Momma said

there'd be days like this, the song says.  And it's been one of those days!  I jumped back on the Singer 128 and fiddled and fiddled and fiddled with that tension but just couldn't get it right.  I saw on someone's tutorial that the spring should be sticking out at about 930 position, but mine just would not bounce or spring that low, it wants to be at midnight.  It will not put correct tension on the top thread at midnight though.  Back at 930, and it lays like a dead fish, also not providing the correct tension.  I could see such promise of wonderful stitches from the backside of the fabric.  I kept running samples while adjusting the dial hopefully until I noticed sparking and smoking from the motor.  I put her Godzilla butt away for the evening, and turned to the quilt block I am working on.

Sometimes I dream that I did things I did not, but I'm pretty sure I blogged about these magic flying geese last night.  How I didn't really catch on how to square them up right until after messing up set one and maybe some of set two.  Putting one of set one and one of set two together was going to be a little tricky as you can see from the photo above.  I have been puzzling in my head how best to get these conflicting sized units to come together.  AHA!

Freezer paper templates, cut to the size of the finished unit!  I figured this way I wouldn't be guessing when to add or take away from the quarter inch allowance.

Then, inspired by SharonSchamber excellence and techniques, I pinned so that the two pieces met at the corners of the templates and used school glue to baste in place before stitching.

A teensy thin line of glue is recommended, and heat set it with an iron please.  Should I apologize for the blurry photo here?  Or the chipped polish on just the thumbnail?  I don't think so.  Plenty of blurry and chipped going on in my life- if it's not in yours feel free to feel smug here.  I don't mind, really!

I carefully stitch just outside the template, except that bulky point makes me swerve a little.  S'OK.

TA DA!  Open and pressed out and oh, my goodness.  The darn bases.  Will have the points cut off as soon as I attach them to anything. Also, the side unit is not the same size as the flying geese unit.  The whole funky thing is going in the shoe box of bastard quilt units, to be used as whatever until one day maybe I'll make some piece-y animal softies or something out of them.  Momma also used to say, try again.  This magic method is getting one more shot, just because I'm mad at it for wasting so much time and fabric already.  Next time I'm using pretty fabric too, Nyah!

Creatively chugging

along..... Let's see.  I've made two pair of kid pants without a pattern.  It looks so easy, heck it kind of is easy, but I still managed to majorly screw up.  I don't know how I got the but/belly area so much smaller than needed, but I did.  Having made Rae's big butt baby pants in the past, I figured out a gusset for both the front and the back and saved the britches.  This would only work for a toddler who can't complain about the obvious weirdness, but who else would wear tinkerbell fabric in the daytime.  OK, probably there are grownups that would, probably not with the gusset.  Both cousins got a pair, one without the gusset after I paid more attention making the second pair.  Lined, trimmed in rick rack, and made on the 201 with the zigzag attachment to finish seams.

 

 

 

I also made a pair of chef pants for my adult son, and I whipped up two carry on bags for me and my friend. I learned fairly last minute that the airline had specifications for carry on that would cost me quite a bit to take the little wheeled case I already had.  So the day of departure I made two bags to exact specs they posted.  I don't have a picture of them, they aren't the prettiest, best made bags ever, but they did the job.  It whet my taste for bag making, and I've been musing about bags for some time now.  I'll have to try again soon.

 

The sewing that has been consistently engaging me is the sampler quilt I've been working on for maybe 3 months now.  It was a sew along a couple of years ago, I've been sewing it alone.  I'm surprised at how long its been taking me and that I've stuck with it.  I've only got 6 blocks done, if  you count the rejects I've done 9.  One was rejected because of obvious polyester that snuck in while the rest of the quilt is cotton.  One had funky points that will be square edged if it's ever sewed to anything else. I think the third came up just too small.  The rejects are in the top row.

 

The current block I'm working on is "Flying Geese, magic method".  I was kind of peeved with the magic method, which caused all my geese units to be a little bent or bowed.

 

It took me a couple units to figure out how to trim them correctly, so I don't know if this block will make the grade either.

 

Those diagonal markings are your friend.  I was trying to line up with the straight lines of length or width and that wasn't working.  The 45 degree angle made it right.

 

I found another vintage machine to work on.  This was in a local antique/pawn shop marked $50. and purchased for $20, with a box of attachments (alas for a slant needle, which this is not) thrown in.

 

 

 

Straight from the store it only hummed a little when plugged in, but the hand wheel turned freely and the needle went up and down.  Above it has had a minor cleaning and oiling and now runs pretty nicely.  I needed to screw the ancient light bulb back in and it's fine.  The bobbin is one of those freaky vibrating ones, looks like a screw and then gets dropped into a bullet looking thing.  My bullet thing is too rusty to try out yet and is sitting in a dish of PB Blast now.  Maybe I'll do a whole post on this machine later, maybe not.  Truth, I was thinking it might be a featherweight and I was getting a wonderful deal.  I don't know my vintage singers that well yet. This is a 3/4 size machine, but a whole different species of Singer.  I'm thinking puritans sewed with this moma.  This was manufactured in 1951 without a normal looking bobbin!!!!  There is no backstitch.  It clatters compared to my quiet 201.  I need to reserve final judgments until I see some stitches. 

Like the fish fabric in the background?  From the antique store a couple feet away.  I think my Momma had a church dress made out of this fabric in 1969.  Or maybe it was my dress.

My first sewing video

Is up on youtube, the adjustable hemmer foot.  We spent some quality time together, this foot and I, while getting ready and shooting the tutorial.  I'm almost convinced that with the low volume of fine heirloom sewing that I do it MIGHT be a waste of time to invest the hours it would take to become expert at the use of this foot. Then again, as fumbly as I am with it, I can look at a couple inches of success and see how marvelous it would be on some keepsake baby things, or any special thing. 

 

I can topstitch pretty well, but the way this foot gets right to the edge of the hem and then runs so perfectly distanced from the fold....it's just so darn FINE.  I don't know why this foot isn't made anymore.  I don't.  I'm still working on technique- it's not the easiest attachment I've ever used.I thought I'd give a little rundown on use here, for someone who may be searching but unable to view a streaming video.

 

This foot actually has a foot within the foot- there is a little scroll of a rolled hem foot at the end of this yellow arrowed metal piece in the photo here:

 

So, yes, this does take that hellish little foot up to another level.  In the video I said it wasn't an attachment for the faint of heart.  I was never a rolled hem ninja either, but I kept going with this sucker anyway.

 

For best results, a little prep helps. Use the iron and press over a very narrow hem, and then fold again, a less narrow one to enclose all raw edges.  The foot is designed to do 1/4 to maybe 2" hems, but I've been practicing on 1/2". You only need to prep/iron the first two inches or so, to help start it.

 

 

You then want to insert it under the pressor foot. Take 2 or 3 stitches to anchor the beginning of the hem, then lift the foot (I have the needle up too, so I can really move the fabric around) and manipulate the fabric between those two yellow arrows pictured above. 

 

 

After you've worked it into this area between the arrows, aim for getting it to flip into the scroll of that little rolled foot closer to the needle as well.  Start off sewing slowly, and watch that needle to ensure it's piercing through the fold and not beside it.

 

There is one other video other than mine on youtube, and she wasn't much better skilled at this foot than I am.  I think I'll keep it out and keep working on it, and post an update.  I wonder how many people still have mad skills with it. I want to be one! 

 

 

Plodding along, and new toys!

MMMM. Espresso and snow and sewing.  The syringe is how I oil this oil hungry machine.

 

I am still working on my sampler quilt from the sewn by Leila blog.  I think  block number 5 is pretty darn good for me.  I like that it's something different every block.  Although it does feel like a heck of a lot of half square triangles.  How come I'm not a master yet????

 

 

 

Well, shoot, I haven't mastered this blogger thing yet either.  It WILL NOT align on the right for me now.  Anyway, by the time I got as far as pictured above, I had a pretty firm suspicion that the minty fabric was a poly blend.  Darnit.  Bought it at Joanne's to back some quilt sometime so I have a fairly large chunk of yardage  I thought I had 100% cotton. As soon as I started pressing, it was obvious that I was using a blend.  It kept melting on the cotton setting.

 

 

 



 

I kind of doubt it will make it into the final quilt, but I really like the block  Maybe it will find it's way into something else of use.  Those corners still need work anyway  The Arizona block will be done over. I can stand one more time around.

 

OK, toys!  I purchased a zigzagger and a "box of accessories" for the Singer 201.  It took a little while to figure some of them out, most specifically this one:

 

..

Turns out this is an adjustable hemmer.  It keeps a precise fold in fabric for a nice hemline.  Not a great thriller, though I can see where it might be helpful with a fussy fabric or something.

 

 

I was very thrilled to see a ruffler.  It does tucks too.  Please keep in mind this was just sticking them on to see if I could make them function, without adjusting tension and working on the icky poly-blend fabric.

 

 

 

This one folds and applies binding in one step.  It does not work well with pre folded bias strips.  I didn't feel like cutting some bias to try it out, but I did a later run with this pink bias pressed open.  It worked pretty well.

 

 

I liked both of these very much.  In the back, a foot called a shirrer, because it shirrs fabric.  In front is an edging foot and it is handy.  It will keep two fabric pieces, or fabric and trim (or I guess 5 layers of things if you pushed it)slightly and consistently overlapped for very neat edgestitching.  The slot is nice for feeding a trim through for perfectly spaced decoration.  It's a low shank and will fit my vintage Kenmore too.  I think I'll use the heck out of this one.

 

 

The zigzagger, my primary reason for purchase, gave me fits at first.  After I found the little part that had snapped off and was under the cardboard packing in the box, I was satisfied with the result.  I can't believe I don't have a photo of the foot, but it's by Greist.  I've already stripped the screw that held on the cams for "decorative" stitches, but they weren't all that extraordinary anyway.  I do have specialty stitches on the Kenmore  model 90. And the zigzagger still zigzags, nicely. 

 

I had to play with tension as I progressed working with these feet, and it became apparent that I really needed to take the top tension down and apart.  I had been avoiding that part.  When I did, a big chunk of pencil lead fell out  Along with some fuzzies.  I cleaned it all out well and then it took 24 hours to figure out how to get it back together.  It's perfect now.  Made me feel good, since it was attempting to disassemble my top tension that caused me to kill the motherboard on my computerized Kenmore and started this whole vintage adventure  They didn't use to set you up for failure if you wanted to service your own machine.

 







I have been sewing

some! Not lots and lots, dayshift Monday through Friday sucks the life out of me, and then there's family and holiday stuff (and weekends still on nightshift).  Since I got Betty working well, I've been quilting with an old quilt along I found on Pinterest, a skill building sampler. I've been sewing garments since at least 1973, and quilts since the 80's.  I've owned stacks of books and magazines and watched TV and now suck in stuff off youtube and pinterest.  I may have more sewing knowledge than all but 10 women on earth! But the problem is APPLYING it.  You have to DO to acquire skills, not just store it in your head.  Actually I have done most of those techniques, but seldom repeatedly.  I am fairly strong in garment making, but it interests me the least currently.  My quilt making is pretty shody, at least the piecing part, so that's what I'm doing.  This series at Sewn by Leila takes you through accurate cutting, seaming, and pressing block by block until you definitely get it down.  I've had improvement in 3 blocks.

 

 

I covered a wooden TV dinner table in flannel and then draped my cotton press protector I had made to keep my last sewn ironing board cover nice over the flannel.  Now I have a firm surface for pressing those blocks out FLAT.  I'm also using a nice homemade "best press" imitation solution for starching.  The log cabin was easy and I was thrilled it came out just millimeters off size after I marked a 1/4 inch on the Betty machine. I also went back to using a cheaper iron because I liked the heavier weight of it and it gets very hot and doesn't auto off- I slide the temp down when I stop, but it heats back up very fast when it's time to press again.  Walmart, Black and Decker Classic, less than $25.00.

 



This little nine inch came out with just those slivers when checked with the 12 1/2" square ruler I have.  Very gratifying.  Some of the corners didn't quite match up, but I could live with it.

This one I could not.  See on the top square, how the point top left extends all the way into the end of the seam allowance?  All of the other tips were variable too.  After I fussy cut the center, darnit!  So I redid the block and did much better, it's edges are peeking out under the first one.

I met the drama director from my kid's highschool at Lowes.  I had to ask if he needed sewing supplies and he had to tell me.  I gave him Ethyl.  She's a good ole work horse and will be fine for working all those fabrics encountered in costumes and props.  So then I had room for this sweetie pie!

This is a Singer 201-2 from sometime in the 1940's, and she was a GIFT from a coworker!  When I got her hefty chassis home, I was somewhat dismayed to hear no motor whatsoever with the power applied.  The light worked though, and I'd keep her just for a funky nightlight, honestly.  But I researched a little and found (of course) a tutorial for rewiring the motor (this is motor driven without a belt, you can't just slap a new or rebuilt one on).  I read it through, all 20 parts, made my shopping list (where did my old soldering iron I never used, and my voltmeter too go?), enlisted the aid of an interested young man with stronger hands than I have and got it done in 6 hours yesterday!  At the moment of truth- a big pop and the power strip kicked off.  So, I reopened the plug and put the wires in the correct places....the light still worked but no hum.  I went downstairs, disgruntled and hungry, but the young man stayed, insisting that it was the foot pedal that he had wondered about previously, a replacement part put on in the 70's or so.  He was right,

One wire had a huge glob of solder holding it down but it had broken free.  I pried off as much old solder as I good looking for a screw, found only a flap of metal and clamped the wire around that and soldered around that, reapplied power and listened to the sweetest engine whine.....finished putting her together and tried stitching and it's very pretty, thank you.

Now I know what a worm gear and a commutator are.  I've packed my first grease wells, and inspected brushings.  The machine had obviously seen professional maintenance through the years.  I have a few more hours of maintenance to do on it.

Lots of lint and not enough oil left in plenty of places still.  I have to learn it's quirks- I'm not sure that I'm inserting the bobbin thread correctly.  The needle threads from right to left instead of front to back or left to right, how odd.  I have a prehistoric buttonholer to play with.  I've read from many that this is a great machine to sew with in general, and especially pretty piecing, not so much free motion quilting.  One lady said it was great for FMQ, and I did see stuff about embroidery.  I figure it just may take some learning what it likes as far as settings etc.  It measures 9" from needle to throat, by the way.  And way high up.  I saw a photo of a queen size quilt under it with lots of room left over.  I think I might be done craving the top Janome's.  If this works as nice as I suspect it will, I may buy a basic mechanical Janome with a free arm for some garment sewing, or maybe not.  I definitely see more vintage machines coming my way.

Attention WalMart shoppers-

 

 

 

Sorry for the photo quality.  3 camera cards have disappeared, and the one I just bought is defective so I had to use the camera phone.  Still only so much photoshop can do with a poorly lit photo. Anyway.....the subject is irons.

 

For years I have craved a better iron, since watching Sewing with Nancy and envying her Rowenta.  Now the Missouri Quilt Company people have that cool Elisa or whatever it is that lifts up every time you stop moving it.  Coooooool.  But I read the reviews and the darn things quit after a year or so.  If I lay out more than a hundred bucks for an iron it should work exceptionally well till I die. 

 

After several cheap ones dying through the years I bought the Black and Decker classic above, because it looked and felt like the old timey work horses that last forever.  I was pretty happy with it, one of the kids dropped it hard and broke a chunk or something, and I bought another.  It too lasted for a long time then took a fall and kind of rattles on its chassis.  So I went a step up and bought the Shark, also above.  It cost more, I'm thinking about $40. at Walmart.  I probably would have sprung for a Rowenta but Joannes and the city is 50+ miles away, so Walmart was my only choice.  The thing just burnt up after about a week.  Heated up way to hot and burnt up some of my board, made sizzly pop noises and then quit.  I exchanged it and this one has been in moderate use for maybe 6 months and I was noticing tonight that it just won't stay hot.  I was ironing all of my uniforms, something I almost never ever ever do.  It would heat up and steam one small area and then blink to reheat for 3-8 minutes and repeat.  The wrinkles were staying.  The starch wasn't getting crisp.  I pulled out the semi-rattley Black and Decker and it was a whole new world.  Hot, crisp, starchy uniforms with sweet hot cotton and starch scent wafting up.  So if you want a good iron but don't want to pay more than $100 (or way more!) I recommend this one.  It doesn't steam vertically, I'll keep the shark for that because it does and still steams well, it's the plate that doesn't heat.  It doesn't shoot a stream of water either, but I can keep a squirt bottle for that.  It doesn't turn off automatically, which is an asset for sewing because the things always shut off just before you need them.  I'm pretty trained to unplug an iron before I walk away and the kids don't bother with them much anymore. I like the weight of it, an asset to the press process.  I think it's $25-$30 dollars.  It does steam pretty well, though I think before I set it aside it had a little clogging here and there.  I'll run a vinegar steam through it this week.

 

I was semi inspired to iron because I was trying out a home-made best press recipe.  I haven't tried the real deal stuff, but the homemade didn't really thrill me.  Maybe a little less flaking than that good ole Faultless in the can.  Cheaper, made with some water, some starch from a big jug, couple shots of Vodka (benefit, I got some pomegranate mix and had cocktails twice now, sipping one now), and some essential oil.  Maybe it would be more thrilling on a quilt in progress.  I've been too wiped out working days, evenings, AND nights with the new job and old job to do any sewing.  I watch videos of other people doing it as I try to sleep in between phone calls.  The new job came with on call status 24/7 365 days and why am I surprised that they are calling.  A lot.  Sigh.  At a pay rate of what I was making 20 years and one degree ago.  Time to look for ANOTHER job.  This one may be a good bridge though, at least it's the right specialty.

 

The self help book this week: What's your what.  The Eat your Frog book was ok for clarification of goals, but awful depressing for someone who seems to do nothing but work and sleep.  This one is to help figure out what it is you should be doing for someone who's a little befuddled about what they may really love and really be good at.  Good for the smell of career burnout on the edges.  I'm not sure I should leave nursing- Oh, I have loved it SO for parts of it.  But there have been big chunks of feeling used, abused, and beat up by it.  I am a Gemini with a limited attention span that has spent a lifetime moving around the globe and reinventing myself, and I have been doing this for 20 years now.  This book might push me in some good direction, since I seem poised to bounce again anyway.

 

The ironing board is right next to the sewing machine.  Felt good to be in that corner.  I did turn it on and darn a hole in a pocket.  I have a bag of new fabric (shame on me, it won't fit on the bookcase I have loaded with a good hoard already).  Maybe this week!  A bag.  A baby outfit.  Doll clothes.  Christmas table runners or wall hangings (quilted!).  I just have to get 18x 9 inches of space on the cutting table, and enough sleep to not be compelled to bed when I enter the room.

Meet Betty!

 

If she looks a lot like ole Ethyl it's because she's a younger version, both Kenmore 158's. No, no, no, no, NO I am not going to start collecting 158's, or Kenmore's or vintage machines.  But I gotta tell you, it is fun bringing them back to life!  I put this one on "lay a way" at the shop where I donated the computer Kenmore I killed.  The guy, a quirky little older man with a desire to chit chat all day long, had a fair assortment of machines in the shop and waiting in the next room.  When I picked this one he told me he'd want to clean and service it first.

Weeks and weeks later he called and told me it had a reverse that he could not repair.  He did offer me another machine, a later but still vintage Kenmore.  I hated the newer plastic one, with still nothing but zig zag and straight.  I tried out several others in the shop before I asked to just have Betty, reverse or no. He looked a little surprised, and gave her to me for the $45 I'd already paid. It wasn't a great bargain for a dysfunctional old machine.  It was the one I wanted.

The man told me he'd had her "all ready" and was looking at the beautiful stitches she made when he discovered she would not reverse.  At first I wanted to think maybe he is a little senile, but after more reflection I think he was just a liar. I've started a new job but haven't quite left the old job, so I'm working day and night. The first day I didn't even have time to plug her in, but I did see it was still pretty dirty on the outside.

 

 

 

It didn't take long to discover that it was pretty dirty inside too.  Really dirty.  I wiped and could tell that it had been lubricated everywhere well, just on top of all that old gunk.  I started man handling the reverse a little bit, and it wasn't long before it started to give, and then moved all the way into moving smoothly.  I still hadn't turned on the machine, gullible me, still believing that the seller had indeed checked it out and all that was wrong was the reverse.  Good thing I kept on going with the cleaning frenzy first, because when I got to the belt area, I found it completely off track.  I strongly suspected then that the machine had not been checked for anything.  I got to the bobbin case and had to laugh- it was screwed about 4 or 5 times around too tight.  There would have been no kind of stitch whatsoever that could have been produced with that case in.  So I slipped the belt back on (it does have just 1/4 inch or so too much play, I'll have to measure and order a new one- for both Kenmore's) and put that bobbin tension where it felt right pulling thread through and plugged it in.

 



Those old Kenmore's do a pretty, pretty stitch. I like how they kind of slant.  This machine allows the needle to be positioned in center or right or left.  It looks like it would take the same size cams that my earlier model takes.  I am sad to say I don't have any, though I see them on eBay sometimes.  I'll need a cam to do a blind hem stitch, which is really the only stitch I crave beyond the basic zigzag and straight.

What's a cam, you youngster's ask?  It's a little plastic disc that sat in this hidey hole and would do decorative and specialty stitches.  Like maybe 2 per disc.  It would not play music, take your picture or connect you to anything.

 Betty can take a double needle, Ethyl can't.  Ethyl came in the cabinet and I've never taken her out, but this Betty! WOW, she's one heavy machine.  I couldn't tell the light was on when I plugged it in and thought there wasn't one, it's that unhelpful.  I was thinking no power switch was kind of bad.  Took me until the second day to find both of those items.

 

 

 

If I hadn't been cleaning her, it might have taken a month!! Why are they both back there? 

 

The working day and night thing is going to slow down the sewing, but maybe I'll do a belt replacing video when I get those.  After I measure.  After some sleep.  In October I'm only going to work 5 days/one night weekly.