Monday, April 27th, 2015
Is there a medieval term for ‘fear of a new sewing machine’? I’d like to think so. Something In Latin perhaps; scarycat dom brothernatious? I’m not actually scared of my new sooper-doper Brother computerised machine, it’s just that I know my faithful Janome so well that I can just get on it and go. This new one has an instruction book thicker than a builder’s buttie and more functions than a boxful of TV remote controls and smartphones.
I love it, of course…at least I will when I can find the time to really get to know it. Until then we’ve been playing a game of cat and mouse. I approach it, switch on, get set and then, er, find something else to do. I thought at first maybe it was feelings of infidelity towards my old faithful, but then I glanced across at Mr Sassy picking his toenails and realised that a newer model is always more appealing.
Funnily enough it was the same when I bought my overlocker. That took me almost a month, I’m determined to crack this one before the 30 day money back warranty runs out.
So any suggestions are very welcome. Hypnosis maybe, counselling? I tried Googling ‘fear of a new sewing machine’ and a surprising number of pages come up including one on Mumsnet that suggests I am not alone. One post-ee said it had been 10 months and she still hadn’t plucked up courage.
Maybe there’s an opportunity for a workshop – group therapy…. ‘My name is Julie and I’m afraid of my computerised Brother’ might even get on Jeremy Kyle if that one goes viral.
Congrats on the new machine. When I got my new machine last year I too stared at it for a while and didn’t quite dare to do anything. Then my hubby asked about all the extra stitches it has compared to my old one; which set a light bulb off. So I made a sampler of all the stitches – just a line of a few repeats on some old fabric but it really helped me get to know the machine.