Handy Stitch?
 

Has anyone successfully used one of those hand-held sewing machines? Someone gave me a handi-stitch and I have spent the past half hour attempting to make it stitch - no luck. Since it has thread coming in from one direction, it has no bobbin understitch, the thread keeps unraveling after I stitch a line. I'm ready to ditch the thing and go back to hand-stitching.

If you have any tips to make it work, please share!

Edit: I found this instruction booklet online, which is much more complete than the one that came in the package. Link to Manual

I wish I could give you some useful advice. My Mom had a Handi-stitch and electric scissors when I was a kid in the 70's. A few years ago I came across a Handi-stitch on Ebay (used) and bought it mostly out of pure nostalgia.

I could not get the thing to function in any useful way. I could have been due to it being used (really, how many out there haven't been by now?;)), but somehow I doubt it. I have a feeling they were all about the novelty ala the "Pocket Fisherman" than any real usefulness.

Mine just clackety-clacked away like it wanted to be sewing, but the whole trouble-shooting section of the manual read like how mine "worked". It finally went to the dump in our last move.

It's been awhile so I can't remember how the thing works but from looking at the manual, it's not apparent to me at all where the bobbin comes into play. I know mine came with a few. It shows putting the spool in the bobbins place. Without a bobbin, you can't "have" a complete stitch. *scratches head*

Sorry for the non-help, hope you have better luck with yours than I did with mine.

Thanks for the response, alicat!
I decided to give up on using it for my curtain-making project. It kept tearing the fabric: in-out-in-out quickly right in a row, ripping a nice little bunch of holes that eventually ran together. I'm quick enough with hand stitching that I didn't bother to hunt down a real sewing machine. I took the thing apart completely after struggling with it for a couple of hours. It doesn't have an internal bobbin. Sure, it comes with bobbins, but those are only so you don't have to travel with a whole spool of thread. The stitch it's supposed to make is a loopy thing and it will ravel if you don't tie off both ends immediately. It doesn't do any back-stitching.

They still sell these junky things. Mine was a gift, but I saw them for sale last week at the local CVS pharmacy.

Yeah, I got a handi-stitch in the mail in '06 and I'd be glad to figure out how to use the thing if for nothing else than to put Misfits patches on a jacket.

I opened the thing up and looked at the instructions and yeaaah... totally need to Intarweb that bad boy before I butcher any fabric.

Wow you guys, I guess you really do learn something new everyday. My new learnin' is that they are actually still manufacturing those things! Really, mine was a vintage 70's model. I don't know whether it's funny or sad that they haven't been able to improve the damn thing in decades.:rolleyes:

I agree GG, it's easier and quicker to just hand-stitch than muck with that thing. It was bittersweet but I finally got a sewing machine when my Gramma died. That made tossing the POS all the easier!

I kinda want to get one just to see if I can get it to work. I like the concept.