I’d pay good money for a self cleaning sewing machine. My feed dogs weren’t advancing and I was pretty sure it was time to remove the needle plate which isn’t the easiest thing since I’ve misplaced the special super short screwdriver that turns the screw.

I finally got the big screw out of there and no surprise but the feed dogs were totally packed with gunk from thread and so forth. My grandmother taught me to sew when I was 4 (she also taught me to okay the piano around the same age) and by 5 I had graduated from hand sewing to using the machine. Part of what I learned was how to service the machine myself.  Unless I hear something actually break, then I’m not taking my machine in to pay someone what I can, and should, do myself.

Moments later, I heard the happy hum of the needle whirring and everything was copacetic again.