[TheForge] Blacksmiths and UtiliKilts

[Jerry Frost]

Oh GREAT! Now I have sewing machine envy.

I used to pick up sewing machines whenever I ran into something nice, 
unusual, etc. My sister was a seamstress and her husband enjoyed restoring 
them. The last one I bought her was a hand crank Singer in worn but perfect 
condition.

You're point is well made Ries. Though I don't really want a Utilikilt I do 
know what hand made clothing costs. I wear White's boots myself, last time I 
hade a pair made they were $300 and that was about 10 years ago.

Quality isn't cheap.

Frosty
------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ries Niemi" <rniemi at fidalgo.net>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 9:48 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Blacksmiths and UtiliKilts


>
> On Saturday, June 11, 2005, at 10:16 AM, Jerry Frost wrote:
>
>> Oh, so now you're saying I'm not the only guy here with a sewing machine?
>>
>> So much for being unique!
>>
>
> One sewing machine?
> I got five- well I have to share em, but they are mine to use- a juki 
> walking foot industrial, a couple of old metal Bernina's from the 70's, a 
> great old portable Elna mini sewing machine, a Serger, and a CNC 6 needle 
> embroidery machine- oops, thats 6.
> Sure would love to get one of the hand operated leather sewing machines 
> that another blacksmith, Joe Rollings sells- go to "leather sewing 
> machines" on this page.
>
> http://www.thingswestern.com/homepage.html
>
> To me, a sewing machine is just another tool. And I am, by nature, a 
> tooluser.
> But having sewn my share of clothes from scratch and patterns, I have to 
> say I dont think a Utilikilt is overpriced at $125, which is what I paid 
> for mine.
> First off, there is a lot of yardage of material in there.
> But more importantly, they are made in the USA- which means the people who 
> sewed them were actually paid a few bucks, instead of a few cents. I cant 
> complain on the one hand about how Walmart sucks, and jobs being 
> outsourced to china is terrible, and then, on the other hand expect 
> everything I buy to be priced as if it was made by prison labor in the far 
> east.
> I have run a business in the US, and I know what it costs to pay rent, 
> utilities, insurance, taxes, buy materials, machines, pay salaries, and 
> still try to take a little home myself, and I dont see how you could sew 
> something that complex, and make any profit at all, for much less money.
>
> Like anything else, there is a big difference between what materials would 
> cost you, assuming your labor is free, to make one of something, vs. what 
> it costs to run a business and make something repeatedly and market it. 
> Kind of like the $100 Uri Hofi hammer- which some people think is the 
> ripoff of the lifetime, and others think is a reasonable price.
>
> ries
>
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