Strange thing happened today in the studio, friendlies.
Sewing seams on the main machine (GLaDOS) involves switching from a three-thread to five-thread setup. No problem, put in a second needle, thread it, thread its looper. Done this a million times.
So I went on autopilot, threading. Sewed a seam. Looked back at the machine.
The second needle wasn’t there.
The seam’s done up perfectly, that’s no problem. The needle might’ve dropped out - it happens - but I ran a magnet everywhere it might’ve gone, with no dice. Also, if a needle isn’t well-tightened, it tens to drop out in the fabric, and not sew a perfectly good seam.
I think this seam was sewn via tiny ghost needle.
Image: a five thread seam+serge, and the machine that only had one needle at the end of it. Hear me out, here. It’s no secret that this building is haunted by seamstresses and tailors of all genders. It was a cotton mill in the early 1900s, and the industrial revolution left ghosts everywhere. When you walk down the halls of this place you can still see the bolt marks in the floor, where machines very similar to this one were bolted down and run until the heavy cast iron and constant vibration pressed indents into the old tarry wood. Machines have moods, dispositions, collections of spirit that we invest in them as we use them and interact: why do you think this serger is named GLaDOS? It’s not because she’s predictable.
Anyway I think GLaDOS realized I was sewing without both needles and just manifested a ghost needle out of the ambient Sewing Ghosts Ether to do this seam with. Someone out there is getting a refitted binder made partially by ghosts, and that’s just the way it is.