It started two weekends ago, a Saturday evening in fact. Having cut out some skirts and tops, I thought that I would 'treat' my sewing machine and serger to a clean. Yes, I know that some people would not call this a 'treat' but more a necessity, but I am trying. I defuzzed my sewing machine and gave it a new needle and a touch of oil. Perfect!
Next up the serger. I cleaned and oiled all the 'insidy' bits, then following the guidelines in my instruction manual I took off the needle plate and cleaned underneath. Feeling very pleased with myself I was just about to put the needle plate back in position when I noticed two needles jammed in the grooves of needle plate. Horror of horrors, how can that have occurred? I am sure that there are a number of you reading this, shaking your head saying 'oh no, she didn't did she?' Yep, you bet I did! This is how my needle plate looked before I attacked it with a screwdriver to get those nasty, offending needles out:
Nasty, nasty needles. I was a little confused as to how they could have made the jump from my sewing to the needle plate, but I really didn't question it too much until after 'jemmying' one of the needles out I realised that there was no eye in the needle. I could feel the panic slowly crawling up the back of my spine and I frantically searched online for photos of new needle plates. Guess what they look like? Yep, the picture above. :: sigh :: The needles are actually pretty important and used by the looper threads . . . . . . Guess how many sewing shops that stock Janome needle plates are open before Monday morning in the largest city in Alberta? Less than one. . . . . .
Grrrrr!
So there is my tale. DO NOT pry those needles out. Seriously - who knew? Of course, looking at it now, I cannot believe how stupid I was . . . . . certainly won't be doing that again :)
The good news is that I have a shiny new needle plate (with needles) and lots of (pent up) mojo to keep me rolling along!!
