Trashed items often tempt, and sew on

I have to stay away from the Hampden Transfer Station. Too often I come home with more stuff than I hurl into the trash.

Usually what I bring home is related to needlework – a bag of homeless yarn, a tin of orphaned tatting cotton, a collection of knitting pattern booklets seeking a safe harbor, a stack of sewing patterns from a fashion era I remember with a certain amount of nostalgia – and embarrassment as I recall the days when polyester knit fabrics were all the sewing rage.

Well, yeah, you guessed it, if it’s there and needs adopting, I’m the big-hearted momma who hauls the needlework debris home and finds a place for it.

Most recently – dare I say this – I dragged home yet another sewing machine. I say dragged because even though the machine is portable, it’s so heavy I could barely lug it. But lug it I did, way against my better judgment. First, I do not have room for another sewing machine or the time and energy to figure out how to use one. Second, the case has that unmistakable mildewy smell, which means that no way am I going to bring the thing into my house. For now it lives in the garage like a skunk-sprayed dog. I spritzed it with stuff to neutralize the odor, and a few days later went at it with soap and scrub brush.

That was the bad part.

But the good part is that the sewing machine is accompanied by its instruction booklet.

This means I will be able to figure out how to thread the machine. It also has a complete set of attachments, color-coded, no less. That’s news to me and I find it very intriguing. I’m always impressed with the clever things the industry will do to create a selling point whether it’s the gorgeous lily of the valley gold-leaf swirls painted on my treadle machine, the self-winding bobbin of my vintage Singer Touch and Sew or the push-button everything on my current Singer machine.

Of course, the attachment box and the instruction booklet have that mildew smell, too. But that was easy to deal with. I dumped them into a plastic bag, added an open box of baking soda and an open bag of lavender florets before tying the bag tightly. I figure within a week the dicey odor will be replaced by the scent of lavender.

The machine is a 1962 vintage Kenmore, purchased at Sears & Roebuck when it was still located on Harlow Street in Bangor.

Fortunately, there are two sewing machine repair shops in the area, A Straight Stitch at the North Brewer Shopping Center in Brewer and Hills Sewing Machine Repair on Palm Street in Bangor, where it can be determined whether or not the machine can be salvaged at a reasonable price. If so, it will be donated to a worthy local cause. If not, it will be returned to the exchange shed at the transfer station, where, no doubt, some other abandoned bit of needlework will beg to be taken home.

Snippets

. The Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport has a list of summer classes to choose from, including drop spinning and felting with Deb Bergman, mortise and tenon joinery with Mike Beaudry, woodcarving with John Spinney, printmaking with Cathy Melio, miniature half-hull ship model building with Al Ross and a sailor’s knot project with Maine Maritime Academy Sailing Master Eric Jergenson. Visit www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org for information on times and dates and detailed class descriptions.

. The knitters of the Elm Street Congregational Church in Bucksport sponsor a prayer shawl ministry that reaches out to those in need of comfort. Those interested in knitting with the group or at home for the group may call the Rev. Linda Smith at 469-3333 or Natalie McFarland at 469-3866.

. Those who like to sew their own clothing may find inspiration in “Dressing Modern: Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Clothes,” a lecture by Dr. Wanda Corn, professor emeritus at Stanford University. The event is set for 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, at the Portland Museum of Art. The cost is $8, $5 members. For more information, visit www.portlandmuseum.org or e-mail info@portlandmuseum.org.

. The 50th annual Down East Fair will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday, July 19, at the Church of Our Father in Hulls Cove.

ahamlin@bangordailynews.net

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