Charity Research

      Yesterday I took the time to research a military charity I was interested in donating to.  They are supposed to be helping active duty military and veterans.  My donation is not large, but I did want to see what this charity was up to and I found all the information I needed on their website.  I looked at their annual report and I saw that they hold $185 million in assets.  All of that money was listed as some type of investment or investment income.  That's a lot of money to hold in reserve.  I also noted that a lot of the donations they receive are from active duty military, like payroll deductions.

    Their website said that in 2014 they collected $5.4 million in donations and disbursed $16.9 million in aid in 61,000 cases.

     I'm sure what was disbursed was helpful to the people who received it, but just think how many more people they could help if they doubled that $16.9 million or even tripled it without a thought for their reserve.

    I'm still looking for a charity to donate to.  I know I won't find the perfect charity that disburses 100% of it's donations but I think any assets listed should be less than $10 million.

Twin Needle Stitching Research Done

      I finished the research into the question of whether my Singer 3400 XL or my Bernina 1530 will do twin needle stitching and the answer is, yes.  They both do this stitching.  The both have a general purpose needle plate so the opening is wide enough for the twin needle and they both have presser feet that accommodate the twin needle.  The only thing I will have to fiddle with is that the Singer only has one spool pin (the Bernina has two), so I will have to place a spool on the lone spool pin and one on my thread holder.  I did some practice stitching.  The blue stitching is the Bernina and the red stitching is the Singer.  I will make a note of these findings in the owner's manuals along with notations about the feet, needle plate, stitch length setting, and spool pins.

    I started the stitching at the normal 2.0 setting but the stitching came out much nicer at a longer length setting, I think I ended up at 3.0 or 3.5.
 

Twin Needle/Stretch Stitch Research on My Sewing Machines

    I pulled out the owner's manual on my Singer 3400 XL (computerized, 2001) and the Bernina 1530 (computerized, 1992) this morning so I could research twin needle stitching and stretch stitches on these machines.

    I read a LOT of quilting, sewing, and crafting blogs and lots of those blogs are about garment sewing, which is something I did when I first started sewing in my teens when I was taking a sewing course almost every semester in high school.

     All the reading about garment sewing reminds me of the first sewing machine I ever owned.  It was given to me for Christmas or my birthday (my birthday is a few days after Christmas so they kind of run together) when I was about 15 years old by my oldest brother.  It was a Singer (I don't remember what model) that did twin needle stitching and it also had a stretch stitch which was super cool.  I wish I still had that machine but I don't.  I lent that machine to someone who broke it and I couldn't afford to get it fixed so I threw it away.  Shame on me.

   My brother did have an ulterior motive for giving me that sewing machine.  He wanted me to make a few things for him.  I made curtains for his room, I made curtains for his van, and I made his girlfriend a really cool stuffed teddy bear made from fake fur.  He supplied the money for all the materials and I did all the work, measuring, shopping, cutting and sewing.  It wasn't a bad way to spend my free time in high school.

   So, back to the research on my current machines.  My Singer 3400 XL doesn't have anything in the manual about twin needle stitching, but I may try it after I check my needle plate to make sure I have enough room for the twin needles to pass through.  The Singer does have a lovely stretch stitch as well as an overcast stitch and and an overcast foot.  My Bernina 1530 manual does not mention twin needle stitching, but after I check my needle plate, I may play with this carefully.  It does have a couple of stretch stitches.

   My hands on research will continue this evening and I'll give you results tonight.