Miriam - I think the men tend to fall in love with the machines first, and then they want to sew, whereas with us gals it is generally the other way round.

I've just had a fathead on Youtube posting a comment asking the value of my 1927 Singer 99K. I told him that to me that machine is worth thirty three thousand million quid. Cheeky blighter.

I love it - I bet there will be someone posting a machine for sale for thirty three thousand million quid...
You must be right they fall in love with a machine and want to learn to sew - never thought of it like that....

Speaking as a testosterone poisoned individual.... For me it was learning to hand sew in the Air Force, remembering fondly my grandmothers treadle (which ended up in a garbage dump.....grrrrrr whole nother story there...) and dating a woman who chose not to mock me for asking how to use the machine.

BUT, with that said. the Obsession began with the machines themselves,, oh the glorious little mechanisms.... yeah, machines first, then what you can do with them.

Steve

I'm with Steve on this one, as well as the general consensus. We were taught machine sewing basics in school. So I knew how to sew. I had friends that asked me to hem curtains for them and what not from time to time. But I am a gear-head so it wasn't my passion. Six years ago I had a stroke. My doctors told me to do puzzles to help my memory and my motor functions. Not my thing. I picked up a Clone sewing machine at an Estate Sale. I have been restoring sewing machines and using them as my version of puzzles since then. I just picked up another Clone on Sunday. I finished it last night. A new record for me.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...164361-28.html
I still do not have the passion for sewing but I have the passion for the machines themselves and how they work. But I can lay down a nice stitch when I need to.
~G~

Fairly similar for me too. I started working on the ones around the house that needed it. Mostly to keep myself active. Then figured if I knew how to use them I'd have a better idea on how to fix and adjust them. So I'm learning to sew as I fix the machines.

Joe

Also, an interesting observance...

Most of the guys have images of their machines (or mechanical things) whereas the ladies tend to have "people" avatars...

..or an oak tree in full leaf in a buttercup meadow to show their native land at its beautiful best.

Otherwise the girls show their best quilt.

or me- I didn't want to get in trouble using a copyrighted cartoon, so that let out Pooh, Wiley Coyote, Power girls... but Totoro? no he is a legend and can't be copyrighted......

I can't use a picture of Homer Simpson sewing or wrenching on a machine for my avatar? D'OH!

Well, I did both... machine is a Singer 401a and my DGD Miss Lovie 'fixing' it...