Pattern Therapy

I've been wanting a specific Butterick pattern and keep missing the sales. Yes, Butterick is on sale at Hancock's right now, but, well, I just don't feel like driving all the way to Tampa to see if (1) the store even still exists, as lots of Hancocks have been closing and it's been a while since I've been there or (2) if they have the pattern and in my size. Yes, I have heard of the telephone but work with me here, OK?

So yesterday, after running an errand to Sears with DH (that's a rant I'll get to below), I decided we'd stop by Joann's so I could pop in and just buy the darn pattern and also browse for a bit. With DH waiting in the car, I knew I'd be less tempted to impulse buy. I had forgotten that J's has changed the everyday pricing on Buttericks to $5.99. With the price of gas lately, it would've cost nearly the difference in the sale price to drive to Hancock's so I'm not feeling too bad I "splurged." I also picked up a few Simplicities that were on sale. I probably wouldn't have bought them otherwise. But the pattern stash needs replenishing every other month or so, right? Even if I'll never sew but a fraction of those patterns in two lifetimes.

So, on to the rant … I have a Kenmore (Sears) canister vacuum. It's about 5 years old. It is not a bottom of the line model. It was not cheap. There's something wrong with the wheels on the "PowerMate" head. The thing still sucks perfectly fine, and I mean that in a good way. It just doesn't move smoothly like it used to and it feels like it's dragging when you use it. Like vacuuming isn't already a drag. But I'm not willing to buy an entire new vacuum when mechanically this one is just fine. Not yet.

I tried looking for a replacement head on Sears' parts website. Sigh. Nothing specific enough was listed. So I called the parts department. The guy I spoke with had me read off all the serial and model numbers — the canister and the head each have their own. Then he asked me a bunch of questions to make sure he had the right thing. He also said that the connector poles come with it. Hmm. Don't need those but no way to order just the head alone. Oh well. I gave him my credit card info and waited for the box to arrive.

Which it did last week. With the most completely wrong replacement head it could ever be. Let's start with the fact that my vacuum and the head are trendy RED. The replacement is 1970s BEIGE. Um, no. My original has a headlight on the front. Replacement? More beige plastic. Model numbers? Not even close. Poles? Mine are telescoping and get pretty long. Replacement? Short and non-telescoping. Grrrr.

Fast forward to yesterday. DH needed replacement blades for our riding mower (also red btw if it matters, and it doesn't.) We decided to combine missions and go to Sears together. DH carries in the big box with the vacuum stuff and our original head on top in case the non-online Sears people don't have the same clue like their online counterparts. (They don't.) The parts counter (if you call a tiny window near the rear exit door a counter) tells me they can't take it back there. The only place that takes back online parts purchases is the main parts center in Tampa. Wha???? I paid $16 in shipping for the wrong thing and now I have to spend close to the equivalent in gas to return it to a different location? Sigh.

And then we walked into the completely clueless and annoying saleswoman in the vacuum department. The model we have is still being made (it's now trendy orange) so I wanted to copy those model numbers, etc. from the floor model. She just could not understand what we were doing and at that point I was in a mood. It was not a chatty mood if you get my drift. She didn't.

(BTW and totally unrelated, while I was standing there copying the model numbers, a man was asking this woman if sewing machines were still in cabinets. Saleslady had yet another airheaded answer and was zero help to him, but the point I want to make is that he was looking for himself and his machines! I smiled to myself and nudged DH. Yay for male sewers!)

So, the box with the "replacement" is now sitting on my kitchen table while I fume and ponder. And my floors still need to be vacuumed. But DH will be swapping out the mower blades this afternoon.

Now do you see why we detoured to Joann's on the way home?

So, what did I buy?


B4986 - Love it!! It's next on my list, but in a knit.


S3837 - Interesting, now that I've seen the pattern pieces. Another layer over the boobs probably won't do me any favors, so it might be a permanent stash victim acquisition.


S4375 - Linda, was it you who made the jacket? Whoever it was, I've wanted the pattern since.


S3880 - A pants pattern available in plus sizing w/o an elastic waist. Had to buy it.


S4095 - I have a feeling I already have this one. (My Palm's batteries are dead and so my pattern list wasn't with me even if my dead Palm was.) But maybe not. Even if I don't have this particular pattern, I know I have all its parts within others. Knowing this, I bought it anyway. ;-)

But no fabric! Even though there were a few bolts that tempted me. DH was waiting in the car after all.

Oh, and just in case you're keeping score — No, I haven't made any progress on my sister's scrubs. I'm hoping to squeeze in some cutting time today and some sewing time over the weekend.