We Interrupt This Smackdown To Announce The Discovery Of The Holy Grail

That would be my own particular Holy Grail, not the one that the Knights of Camelot were searching for.

A Singer 127 with the beautiful "Sphinx" decals.  $35 on Craigslist, already cleaned up, oiled and lubed.  and it sews an absolutely beautiful stitch.

I removed the blue 1950'S era motor (not original to the machine) and controller and added a hand wheel.  The blue motor just looked silly on it, and I wanted to use it to participate in a people-powered quilt block exchange.  I also removed the bobbin winder, which was not working.  I've got a working bobbin winder on my 128, and removing the bobbin winder reveals....

as you can see the decals are not in flawless condition, but they are in terrific shape.  They are a bit more worn on the bed as one would expect, but still darn fine...

I've been trying to figure out a natural way to work the word "shrubbery" into this post but so far have failed.

so there you go.  enjoy the eye candy and bring me a shrubbery!

ni, ni

Smackdown Test #4: Feet and Stitches

THE PRESSER FEET

The Gauge Foot

This foot did not work on any of the four straight-stitch sewing sewing machines being tested in this smackdown.  The presser foot screw interfered with the gauge.  There is an indentation on the side of the gauge foot that looks as if it was meant for a smaller screw.  All of my presser foot screws are the same size, however, so I had no way to test this theory.

I adore presser feet and attachments, and plenty of them come my way and in my price range.  I may not see well enough to follow a cross-stitch chart anymore, but I can still spot a green Singer box across a crowded thrift store.  This is a cute foot and a keeper.  Perhaps it will be bait for some mysterious small presser foot screw.


Flat 1/4" Foot

This is an absolutely flat foot which is 1/4" wide on the right hand side.  Quilters mostly use a 1/4" seam.  The foot obviously has other uses (all those markings!) but I have never bothered to learn what they are.  So many presser feet, so little time.

As far as I remember this is just a cheapo generic snap-on low shank foot.

This foot worked fine on all of the machines.




1/4" Foot with Guide

This snap-on foot came with my Janome Memory Craft 4900, but other companies also make/sell them.  The right hand side is 1/4" with a vertical guide at the edge. I prefer this foot to the plain flat foot because it's easy to keep the fabric shoved against the guide.  This takes less skill than keeping the edge of the fabric aligned with the flat foot.

This foot worked on the Dressmaker 132, the ModernAge 250, and the Singer 15-91
and did not work on the Singer 99.  On the 99 it would take 3-4 stitches and then make a bobbin thread nest. 


Straight Stitch Walking Foot
This foot sat straight and aligned with the feed dogs on two of the four machines, and on the other two it sat at a slight angle and therefore didn't line up exactly with one of the feed dogs.  If it mattered to me I would check back with Jenny about it, but since I knew I was going to keep it I didn't bother.  (Sigh)  So many presser feet... 

It worked just fine on the Singer 15-91 and the ModernAge 250, a line-for-line 15 clone.  It didn't sit as straight on the Singer 99 and the Dressmaker 132.


THE STITCHES

I tried each foot on each machine, and stitched together five blocks per foot.  I wanted to check the quality of stitches from one machine to the next, and the accuracy of my seam widths from one foot to the next.

There was minor variability from block to block but not so much foot to foot and none at all machine to machine.  The walking foot did produce the best results overall on the two machines that it fit.  BUT

Here's the real story:

• All of the machines made a nice stitch, once I played around with both the thread tension and the bobbin tension and got them set correctly for my thread and fabric.  Since all I will be doing with these machines is piecing two layers of 100% cotton, they are now set for life.
• The accuracy of the seam depends almost entirely on how much the machine operator is paying attention to what she is doing.  Skill is more important than the toys in this case.  

The moral of the story:  Toys are fun.  Fun is good.  Have fun, but don't expect it to make you a better seamstress.  or seamster.  (I'm boycotting the trendy word "sewist".)

COMING NEXT:  LEATHER
and the answer to this question: 
What two statements are guaranteed to make a sewing machine bulletin board burst into flames? 
The word "leather" is sort of, but not entirely, a clue to one of them.

Smackdown Test #3: Magnetic Lights

If you are over the age of 50, you probably already know that you need more illumination on your work than you used to need. One of the great things about vintage machines is that you can attach magnetic lights to them.

The oval light in the photo will fit in the curve where the needle arm meets the top of the machine.  It was originally on a headband and came from Harbor Freight.  I'll call this one the head lamp.

The cylindrical light has two small magnets on it.  The top magnet is on a ring that spins around, which gives some flexibility in positioning it.  I'll call this one the flashlight.  I don't remember where I bought it.



SINGER 99

Both lights do attach to the 99.  The flashlight lower edge rests on the face plate lower attachment screw, which gives it some security (not as likely to slide down during sewing).  It touches the thread guide but does not interfere with the thread path.  You do have to move it to the side to thread or re-thread the machine


 
DRESSMAKER 132

The head lamp works fine in the curve of the machine.  The face plate is aluminum, however, and the magnetic flashlight will not attach to it.




SINGER 15-91

The head lamp works fine.
The flashlight is a bit trickier because the tension discs and thread path are on the face plate.  The bottom of the flashlight will rest against the top of the thread guide.  On this quick trial it seems not to interfere with the thread path, but I will have to check this out in a longer sewing session.


 
MODERN AGE 250

 The head lamp works fine.  The face plate on this machine is also aluminum, so the flashlight does not attach to it.




No deal breakers here.  On every machine the head lamp adds a nice bit of very targeted light right at the needle area.  On the Singers you have the option of another flashlight.  The more light the better.

I use rechargeable batteries in them.  They both take 3 AAAs.  One charge lasts through a sewing session (2-3 hours), then I recharge them before the next session.

I haven't included the treadle (Singer 66) or handcrank (Singer 128) machines in this smackdown because I am not considering thinning them from the herd.  These are the machines that REALLY benefit from the magnetic lights because there are no electric lights on them.

I've finished the stitching trials so that post is coming soon.  I really mean it this time!

Smackdown Test #2: The Cabinets

I have five cabinets under consideration.  I need one or two for the winning smackdown machines, whatever they turn out to be.  One needs to be a nice looking cabinet to keep in the living room, and one for the studio.  Looks don't matter in the downstairs studio.  The junk studio materials are so visually overwhelming that the furniture virtually disappears.  The studio machine could even be a portable.

Singer 99K Cabinet

Looks are not the only consideration.  I use the straight stitch machine for quilt piecing marathons.  The winning machine will have to be housed in a cabinet that seats me comfortably.


Later on I'll be exploring which machines and cabinets, if any, are interchangeable. There is nothing to think about with the little 3/4 size Singer 99:  it fits its cabinet and its cabinet fits it and neither will play well with others.

I'm new to the whole vintage sewing machine thing, so if it ever sounds like I know what I am talking about, guess again. Another purpose of the smackdown is to get to know my machines better and think about things like the differences in needle plates and cabinets.

THE CONTESTANTS

Dressmaker 132 cabinet

DRESSMAKER 132

Currently housing the Dressmaker 132 is the smallest cabinet.  The knee opening is too narrow and I sit canted half sideways with one leg under the machine and one stretched out to the side.  An ergonomic nightmare.  Another deal breaker: it has no drawer at all.  These are the reasons I hate it.

Dressmaker, well used

It just can't be that easy, though.  Here's why I love it:  The wood is beautiful even if the finish could be improved upon, and the patina of wear on the inside speaks volumes about its life.  I was told that it had belonged to a lady who made her living sewing and doing alterations. 



SINGER QUEEN ANNE CABINET No. 40 (or similar to a No. 40)

Queen Anne style cabinet

 
Singer cabinets have their own names and style numbers and I have run into them from time to time but couldn't find a complete pictorial list.  The ISMACS site lists a No. 40 Queen Anne sold with 15-91's, but the photo is not identical to mine.  The style of this one does not appeal to me, but the nice wide knee opening makes it very comfortable.  The center drawer is adequate for my straight stitching needs.  I like the split top, which gives some extra room on the right for scissors and other necessaries.

SINGER CABINET No. 65

This cabinet currently houses a Singer 306 in the early stages of recovery from a life of hard use and abuse that included overdosing on the sewing machine oil.  I'm considering soaking the sewing machine in kerosene but wonder what one does with a leftover bucket of used kerosene at the end of the project.  Do you know?


And although I would rather have this cabinet in the living room just on looks alone, it does have one drawback.  There is a bar across the bottom at foot level and this prevents the controller (aka foot pedal) from sliding back to a comfortable position.  I could solve this by installing a knee lever if the internal clearances will allow for it.


I love the 1940's feel of this cabinet and the little sewing chair.  There's a resonance there that sings to me.  I was born in the late 40's and although my mom's taste ran to Danish modern and my grandmother's ran to the mid-Victorian, the picture books of my early childhood were filled with drawings of furniture just like this.  And it has truly awesome drawers. 

The chair was a Habitat find, love at first sight all the way across the room--it was that 40's resonance again.  $15, some Restor-A-Finish, a scrap of fortuitously perfect upholstery material from my stash and a staple gun created  one of the most satisfying quickie projects ever.

BTW, none of the cabinets looked this good when I bought them.  Howard's Restor-A-Finish is the answer.  Great stuff.



SINGER 401 CABINET

This is a late entrant in the smackdown.  I had 15 minutes of free time on Friday and happened to be near my hometown thrift shop and stopped in on a whim.  I had been there just a couple of days earlier,  and this was not there then.  I peeked inside the cabinet and there was a lovely shiny 401 (my current 401 is not so pretty).  Also included was the manual and a complete box of attachments.  It was marked "Clean Me Up And Take Me Home for $25" although both the cabinet and the machine were nice and clean.  The next day was half-price day so I set my alarm and got there at opening time and bagged it all for $12.50.

This cabinet has two good features to make up for its cheap construction and ugliness:  The drawers and the top opening.  This configuration will be useful in the downstairs studio where I don't have the space to open out a cabinet top.  An inset piece pops out of the top and then the machine can be pulled up.  A third plus is actually the horrible color.  My basement studio needs light colored objects in it to keep it bright.

Blecchhh:  plywood and particle board

Apparently the rot set in at Singer earlier for the cabinets than for the machines.   The serial number on the 401 that was inside the cabinet dates the machine to 1956.  The earlier cabinets are solid wood.  This one is particle board and plywood covered in formica.  Ugh.  It is also that horrible "blond" color that my Mom loved in her Danish modern.  At least the formica kept its color, though, while my Mom's dining room set turned a couple of different shades of orange over the decades.



One of the DDs calls what I do "geek quilting", and so in the spirit of geek quilting I am including here the spreadsheet on which I recorded the dimensions of the cabinets.  Perhaps it will be useful to someone else.  Keep in mind that except for the ones labeled Queen Anne and No. 65, the name of the machine is not really the name of the cabinet. 

	Singer 99	Dressmaker	Queen Anne	Singer No. 65	Singer 401
HEIGHT	30	30.5	31	30	30
DEPTH	16	16.75	17	16.5	16.75
TYPE OF TOP	one leaf	one leaf	split leaves	split leaves	panel removes
WIDTH CLOSED	23	22	26.5	29	36
WIDTH OPEN	46	44	53	58	NR
MACHINE OPENING, WIDTH	12	14.5	16.5	16.5	16.5
MACHINE OPENING, DEPTH	6.75	7	7	7	7
KNEE OPENING	19.5	17.5	22.5	18	22
DRAWERS	center	none	center	3	2
KNEE LEVER	no	no	yes	no	yes

The knee levers are hooked up to those button controllers, which connect to power cords, some of which are interchangeable.  After I decide which 2 machines I want to keep I will consider which cabinets will house them.


COMING SOON
The straight stitch walking foot is here.  I'll be playing around with pressure foot pressures and the walking foot and decide which machines make the best stitches.

Two-Minute Smackdown: Straight Versus Zig-Zag

Bargello and Frodo

Why a straight stitch machine?  I have lots of other machines, all of which will make a straight stitch in addition to zig-zagging, making decorative stitches, and even doing embroidery. Simple answer:  straight stitch machines make better straight stitches.  If you are sewing miles of straight stitches, cutting them up and sewing them back together again (i.e. piecing a quilt top) precision sewing really helps prevent cussing and tearing your hair.

You can see the reason that straight stitch machines make superior straight stitches in a flash if you own both kinds of machine.  Do your own quickie smackdown (no sewing required).


TWO MINUTE SMACKDOWN:  STRAIGHT VERSUS ZIG-ZAG

Examine the needle (aka throat) plates of both machines (that's the whole two minute smackdown, by the way)

15-91 Needle Plate

• The straight stitch machine has a tiny round hole for the needle to go through.  All of the rest of the fabric is being supported by the needle plate.  As the needle pierces the fabric, it pokes downward but the area of fabric that can get distorted is no bigger than that little bitty needle hole.
• The zig-zag machine has an oval hole to accomodate the wider stitches, and it bigger in both width and length.  Bigger hole, more instability.

Singer 401 Throat Plates, Straight Stitch and Zig-Zag

If you only own one machine and it is a zig-zag, check to see if a straight stitch needle plate is available for it. Factor in not only the cost of the plate but the cost of all the needles you will break when you switch back to zig-zag and forget that the straight stitch plate is still on.  Can you see the needle strikes on the 401 straight stitch plate on the left above?


There may be other reasons for the superiority of straight stitch machines for straight stitching.  The needle isn't meant to jump around--it wasn't designed to move.  Also, the feed dogs are pushing on a lot more fabric on a zig-zag machine.  If you have any opinions on whether these make a difference or not, please chime in!

Smackdown Test #1: Wheel Alignment

Do you know the cheapo way of checking the alignment of the wheels on your car?  Find a nice flat straight stretch of highway with no other cars in sight, and take your hands off the wheel.  Does your car drive straight or pull to the right or left?

News flash:  sewing machines don't have wheels.  But when I was test driving the smackdown contestants one of them seemed to pull to the right, and the idea for this test was born.  No I didn't mention this in the first smackdown post.  Yes, I am making this up as I go.  So if you have any ideas for testing sewing machines, send them in!

A VINTAGE IRON FOR VINTAGE SEWING


Vintage sewing deserves a vintage dry iron, and I have a dandy: a Proctor Never-Lift.  This puppy weighs in at almost 5 pounds.  Irons and cooking pots:  the heavier they are, the better they perform.

This one has two feet that prop it up and a lever that locks them down.  You don't have to pick the heavy iron up in between passes, just pop the feet up and that gets the hot surface up off the ironing board.  No silly safety shut-off here:  when it is on, it stays on.  Forever.  Until your house burns down.

If you are tired of spending big money on steam irons that don't last, search the thrift shops for a vintage dry iron and use a spray bottle of water.

(Check the wiring carefully, replace the cord if necessary or just wimp out and buy a NEW dry iron.  But where's the fun in that?) 

I got tired of replacing Rowentas every six months.  Don't get me wrong, I really loved the massive steam of the Rowentas, that's why I kept buying them.  But they all eventually leaked and spit and enough was enough.  The Never-Lift cost $3 and should last a couple of decades, which should see me out.


THE PROCEDURE

I used the original straight stitch foot on each machine, but you can use any foot as long as you use the same type of foot on each machine.

Take an old sheet or other scrap material and cut or tear it into 12" squares. Fold each square in half so that you are sewing on two layers (to simulate actual sewing conditions).  Iron them flat.

Position the folded cotton so that it lines up with any visible straight line edge, like where the machine body meets the cabinet or carrying case base.  Start an inch in and hold on to the threads briefly to prevent any initial thread mess, but let go as soon as it takes a stitch or two.  LET GO OF THE FABRIC and put the pedal to the metal and sew full speed to the other edge of the fabric.  Compare your machines by measuring the drift to the right or left, if any.


SMACKDOWN TEST #1 RESULTS

Singer 15-91:  Pulled 1" to the right
Singer 99:  Pulled 4" to the right

Dressmaker 132:  Pulled 3/4" to the right.  THE WINNER OF ROUND 1.

ModernAge 250:  Pulled 1" to the right

You are probably not planning on sewing hands free!  So why this test?  Some sewing machines feel as if they are cooperating with you, some feel as if they are fighting you.  Some fight you tooth and nail.  This seemed like one way to assess the "fight-you" factor.

Three of them drifted just slightly, while the 99 sent the fabric off at quite an angle.  What does it all mean?  Beats me.  Do you have any ideas?  The secret must lie in the relationship between the presser foot and the feed dogs

The Winner:  Dressmaker 132

The Loser:  Singer 99

This is the shakedown cruise for the 15, the 99 and the ModernAge, all of which have been acquired within the last two months.  The 99 definitely has issues, which I will discuss in a future post.  I may retest it after fiddling with it some more.  The Dressmaker has been my go-to piecing machine for several years and I'll be singing its praises in another future post.  Not surprised that it won Round 1 of the smackdown.


COMING SOON

The Cabinets:  Originally I hadn't planned on reviewing the cabinets, but as soon as I sewed on them side-by-side I knew that this would be an important factor to consider and I will review them here.

The Stitches:  I have started this, but soon decided that it would be a good idea to get a walking foot.  Jenny at Sew-Classic has them for straight stitch machines, and a zig-zag walking foot won't work properly on a straight stitch machine.  She explains why here.  I ordered one last night.

Disclaimer:  I have no relationship with Jenny at Sew-Classic except as a customer.  She sells lots of great stuff for vintage machines and she provides a wealth of free information on repairs, parts, machine comparisons, threading guides, and more.  She recently went out of her way to help me when I screwed up my order.  Money is power and I believe in supporting businesses that add positive energy to the world.

The Machines:  I will discuss each machine in some detail and describe how sewing machine acquisition is a similar to a love affair.  It's cheaper and easier to come by, won't ruin your life and is disease-free too.

The DH claims that he reads my blog.  Guess I will find out whether this is true or not!

Vintage Straight Stitch Smackdown

More sewing machines have followed me home since my last blog post.  It's on the edge of being ridiculous.  I do think about getting rid of some of them.  But I bought them either because I wanted to try a particular model, or because they spoke to me.

I now have five straight stitch machines, and will only use two regularly:  one upstairs and one down.  So I decided to run them four of them head to head in a Straight Stitch Smackdown.  (The fifth is a Singer 301 that I'm saving for travel or classes.)  It's possible that I will dispose of the losers of the smackdown.  Not very likely, but certainly possible.

THE CONTESTANTS

Singer 15-91

Singer 99, a 3/4 size machine

Dressmaker, probably another 15 clone

ModernAge 250, an obvious Singer 15 clone

THE CHALLENGE

I have a stack of 100 9-patches, pieced from 2.5 inch scrap squares.  I wanted a solid color in between, and snagged some lovely magenta cotton from Leah Day at Day Style Designs when she had a sale at the turn of the year.  Each machine got a stack of 9-patches and plain squares which I will pair up and sew together.

THE PRESSER FEET

In addition to testing the machines, I want to road test three quilting feet.

 From right to left:

• A vintage low-shank gauge foot that showed up in a box of Singer attachments.  These originally had 4 or 5 gauges but this is the only gauge that came with it.  There is a lever in the back that allows you to adjust the gauge.
• A generic low-shank snap-on flat quilting foot.
• A Janome low-shank snap-on quilting foot with a guide on the right hand side.

Stay tuned for the exciting results of the smackdown!

Have more than one straight stitch machine yourself?  Why not join the smackdown?

THE RULES

There are no rules.

Just choose any project and sew on more than one machine.  Post comments here as we go along, or email me with comments and/or photos.  Since this blog only has a few followers, most of whom are non-sewing relatives or personal friends of mine, the chances are EXCELLENT that I will post your results here. 

I thought about making up a checklist but decided that a completely open ended approach would be best.  I'll sew on each machine and make notes of anything that seems important.  In future posts I'll describe the machines and the results I get from each one.

And yes, it has been a couple of months since the last blog post.  If you are one of the aforementioned family or friends, you know why.  If not, you probably have life interrupt your own sewing from time to time!   Life is behaving itself better now and shouldn't interfere with the

Vintage Straight Stitch Smackdown

Fall Frenzy: S.M.A.D.

This fall has seen the full impact of S.M.A.D. on my life.  That's Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder.

Personally, I blame Helen.  She gave me her mother's treadle and I had lots of fun restoring it.  That got me started reading the TreadleOn bulletin board, and I started lusting after other vintage sewing machines.  It also lead me to the Vintage Singers yahoo group, which includes electric machines through the early 1960's.  More machines to lust over.

Or maybe I should blame Jan.  After all, she found the first in what became a long line of machine acquisitions this fall.  A lovely 301 from the Habitat store.

But I was determined not to fall victim to the most serious form of the disease.  Some of the other sufferers on the boards have more than 50 machines.  I already had 9 before all of this started (embroidery, industrial, several sergers, decorative stitch, straight stitch, etc.).  I had to have a strategy.

This was it:  every machine I own has a specific purpose, something it does exclusively or better than any of the others.  I had to stick with this.

Surely you can see where this is going.  It became an exercise in creative thinking:  how many reasons can I think of for buying a sewing machine?

Obviously I need a sewing machine that is perfect for teaching children to sew.  Never mind that I don't currently have any children around clamoring to learn to sew.  That's irrelevant.  When one shows up, I MUST BE READY.

This is the answer:  A Singer 128.  It did not look like this when I bought it.  It was covered in grunge, had no foot pedal, and the insulation on the motor wires was shot.  I did a motorectomy, cleaned and polished it (many, many, hours) and replaced the missing bobbin cover with clear plastic and added a hand crank (hand crank not shown in photo).

The 128 is a 3/4 size machine, which makes it more appealing to smaller folk.  People on the boards say that children prefer a hand crank.  I still remember that terrifying moment, age 12, when I first put pedal to the metal on my Mom's 1939 singer.

$22.50 and about that much again in parts (hand crank and some extra bobbins).

That was my first venture into the world of CraigsList.  Uh Oh!  SO many sewing machines, many in my $25-or-less price range.  And on CraigsList in another town I found a version of myself with a more advanced stage of the disease.  In her living/dining room area she had 6 treadles.  She had 8 portables on display on her dining room table (those were the ones for sale).  She made reference to at least 2 more treadles and several other portables lurking in other corners of her apartment.  I drooled over all the ones for sale but left with only two.

 Singer 401a.  According to many on the boards, this is the finest sewing machine that Singer ever made.

The previous owner had dis-assembled it for cleaning and what I bought was the pieces in a box.  No foot pedal but the one from my 301 worked on it.  I gave it a thorough cleaning, oil and lube.  It is running smoothly and I have sewn a few minor things on it.

$10, plus 2-3x that in parts:  foot pedal of its own, miscellaneous small parts including new thread pins.  Shown in the photo are bamboo skewers used as thread pins. 

The price does not factor in the fact that now I have an excuse to search out and buy slant-shank attachments. And I have done so.

Fully assembled but missing some vital parts, a Singer 500.  This also has its proponents for the title best-Singer-ever.  Do I need TWO best-Singer-evers?  Obviously not.  So what is the justification for this machine?  Someone else in my family might want one some day.  The three of the next generation who sew all have their own machines, but those machines might (will) break down someday.  And I WILL BE READY.  So I probably need two more extras, right?

I replaced the missing parts, oiled and lubed it, but haven't done any cleaning on it yet.

$25 + about that in parts (power cord/foot pedal, presser foot screw, bobbin cover).  The hinge on the light cover is broken at the top but it works fine that way.

306 partially disassembled

The last one was just a mistake.  I saw a machine on CraigsList and the photo looked like a 319.  To me the 319 looks very steampunk, with levers coming out of the top, and I really, really want one.  Keep in mind that 6 months ago I had never heard of any of these machines!  I misidentified it.  By the time I discovered this I had gotten my DH to drive me an hour away from home.  It was a 306, very dirty and completely frozen, but in a dirty but sturdy cabinet with drawers.  He wanted $40, I said I could only pay $20 for a machine that was not working, and I got it for that.

The fun is in the fixing, and there has been plenty of fixing to do on this machine.  It was filthy, the photos don't convey the degree of grime.  It is just as grungy inside.  It had not been oiled in decades, best guess.  There was a thread jam that was not accessible--I had to take the bobbin mechanism apart to get it out.  It is now clean on the outside, oiled and lubed (but not de-grunged on the inside) and it is sewing a beautiful stitch--by handwheel only at this point.  The insulation is completely gone off of the wires in many places and more of it shatters and falls to the floor every time you touch it.  I bought replacement wire for it but the rewiring is a task for after Thanksgiving, if not even later.  After all, it's not like I don't have other machines to sew on.

So what is the justification for this machine?  Uh, wait a moment, I'm sure I will think of something.... 

• The cabinet was worth the $20.
• It kind of looks like a 319, which I still want
• It came with a box of attachments in pristine condition, which I could sell on eBay.  Except I won't.
• It has a straight stitch throat plate, which means that I could get rid of my vintage Japanese straight stitch machine, which I love for piecing.  Except I won't.

Did you notice that all of those are reasons to BUY the machine but not reasons to OWN one.  I did and I have no answer for it!

And in the end I have only myself to blame.  And the folks on the TreadleOn board.  And the folks on the Vintage Singers board.  And even my DH, who turned out to be an enabler.  After I told him my strategy he "got" it right away.  "Oh," he said.  "It's just like guitars."

Yep.  But MUCH cheaper.

Jan's Clothespin Apron

This was DragonPoodle Studio’s first commission.

Back in the spring I took an armful of my aprons over to show Mary Bob.  She is a terrific audience because she used to sew and we can tech-talk.  She thought that Jan might like one of the clothespin aprons and asked me to make one, for which she would pay me.  We discussed fabrics and decided on denim.

I couldn’t just leave it at that (just denim).   Using a heavy ticking on the back lets the ticking show through at the pockets.  I had a great red calico bias tape with tiny tiny yellow and dark blue flowers and tiny tiny green leaves.  I had a free embroidery design (thanks, gonesewing at cuties.com) of a simple floral wreath that I thought would look good peeking out of the pocket.  I was going for a classic traditional look with a DragonPoodle twist.

Some embroidery projects take a million years to come together.  You never know what it is REALLY going to look like until it is stitched out.  I usually end up with at least a couple of not-quite right samples.  This one came together in about a minute.  I knew that the embroidery needed to match the colors in the calico, bright primaries for the flowers and a darker forest green for the swirls and leaves.  As each color stitched out I breathed a deep sigh of satisfaction.  They were all just right, even the lime green for the flower centers.

The design is circular and I could have just used the same version on both pockets, but I only recently learned how to reverse and flip designs so I had to do this.

At this point I pulled out all the rick rack that coordinated with the calico and embroidery and took everything over to Mary Bob’s.  We had a great old time playing with the design features.  She chose a giant red rick-rack for the waistband which surprised me.  I had taken that spool over just as a joke; I thought it was way too big.  But it does look good—it is the full width of the waistband.  In fact, I like this apron so much that I’ll probably make another one exactly like it for myself someday.

We’ve got a running joke between us about how nobody can afford me.  Because she used to sew she has a very good idea of how long things take.  We had a scuffle over payment:  she wanted to pay me, I didn’t want her to.  I suggested that she put in an extra donation the next time her church is helping someone in need, and tell God that it’s from me.  We both know that I am no church-goer, so I told her she could help get me right with God.  This tickled her and she finally agreed.

By the time the apron was finished she had already put a generous donation into the church plate.  She told me how much she enjoyed doing that.  I call this a win-win-win-win situation!

She was disappointed that I hadn’t included an embroidered label, so I made one and added it to the back.

Of course she couldn’t wait for Christmas and gave it to Jan right away!  They both seem very pleased with it, and so am I (she says, modestly).  Jan modeled it during a Saturday coffee morning.  She had on a blue and white dress and the whole outfit (dress + apron) was absolutely adorable.  She refused to let me take her picture, so you will just have to imagine it.

More Joy

Look what Jan found at the Habitat store!  and since she does not sew, it is now MINE, MNE, ALL MINE, mwahahahahah!

We were in there together, and I ALWAYS look at all the sewing machines, because I have had such good luck in there before.  But this one was tucked away on the building supplies side of the store (maybe hidden over there by someone who meant to come back and claim it?).  Anyhow, I totally missed it.  We were back in the car and on the way to Torero's when she said "you saw the Singer, didn't you?"  After a few questions (was it a new one?  no, looked like 1950's.  what color was it?  beige) we did a U-turn on 15-501 and went back for it.

Reading the vintage sewing machine bulletin boards over the last several months has alerted me to the desirable models to look for, and they don't get much more desirable than a Singer 301. 

This has its fair share of grunge, but everything works.  Once I get some gear lubricant I will give it a good clean, oil and lube job and get her on the road.  There is no carrying case or any attachments, but it does have the straight stitch presser foot, the bobbin case and one bobbin.  I'll only use it for quilting, so I really don't  need anything other than that one foot, and a few extra bobbins.  The truly awesome manual was available online for free, so we are good to go.

Thanks, Jan!  It's great to have a friend who "gets it" (my SMAD, Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder*) and who is willing to humor me!

*I think it was Carma Sue on the treadleon bulletin board who came up with this diagnosis.

O! The Joy! The Joy!

Why the exultation?  Because I have finally conquered the basics of quilting on a frame with a sewing machine.

There are 3 ways to quilt (quilting attaches the 3 layers of quilt top, batting/stuffing inside, and back of the quilt)

• by hand.  been there, done that, takes me YEARS to finish one quilt.
• by sewing machine.  the machine sits on the table and you shove the quilt through it.  Big quilt + little sewing machine = massive pain in the tukhus. Takes me WEEKS to finish a quilt.  been there, done that, never going back again.
• by sewing machine on a frame.  You pin the quilt top and back to rollers, the sewing machine sits on a platform on wheels.  You push the sewing machine around on the quilt, rather than pushing the quilt through a sewing machine.  Takes a few DAYS to finish a quilt.

So it's that last one I have recently conquered.  By halfway through the quilt I had worked out all the technical kinks and was able to quilt without stopping every couple of minutes to re-thread the machine, or to replace a broken sewing machine needle.

Will It Go Round In Circles?

I found the frame years ago at the Habitat for Humanity store in Burlington, NC.  Luck played a big role here.  I visit that store no more than once a month.  The frame had arrived the day before and had just been put out in the store.  It's a Pennywinkle frame designed for use with a home sewing machine (there ARE bigger frames and bigger machines available and if I ever see such at a thrift shop I'll be all over it.)

It sat in my studio for years while my so-called career sputtered and finally died.  THEN and only then I had time to play with it.  I quilted a small practice quilt on it, then Greg and Amber's "will it go round in circles" quilt, then Patty and Len's Stargate quilt, and finally three baby quilts.  The system was cantankerous.  It worked, but very slowly as I had to pause often to replace broken threads or needles. The last baby quilt almost broke my spirit.  I had to walk away from it and take a fairly long break after that, but kept on reading about the process on sewing and quilting blogs and boards.


Last week I fired 'er up again.  I had pieced a twin bargello top on my 1922 Singer treadle, and I loaded it on the frame.  Here's what is different this time:

• all Pfaff bobbins are not created equal.  the ones with the groove work.  the others do not.  I discovered that a warped bobbin was probably the sole cause of anguish over the last baby quilt.
• cotton batting instead of polyester
• polyester thread, top and bobbin, instead of cotton machine quilting thread.  Cotton has very little "give" to it, poly has a bit of stretch.  I used Gutermann's basic poly all purpose thread, and will try Coats & Clarks Dual Duty Plus the next time.
• a bigger (size 16) needle.  No more broken needles, amazing.  Size really DOES matter after all. 

Among all that reading and learning I was also considering whether to get a new machine to go on the frame.  In short, no.  I have a Pfaff 1221, which was a top of the line machine back in the early 1970's and decades ahead of its time.  I love this machine, and it would be my basic go-to machine IF I hadn't splurged on a new Janome when I retired and IF this one wasn't perfect for frame quilting.  Why, you ask, is it perfect?

• it has a vertical rather than horizontal bobbin.  the advice on the boards is that this works better.
• it has an 8" harp, which is the opening between the needle and the vertical arm of the machine.  The bigger the harp, the more quilt you can shove around.  My other machines have 6" harps.

The Pfaff was also a Habitat find, this one from their Durham store.  It cost $15, and is a better machine than a modern one costing 100X as much, which is NOT an exaggeration.  It was frozen in thread tangles when I bought it, and not running, which explains the price.  I de-tangled and oiled it and it runs like a champ.  It came with the carrying case, the manual, an extension table and ALL of the original feet.  This machine regularly sells on eBay in the $300-$400 range. 

The down side to using a regular sewing machine on a frame is that you can only quilt a very narrow path at a time.  I can quilt about a 4" wide path.  If I were willing to spend thousands of dollars I could get a midarm or even longarm machine (with much bigger harps) and a bigger frame to carry it, and quilt much wider paths.  Since this is not an option I have decided to be happy about my system which cost $240 total (the frame was $225).

And there is something cool about exploring all that you can within limitations (the 4" quilting path).  Now that the system is working for me I can build my skills and design quilting patterns that will work within that narrow path. And believe me, there is PLENTY of room for skill building.  Being able to do it and being able to do it well are entirely different.

I think I should stop at two double entendres and call it a day!

Introducing the girls

You met Sophie in the last post.  It took me a year of watching on eBay to find the right sized wire dress form at a reasonable price.  If you are thinking about a dress form to use, rather than just to for display or decoration, think wire.  It conforms perfectly to your body, which in my case means one shoulder a couple of inches lower than the other.  Any dress form that didn't follow my exact lines would be useless as a fit model.

On the other hand, there she stands, a mute yet irrefutable testament to my true and exact shape.  The fact that she is transparent helps, but not much.

I'm not usually one to give names to inanimate objects.  None of my sewing machines have names.  Sophie named herself.  Don't ask me to explain this, you either get it or you don't.  I thought I could come up with a better name for her, and I tried to think of one.  She stubbornly remained Sophie.  Eventually I just quit thinking about it.  Sophie she is.


Scissor Girl was the first to join Sophie.  She organizes the work-a-day scissors, including

• Some awesome 14 inch shears that I found at Harbor Freight
• Tiny double curved scissors for cutting embroidery threads in the hoop
• Cheap aluminum scissors for cutting paper
• Cheap titanium scissors for everyday fabric cutting  (the Ginghers are in a case in a drawer)
• Two pairs of small scissors that I use as thread snips.  I would probably like thread snips if I could ever remember to buy some.

The Pin Girls arrived next.  One of them hosts flower-headed pins and T-pins, and another has glass-headed silk pins.  One is just hanging around waiting to be given some work to do.

Wire Girl was pretty adorable just the way she came in the door, but she has to work for a living just like the other girls do.

Colorful sharpies form the front of her skirt.  Her back holds black sharpies of all sizes, mechanical pencils, ballpoint and gel pens, chalk pen, and a clip on led light.

She lives on the giant lazy susan/rotating cutting mat, so all the pens are right at hand.  And I can just pull the a sharpie off of
Wire Girl, leaving the top attached and then just shove the pen back in the same spot.  This works for me.