putting images of children on this blog but the young boy shown here was interested in everything we did and very enthusiastic about being shown in a photo online.  We spent some time "discussing" this and by the end I felt confident that I had gotten permission from the correct adult.  

 

I really wish I had been able to stay and give him some sewing lessons (and maybe his own machine).  Perhaps his older friends and relatives will take him on as an apprentice!

My Baha'i friends and I agreed that for many reasons this would be a sale rather than a gift.  The seamsters will pay for them AFTER they begin earning money from their sewing.  The friends and family price is whatever I have invested in the machines and parts, no more.  In this case it was a very modest sum for one of the Kenmores and its replacement bobbin case.  The Brother had been donated to my church.  I really don't give a hoot about the money so I asked that any money paid for the machines go into the ongoing support the Baha'i community is providing to the refugees.

And about those six machines:

Two went to the refugees

Two went to someone from a Montessori school (The other Kenmore and the Singer 66) 

And I brought two home:  the Elna Grasshopper and a Pfaff.  I may blog about them in future.

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If you have read this blog post, please say hello in the comments below!  I'm glad you are here.

Do people still read blogs?  Should I keep this blog going?  I do know that it's main "draw" has been my posts about repair and restoration.  Or are you here just for the pictures of the vintage machines?

Inquiring minds want to know.