the post about fast fashion/sewing one’s own clothes blew up again… honestly the more i think about it the angrier i am about it. with both clothing and furniture we sort of live in a world where the market is being overtaken by disposable items made with cheap materials at the lowest possible labor cost. and like, not to diss ikea or anything — god knows they’ve supplied me with enough cheap bookshelves — but this is exactly why i ended up building my own desk.

my dad tells stories about his mom, who was very talented at sewing — it wasn’t her “day job” but in that part of rural iowa in the 60s she was the person you called if, say, you needed a wedding dress on next to no notice. (i’m also told she was excellent at baking pies, but that’s beside the point.) at that time and place, it was legitimately *cheaper* to make your own clothes than to buy them from the store. they would be made of much the same materials, except that you would substitute your own labor for that of whoever assembled the storebought garment.

today, the fabric to make a shirt will almost certainly cost you more than an equivalent department store shirt would. to say nothing of the cost of your time and labor. part of this is that people who sew their own clothes generally don’t want to waste their time on shit fabric, so fabric stores don’t sell quite the same grade of shreddable polyester. part of this is that our modern globalized supply chain has minimized both labor and materials costs as hard as it can, and this optimization has intertwined labor and materials sourcing a lot more than they apparently were in the 60s.

let’s turn back to the subject of furniture. the equivalent of the cheap polyester department-store shirt is the ikea desk. the desk surface is made of laminated particle-board, which is lighter and cheaper than actual wood; the desk is sold to you flat-pak, and you assemble it yourself, thus saving on labor costs. the laminate surface will probably delaminate after a few years’ use. also as with the cheap shirt, any damage is near-impossible to fix — you could sand and refinish a scuffed plywood surface, but there’s no sanding laminated particle-board. it’s also harder to modify to suit one’s needs — i can drill a neat hole for a monitor arm in my plywood desk much more easily than in a particle-board surface.

in both cases, what do you do if you want a slightly higher grade of item? well, obviously you’ll have to pay more money — but it’s difficult to be sure you’re really getting your money’s worth. you have to spend ages and ages comparison-shopping and reading reviews about how quality has really gone downhill since production moved to [new country]. often — especially with clothes — the thing that your money is actually paying for is Style, as separate from Substance. or good advertising. i’ve been halfheartedly in the market for a decent couch for some time, and i’ve noticed that nearly every apartment makeover video on youtube is sponsored by the same furniture website, which of course has provided a free couch — that the youtuber assures us is Really Good, For The Price. as soon as a manufacturer acquires a reputation for Quality, it is in their economic interest to sell out as hard and fast as they can and pocket the increased margin from selling crap at the price of quality until people notice. and in a world where most shopping has moved online, it’s difficult to tell whether you’re still in the actual-quality period. i’m not sure if there even *are* furniture stores around here at quality levels in between ikea and danish concepts (suggesting a market for a mid-tier scandinavian furniture purveyor, perhaps hailing from norway or finland).

because of the sort of person that i am, i tire rapidly of the endless comparison shopping. i don’t want to become a damn couch supply chain expert, i just want to retire the folding chair from my living room. it can’t be *that* hard to build a couch, can it? well, not if one is privileged enough to have the tools and time and space to do it in. i think most of the comments and tags on the fast fashion post are from people wishing they had one or more of the above to make their own clothes with. speaking from direct personal experience, a sewing machine is at least both cheaper and easier to find space for than a minimally equipped woodshop.

the other common piece of advice is to buy used, buy from a thrift store or an estate sale. unfortunately hunting down all your shit used also takes a lot of time and effort, and particularly in the case of furniture hauling the stuff home is a nontrivial logistical problem. again, money or more nebulous forms of privilege (the friend with the truck) are needed to smooth these roadblocks. and it’s really amazing that the solution to “i want an item that is not garbage” is “buy an item manufactured at a time when they were not yet garbage”. yes, of course, the less-durable instances won’t have survived the passage of time, but that’s only part of the effect. things genuinely used to be manufactured to a higher standard of quality. my sewing machine is from ebay; it’s the same model my *other* grandma had, a baseline singer consumer-grade machine. all its gears are metal, and it has a heavy-ass cast metal housing, too. the other household sewing machine is a modern singer consumer-grade machine and for all its fancy stitches it looks sort of like a doll’s toy — the plastic gears are going to break at some point, or the motor will burn out, and if it turns out that the motor on the modern edition is designed to be user-replaceable i will personally eat a hat. i suppose we also used to ask a lot more of our consumer-grade sewing machines, back when sewing one’s own clothes was a baseline household skill for everyone but Rich People, instead of a hobby that consumes more money than it saves you.

i don’t know if my post really has a conclusion. i’m just angry that we live in a fallen world full of miraculous technology and yet we have not solved the seemingly simple economic problem of exchanging a reasonable amount of money for a newly produced durable good that isn’t a complete piece of shit. i am a *robotics engineer*, for the love of fuck; i have a complicated, rare, well-compensated skillset. it cannot *possibly* be a comparative advantage for me to spend my time building a couch or sewing a shirt instead of paying someone to do it for me (ideally also, if i may ask for a miracle, someone who gets things like fair pay and healthcare and vacation time). why is this transaction so damn hard??

what's a story premise you've had lurking in your head but haven't done anything with yet?

I've got one mulling about called StoryWeavers where the magic system is based on the intersection of fiber arts, storytelling, and the metaphors behind them (manipulation "pulling on the strings", fate "caught in a web", creativity "spinning a yarn", etc.). This is inspired by my special interest of historical costuming and how much of our modern vernacular stems directly from how important fibercraft was throughout history and the legacy of the quiet women who kept the world clothed and how much politics happened around the embroidery hoop.

It would be a magical realism kind of story taking place in an ancient world where the gods and spirits walk amongst humans. I don't know what kind of culture I would want it to be inspired by because there's so many interesting historical fibercrafts. Right now I'm kind of torn between Incan because of the quipu writing system and the bridges woven over the mountains works really well thematically. I am afraid of writing this though because I don't want to appropriate anything and I would want to be sure to do a LOT of research and get sensitivity readers. Their patterns are also really gorgeous.

Alternatively I would want a Eastern European winter type of setting because I think these geometric and floral patterns are just so pretty and half of my family is Polish I don't know nearly enough about that mythology as I want to.

Anyhow, the plot goes as follows: In this little village is an old grandmother named Lohe who was a master of her craft, but has been losing her sight to old age. Her granddaughter, Janome, trained as her apprentice and the two of them work side by side, younger aiding the elder to cope with her blindness, and the elder guiding the younger's unpracticed hands. All is well with the world until one day, a sorceress (who may or may not also be a cursed dragon-like monster) steals the sun, trapping it in a bag woven so tightly that no light can leak through. The world is plunged into darkness and cold, and the Queen despairs, instructing every seamstress to get to work making blankets and cloaks to keep people warm.

Janome and Lohe decide they need to fix the problem because they can see their fellow weavers burning themselves out trying to save everyone else, and so they crochet shawls of feathers to fly into the sky, knit mittens that will let them hold the sun without burning, and sew skirts with tactile star maps embroidered into the fabric, so they can still read the skies when the wax of their candles is gone.

[they do the adventure]

[they save the day]

[hurrah]

The plot is still coming together, but I have some other mythological things I might want to feature. The Crane Wife story involves a crane sacrificing her feathers to sew into garments, so they are going to meet a crane woman at some point who helps them out. Maybe also a Selkie because of the sealskin thing. Spiders of course. Birds who weave nests. Storks are different from cranes but they're the bird on my favorite pair of embroidery scissors. There's a goddess named Trama that they need to help/ask for help, I haven't decided yet.

Just vibes.

Thanks for asking!

Can I Sew Into Your Heart? {Dandy Mott x Reader}

Requested by a wonderful @randodummy <3

You work closely with Dora at the Mott Mansion, and in the winter, Gloria has asked you to sew something for Dandy because of how sensitive he is to the cold.

No one's perspective

☆ﾟ⁠.⁠*⁠･⁠｡ﾟ◕ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

You were sat in the kitchen, distracted, and Dora was making dinner. She was your mentor and only friend in the Mott Mansion. The big and empty place had plenty of empty rooms so you slept in a different one every night. Gloria never seemed to mind and she was kind to you, even if she was a bit naïve to her son's own problems.

The only difference between you and Dora is that you mainly did the sweeping and cleaning now. Dora kept on the food and laundry. Equal chores for both of you kept you happy. Sometimes though, there was always a time when you felt bored and tired since you managed to keep the place so clean. So, you sewed. Sewing was your favourite thing to do, and it kept you busy before Gloria employed you. You sewed Gloria and Dora jackets, small hats and gloves. They were small, never a big project like jumpers or a winter coat.

Until, one cold day on a dark December, Gloria came into the room you were currently sleeping in as you were reading. "Y/N, I need you to do something."

"Sure Ms.Mott, what needs doing?"

"Sew Dandy a jumper. He's sensitive to the cold, and has been dealing with a sniffle." She smiled slightly at you, and you nodded to just go along with it, but inside you felt like this was going to take up too much of your time. Begrudgingly you got up once Gloria left, and opened one of the small boxes by your bedside. It held different types of wool, cotton, needles and threads.

Thankfully, however, Gloria bought you a brand-new sewing machine. You were never able to get one, being an orphan had its downsides. Many, downsides. They were never kind to you, but you were kind to those who offered you calm, sweet silence, instead of yells and shouts. Karma would hit those people soon, you always thought. Karma exists.

Despite your busy mind, remembering where you came from, you turned the machine on. You grabbed everything from the open box and got to work. Whizzes and brrrs filled the quiet room. The door couldn't stop the loud machine from making the mansion sound like it was a construction site. Although, everyone left you alone. Dandy was simply out, probably to try and talk to the freaks again. Gloria, most likely was watching television or reading. Then Dora, out of everything, was in the kitchen, washing vegetables and preparing dinner for the evening.

So, truly, you weren't disturbed in the slightest. To busy your mind even more than it was already, you hummed songs. In The Mood was the first one to come to mind. It was a fun song, and you danced with Dandy to it once. The man-child was being a brat again, and you took his hands, leading him to an empty room with a record player. "Y/N what is this? I don't care about what you're trying to do!" He asked grumpily, as always. You just smiled your sweet smile that made Dandy melt inside, (he'd never tell you that of course) and took his large hands towards the record player. Putting yours on top of his, you both placed In The Mood on the record player. He hid his smile, but Dandy knew you liked the song, so he let you lead the dance.

"Dandy darling, pleaseee come on join me!" You chuckled, dancing around awkwardly. A few seconds went past before Dandy took you in his arms and started to dance with you.

"You're a horrible dancer."

"you love me." A giggle escaped your lips as Dandy and you danced around the whole room, not missing any corner. "I love you." You whispered to Dandy. The song ended, and he dipped you down for half a second. He held your waist and gently placed a kiss on your lips. Once you returned back, a hand on his face.

"I love you too."

But the whirrs brought you back to reality. Already you were done with the sleeve, somehow it didn't look terrible despite being in a dazed state the whole time. It was a dark blue, mixed with some blacks and shades of grey.

Your own humming continued as you kept sewing and still, the machine was louder than ever. But soon enough, you heard the door slam shut. Dandy was home. He walked towards your door and opened it quickly, seeing you sew with the machine. "Turn that off!" He shouted, somehow louder than the sewing machine itself.

Quickly, you did so, and looked up to Dandy, confused. "Is it too loud Dandy?" He sniffles a bit. His nose was red, and he was shivering. "Oh dandy...my love you know to not go out in this weather." You shook your head, getting up and hugging Dandy close. He was freezing, and sneezing.

"I don't care. I wanted to see the twins."

"Dandy..." You just take his hand and up the stairs to his room. It was warm and it was best for the cold man. In both ways. "Come on, let's get you warmed up." Dandy just nodded, wiping his nose on some tissue. He was cute to you, even if he was a massive brat at times.

"I'll go and get you some soup okay? Tomato with some toast." Tired and cold, Dandy just nodded again and accepted it while you placed a blanket over his shoulders. He was clingy so it took you a while to just get to the kitchen. Dora smiled at you and held out a tea kettle.

"Are you taking a break Y/N? I've made some tea." Dora poured you a small cup anyway.

"Thank you, Dora. I was going to make some quick tomato soup with toast. Dandy is freezing, and a sniffling mess." You sighed but smiled. Dora was too kind to you sometimes. She opened up some cupboards and took out ingredients. Salt, pepper, tomatoes, red peppers, cream, etc. Everything was fresh since you and Dora went out a day ago to get groceries.

"You gonna be alright makin' it? I know he can be horrible and ungrateful at times."

"I'll be okay Dora, thank you though. I know how to put him in his place." You chuckled a bit and winked at Dora, who just rolled her eyes, smiling before walking off. Everyoneeee heard how you 'put Dandy in his place' and it was obvious to them he wasn't the one in charge.

You brought yourself out of your fantasy though, starting to quickly make up some soup for the sniffly man. After a few minutes, it was smelling nice, and it was warming you up, even though you weren't the one eating it. It only took a few minutes for the soup to be done, so you placed some in a bowl, put that on a tray along with some hot cocoa, and brought it up to Dandy who was still sniffling away and reading comics.

"Hey love, I made you the soup. Plus some cocoa." You smiled and it melted you inside as Dandy immediately grinned and sat up, placing the comic down next to him. "Tomato and red pepper."

You placed the tray on Dandy's lap, and he started eating immediately. But he dropped his spoon back in the bowl, cringing and placed a hand over his mouth. "Burnt my tongue."

"Well, it is hot, baby. C'mere, just leave it for a bit to cool down, then take small sips okay?" Running your fingers through Dandy's hair, you giggled slightly, and Dandy just looked annoyed before kissing your head as an affirmation of your words. The silence was long, occasionally broken by a kiss so Dandy felt better. Soon enough though, you took the spoon again and helped Dandy eat. The soup was finished in a matter of minutes along with the cocoa.

"..thank you Y/N." He said, shrinking back down into his duvet.

"You're always welcome my love. I'll be back soon okay? I'm still making something." You grinned and kissed Dandy's forehead. Picking up the tray and taking it downstairs, you immediately thought about how to continue making the jumper.

You had hoped Dandy would stay in bed and rest now he had eaten, but you could never be too sure. Sighing to yourself, you went back into the room and started to sew again, distracting yourself with songs in your head.

Time had passed more quickly than you thought and you had a look at the clock. "5?! Shit!" Then you looked down at the machine, an almost finished jumper in the machine. There were a few embodiments that needed to be added, so you made fast work of that. "Jesus Christ, I should have an alarm clock built in me or something." You got up and jogged into the kitchen, to find a little plate on the counter with a note.

' Y/N, you were so distracted with your work all day, I couldn't disturb you. So I made some extra for you, eat it whenever you can. - Dora.' You grinned and took the plate with some cutlery, and sat in the kitchen, wolfing it down as swiftly as you could. As soon as you finished, you washed everything up and put them away. You walked back out, seeming alone in the house. Shrugging to yourself, all you did was go back to your room and finish off the jumper.

It ended up being a navy colour, with hints of a lighter blue in it. It was so big, but you hoped Dandy would like it anyway. "Y/N?" Oh perfect. Dandy called out to you from upstairs, you ran up to him with the jumper in your hands. "What's that?" He asked through small sneezes and coughs.

"It's a jumper for you baby. You're so sick, and you need something to keep you warm." You sweetly cooed, holding it up. Excited, dandy took it in his hands and immediately put it on. "That looks great on you sweets." You clapped and grinned.

"I like the colour." He said, admiring it on his own body. Soon enough though, he picked you up and placed you next to him, cuddling you in close. "You're sleeping next to me tonight."

"I'd love that my darling." You answered, Dandy keeping you tight and close to his own body. "Are you still cold?"

"Mhm." He nodded.

"My sweet boy, I'll warm you right up." You just kept smiling at him, moving yourself to lie on top of Dandy. You also put the blanket over yourself, you kept Dandy and yourself warm. "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you more."

Mind likes animation of sewing machine.

Mind and sewing machine go brrr' brrrr brrrr brrr' brrr' brrrrrr brr brrrrr brrr' brrrrrr

me : singerTM 15 my beloved <3

my family : singer 15 our behated

I ran my sewing machine at too low a speed for too long earlier this summer which APPARENTLY you’re not supposed to do because that destroys the motor. I didn’t know this and destroyed the motor but my excellent engineer friend offered to replace it with the motor from an old 70′s sewing machine he had laying around.

Guys, it’s like if you put a tractor motor into a Honda Fit. This thing goes three times as fast now. I’ve got to figure out a method for slowly stitching the pleather that hates to move fast but for everything else? It just eats up fabric and spits it out done. Previously I dreaded doing detail stitching on the fins of my goldfish bags but now it’s just like haha topstitching go brrr

SCP's. the gang. they qould all fit in so nicely. the facotory is like the IKEA but worse. Jeremy and puppet can share a scp tag because they're always together. Mike, He- and phone guy can be scp-scientists like Bright and Cain. or just let them do an "SCP Date Night" and scar all the ghosts

“SCP Date Night”… okay. I think I need to do some googling. But absolutely, yes, that would be good shit. Though I can only imagine Mike being more like Connor from the “SCP Containment Breach” series on youtube, except he isn’t a normal guy just trying to get by, but a big fucking asshole causing everyone stress. Then again, if you were immortal for no apparent reason and being put through endless agonizing trials, you probably would too be pretty angry and aggressive with anyone. He always tries to get information out of Dr. Henry Miller, but he refuses. Not much is known. Patience Mr. Schmidt. I think Dr. Bright is absolutely like Dave or Old Sport, because the “List of things Dr. Bright isn’t allowed to do anymore” speaks for itself, really. But dear god, so many possibilities. There could be so many reasons, so many ways to take these concept. If I weren’t such a little bitch, I would probably say Marion is a parasite, eating people from the inside, but keeping them alive. Jeremy is his current host, unaware of being emptied out, thinking the Marionette is nothing but his little doll that he can make talk. Something along the lines of the parasite invading the victim’s home and picking them during childhood and proceeding to eat away and manipulate with chemicals, eventually making the host an extension of itself and causing it to pick up sewing as an interest, making more Marionette dolls that start disappearing without the damaged host noticing. Imagine maybe having a creature living inside of you without you being able to know. Brrr. Sounds SCP? Maybe? Either way, I certainly want the Marionette to be a creature living inside of others, being able to shift physically between small and doll-like and long and snake-like. And, of course, it’s intelligent enough to be interviewed, though being hostile towards authority is a given. Anyhow, I would imagine Phoney more as an SCP turned researcher. He always reminded me of the one SCP that changes your head into a machine-work somehow. So maybe that, except with a “Phone mutation”? Either way, he’s down for this job because he gets paid so damn well. Dave and Old Sport are mainly there for the danger and the anomalies. After finding out about it, they couldn’t stay away. They make regular trips into the factory! I absolutely agree with you that it would be like an infinite ikea, except even more uncomfortable and dead. It would probably be harder to survive though, seeing as there aren’t- well, I guess there are snack machines standing around. All types of robots. But mainly endos, I imagine. But oh boy, the fun they all could be having locating and trying secure, contain and protect would be something to behold. Can you imagine them traveling out, trying to act like a totally normal group of friends while having to analyze a town for anomalies? None of them could get their story straight, oh god. Not to mention regular escapes due to Old Sport being an irresponsible bitch. Talks with ghosts, games being played with keter objects- God, now I want to go through Freddy’s lore and make SCPs based on every interesting little thing, like the Paperplates, or the cupcake. Then again, there was a funky cake related SCP already- And then there are the Fazbear Fright stories that would offer themselves to be repurposed into SCPs- ARGH, STOP BEING SO CREATIVE Y’ALL. I CAN’T KEEP UP. I WANT TO MAKE SO MUCH STUFF, BUT I CANNOT. If I write, I will write in secret and feel awkward and feel bad that I don’t write the requests I still have- IT’S SUFFERING! You guys are amazing. Oh by the way, ANON. I finally googled SCP Date night. Two things: A. Why would you do that to me? B. You now convinced me that Herny is part of the SCP place and Henry’s most guarded monster and I hate you for it, but I actually most hate myself for it.

so my new bobbin case arrived (brand new) (singer still makes these for some reason) (fits my 1909 treadle machine) (new) and the packaging said "ideal for bobbin work". IT'S A BOBBIN CASE!! i sure HOPE it's good for bobbin work because i don't know wtf ELSE one would do with it

IT'S ALIIIIVE

tomorrow the startup where i work is having a fancy ~sunset cruise in the bay~ party thing w dinner and cocktails to celebrate CLOSING OUR FUNDING ROUND!! WOO

and the sartorial vibe seems to be Dressy But Not A Suit which is sort of. a problem because i dont have THAT many dressy masc clothes rn. however! i DO have a big pile of linen, a sewing machine, and an overdeveloped sense of hubris!

so on wednesday i altered my cheap shitty amazon waistcoat to fit better and last night i started cutting out a shirt with truly, ridiculously, unnecessarily poofy sleeves, which i have JUST now finished at 1:30 A.M. end result:

i will do it TOMORROW i will futz with the hook timing on my treadle machine TOMORROW i am going to BED so i can wake up in time for JOB :(

the main problem with my treadle machine is that every part of it is dirty AND rusty because it was stored in a carport under a tarp for an unknown length of time. top sewing machine maintenance tip: AT LEAST KEEP IT IN THE FUCKING GARAGE, DEAR GOD

anyway heres the throat plate bits in a nice(?) vinegar bath in the ultrasonic cleaner

i cant quilt on my treadle machine in peace anymore because itachi is right there... judging me...

WAIT i should work on my fucking trilobite fabric pattern so that i can order it and start working on a trilobite waistcoat as soon as my bandages come off and im allowed to sew!!!!

I OWN THAT SEWING MACHINE??

How did you get working?

mostly i just cleaned it out and oiled it and it worked!! the good news is these machines are fairly bulletproof, so it doesn't take a lot to get them working again

your first step should be to plug in the serial number into this website -- this will tell you exactly what model of guy you have, so you'll be able to look up instructions and check if you've got missing parts. (or if you've got the original instruction manual you can use that!)

the things you will probably need to replace are the belt (leather treadle belts have a tendency to turn brittle with age) and the needle (old needles tend to also be brittle and possibly rusty, which is Not Great for fabric). helpfully, singer model 15s use the same standard needle shape as nearly all modern sewing machines, so you can stick just about any modern needle in there. a new treadle belt, as well as replacements for any missing or damaged parts, can be had from the internet -- there are a ton of vintage sewing machine parts sellers on ebay. (you'll need to cut the new treadle belt to length and possibly rosin it; i had to tighten mine two or three times before it was driving the machine nicely.)

and then, of course, Everything Needs To Be Cleaned. you'll want a bottle of sewing machine oil, a jug of cleaning vinegar, dish soap, and an ultrasonic cleaner (incredibly handy general household tool, $25ish on amazon). also large amounts of q-tips and paper towels, and various sizes of flat-head screwdrivers. possibly also a dremel tool. (if the machine needs a surface cleaning, wipe it down GENTLY with sewing machine oil -- many harsher cleaning substances will damage the shellac or the pretty gold decals.)

stuff i took off my machine to clean:

throat plate + slidey bit next to it

hook and bobbin case, and the circular track thing the hook slides back and forth in (i don't know what this is called)

side plate and thread tension assembly

needle holder and thread guide

presser foot and its thumb screw

round plate on the back and its thumb screw (i could've gotten away without cleaning this but i wanted it to be Shiny)

(also: take pictures while you disassemble everything so you remember how it goes back together!!)

an ultrasonic cleaner bath with vinegar will remove rust (you may have to run it a few times); an ultrasonic cleaner bath with warm soapy water will remove dirt and gunk (ancient thread dust + ancient sewing machine oil = horrible black gunk). the parts WILL NOT be stainless steel, so you WILL need to dry them off after they come out of the bath; don't leave them on a wet paper towel or they'll rust again. (i made this mistake about three or four separate times and i wanted to kick my own ass every time. for parts that are hard to dry with paper towels + q-tips, you might want to use a solder reflow station or hairdryer (the poor man's solder reflow station) to dry them.) it's also good to wipe stuff down with a very light coating of sewing machine oil just for a little extra rust protection. for stuff you want to be Extra Shiny, like the throat plate, you can use the dremel tool and a wire brush or a fine grit sanding attachment and get it nice and polished :)

But Watch Out -- some of the screws may be VERY stiff and you definitely don't want to strip the heads. if a screw is just not budging, try drenching it in sewing machine oil (in such a way that the oil will run down into the threads) and waiting half an hour or so.

while all the plates and stuff are going through the ultrasonic cleaner, it's time to clean and lubricate the inside! (and the treadle. the treadle might also be stiff. pro tip: take the belt off while you're working on lubricating the treadle so you can make sure it runs smooth without the sewing machine.) there should be little holes for oil everywhere you're supposed to oil (including the underside! with the belt off the machine should fold out of the treadle table so you can access these bits), but you can oil other areas of metal-on-metal movement too if it seems like they need it. the basic control loop here is oil something -> spin the hand wheel a bit and listen carefully for squeaking or other Bad Noises -> oil something (etc.) until it's all running smooth. if there is gunk on any of the moving parts (or dead spiders. apparently spiders LOVE to go inside of model 15s and die there) apply q-tips until they're clean. or a paper towel + vinegar for bits that are rusty.

and then you put it back together and try it out!! (AND SEND ME PICTURES I WANNA SEEEEE)

its 3am i thought i could finish this tonight. pressed all my fucking edging like a good person and everything.

no!!! i lost Quilt Chicken!!! foiled at the LAST step of quilt!! infuriating!!