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Quote:

Originally Posted by Jennifer23 (Post 7740538)

I like listening to talks by people who are really interested in their topic. I don't get bored or turned off, even if the topic isn't my cup of tea, as I appreciate the speaker's enthusiasm, and like hearing about new things. It's only an hour.

Your guild won't be able to to come up with a slate of speakers that will please every member every time. I think it's a good idea to offer a couple talks that aren't directly quilting related; it keeps it fresh.

I agree wholeheartedly. The few members who may not be interested could opt out or if you want to keep attendance up, you could offer a door prize for attending.

I am in the "mildly interested" category. If the speaker is good, I'd certainly learn something and that would make it worthwhile.

I did this for my quilt guild a couple of years ago and they seemed to enjoy it. After a brief slide show on the history of the sewing machine and introducing the vintage machines we displayed, we let everyone "play" with the vintage machines we brought in. We put a stack of scrap fabric by each machine and made sure each was threaded properly so they could stitch away. The machines that drew most attention were a treadle machine (some of the younger members had never had a chance to sew on a treadle), a hand crank machine, and, of course, the Featherweight. The ladies shared a lot of memories of their ancestor's machines and the machines they learned to sew on as a child. Some of the ladies were comparing the quality of the stitches of each machine, etc. One younger member even said she could tell the stitches on the vintage machines were straighter than those on her modern machine. She said she always wondered why people would say the Featherweight made such a nice, straight stitch and she was excited to actually see what that meant. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

I think it would be interesting, even though I don't collect them. I agree that if the speaker is interested in their topic, then the audience usually gets involved in the talk. And pictures and real machines will help.
Another idea is a physiotherapist (as long as a quilters explains to them all the movements and habits of quilters!)

A sewing machine rep came to a guild I belonged to and people were bored. I wasn't there. Not everyone likes vintage machines.

I would love to hear someone who knows what they are talking about, when it comes to vintage sewing machines.
But then again, I love sewing on vintage machines.

I would be interested in hear about them.

I wholeheartedly agree with ...Jennifer 23. If large pics of the machines were available for comparison but yet one or two sm heads there...it sure can be interesting

Kathleen

My sister took a class from a guy who worked on vintage machines (any machine without a computer chip) and was an expert on Featherweights in particular. He spoke at their guild meeting and briefly talked about maintenance of Featherweights. She said the class was excellent and he showed students how to take apart the machine and clean and oil it and to troubleshoot. A lot of speakers know the history of vintage machines and how to deal with their quirks. Mayabe3 it would be a change from regular speakers your guild has.