Embroidery the Easy Way?

As promised, I've got a lot to tell you about my newest embroidery sewing machine and the fun I'm having with it. Oh, it's not all fun and games but once you get things figured out it can be exciting to watch the designs appear and creative, too. There's just so much to learn! The machine I've been playing with is a Singer Futura XL-400:

Singer Futura XL400

This is by no means any kind of a high end machine, and a plastic Singer to boot, but it's been pretty easy to use and the end results has been good, too, so I'll shut up now about modern Singers. This machine came to me via Goodwill Online auctions where I got the machine in one bid and a set of three embroidery arms in another bid. I took a chance that one of those arms was going to fit the Singer Futura and it did but now I have a Pfaff Creative 1.5 embroidery arm with large hoop and manual plus an unbranded arm that could be for a Brother machine. But that's okay because I've learned that the right parts just might come along one day or someone reading this post might want just what I've stumbled upon!

The Singer came home with me and I got it all sorted out with a borrowed power cord and foot control but there are issues. I keep getting error messages and it seems like I'm not in the right mode. It occurs to me it might be stuck in the embroidery mode so I back out of it just like I was going to take the embroidery arm off and then start the machine over again and VOILA it works! There does seem to be an issue with the speed control so with a repair manual, free from a Facebook group for Singer embroidery machine users, I find the component that controls the speed and order it. There are also some levers that have their handles snapped off so they also get ordered along with the large hoop that was missing and I'm good to go.

Dell laptop with Futura Embroidery software loaded

I forgot to mention I needed software, too, so I ordered a disk for this model and crossed my fingers that it would work. Above is a laptop with old Windows 7 or 8, a better match for this older system embroidery machine anyway. Everything was installed correctly so now the fun begins! I had some small under four inch circles that I used for making zippered pouches originally intended for earbuds but used for anything. Some of them were just too plain so I downloaded some designs that would fit the fabric theme and colors to come up with the following:

Truckers: another good theme

In the above design with a big truck, there were ten "blocks" where you had color changes and each block had to be selected, sent from the computer directly to the sewing machine via a cable, press Start on the sewing machine and it stitched the block. When finished the machine stopped, you cut off the thread, added the next block, chose your thread and rethreaded the machine, hit Start, and you were off and stitching. Here's the above design all finished:

This might be my mantra

How cute is that? You can see the finished product below. It wasn't all fun and games when Harry Potter turned out not to line up right and I had to remove those extra stitches:

Are those shadows or misplaced outline stitches?

Even my cat, Meg, was curious enough to sit on the chair and watch the needle but this isn't something you can just load and forget: you need to be attentive to any mishaps that can be corrected if found early.

Meg the cat, ever curious about what's going on

I finished a project for work, adding our initials to some microfiber cloths that we use for wiping off white boards. It only takes about ten minutes for each one but with 36 of them it adds up quickly.

Microfiber cloths with BUL stitched on each one

 I had way too much fun with those circles that are for holding earbuds:

Backside to compliment printed fabric on most of them

 Then I have a few designs that I just like and I'm itching to try out but first I need to find a purpose for the design. For instance, I have a Mustang GT and an Elvis head: what could I possibly do with them? I'll think of something!

Scrunchies!

What is old is new again pertains to sewing machines and also the current hair fashion craze called scrunchies. For those who do not have long hair that needs taming, let me explain: scrunchies are a piece of elastic you can wear to hold your hair back but it is covered in a cloth sleeve. This now makes it fashion with a wide variety of fabrics and even sizes. I made up a bunch of these with my grandkids because even the boys wear them on their wrists, partly as a token from a girl to show her interest in a special boy. So now it's fashion and pre-teen hormones! We had such a good time sewing them up on a Singer 99 hand crank:

Emma making scrunchies at home with the Singer 99 hand crank

I thought it might be fun to make up a bunch to sell at our church craft and bake sale. Maybe we could have a scrunchie making party where we sewed up a bunch to sell but just didn't get around to setting it all up. I mentioned this to one of the moms after the sale and she said "I would come and bring my daughter!" so, with her help, we posted a scrunchie making party on Facebook and I got ready.

Fabric was pressed and cut, supplies organized and loaded, and off we went. My granddaughter, Emma, was getting to be a pro at this so I picked her up and put her to work. I ended up cutting out about sixty pieces of fabric in a variety of prints, including Christmas, in cotton and flannel with even a red velvet.

Selection of fabric, all pressed and ready to sew up

I set up a Kenmore electric for those who already could use a sewing machine, a Singer 99 hand crank for younger sewers, and even a serger for experienced or at least adult sewers.  As it turned out, our high school student had taken a sewing class so she sat down to the Kenmore, the younger girls used the hand crank Singer, and the adults, experienced or not, gravitated to the serger.

Kenmore electric and White Speedylock serger

Although I had the four steps all on samples it still took supervision to get everyone on track and sewing. I also had to keep those machines threaded as well as brief teaching along the way. 

Emma learning to thread the Singer 99

Over the two hours we were set up, there were four adults and four kids working on three machines to make up 25-30 scrunchies!

A busy bunch, waiting for their turn, in a basement classroom

All pitched in and helped with the clean up and bringing everything back to the cars, remaining snacks were divided up, and we called it a success:

Emma showing off her earlier success in sewing

An abundance of scrunchies!

This might be a repeat performance at a Girl Scout meeting so we shall see. Even with all of the planning and prep, it was well worth it to get more people sewing and having fun while doing it.

Next up, I promise, is the fixed Singer embroidery sewing machine. Stay tuned!

Manly Kenmore Sewing Machines

I know I promised to write about a new-to-me embroidery sewing machine but since I'm waiting for parts it's on hold for now. But, there's so much else to write about I better tell you of my latest adventure. It's all about Kenmore sewing machines and men: they want something heavyweight but not expensive and I've got Kenmore's for them!

Kenmore 158-1755

With only one cabinet left to sell, I got a call from Michael who was interested in the Brother Select-O-Matic in a compact cabinet. Excited to finally getting it out of my living room and into someone else's house, even though weather has been poor, he came right over to check it out. As we talked about his sewing needs I could tell he needed something that would be heavier duty and the Brother wasn't going to cut it. I brought out a Kenmore 158-1755, a great heavy machine with built in zigzag stitches but also cam ready. He wasn't interested in decorative stitches just wanted to sew up canvas for his boat. He went home happy but the Brother in a cabinet still lives in my front room.

Brother Select-O-Matic

A few days later I got an email asking for advice about sewing up canvas and seat covers for another boat. This time it's James from Chesapeake Bay who sent a detailed list of questions along with what he wanted to accomplish. At the end of his email was a photo of his boat, a real beauty. Should he go with a portable Sailrite? Walking foot? Zigzag? Industrial? I digested his request and organized my thoughts and came up with the following advice:

1. I have never used a Sailrite but it will probably do the job for you and because of  their excellent reputation you can easily sell it when you are done. Other portable walking foot sewing machines I have used, Consew and Reliable Baracuda, are just too rough and required a steep learning curve for me.

Reliable Barricuda

Consew CP206R

2. Walking foot built in or as an attachment is the way to go. It works to keep layers of fabric from slipping out from under by putting feed dogs on top to work with the regular feed dogs on the bottom.
3. Portable versus table models, or industrial versus home/domestic sewing machine: canvas and large items are bulky and heavy so they need support as you are sewing them. A table gives that support. Consider that into the mix of decisions.
4. Expensive Sailrite or industrial: is this really necessary? For a beginner, and most of these questions come from beginners, maybe it would work out better to learn some skills on a sewing machine that is less of an investment, say a Kenmore. For less than a hundred dollars you can get a solid sewing machine that can sew most anything you throw at it up to size 18 needle. This is a good way to build up sewing skills by practicing sewing on vinyl and canvas while making seat covers and trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. Making up some bags with zippers to store gear would be a great way to learn to use the sewing machine and give you a practical goal.

Although I'm not sure what James is going to do, there are quite a few men sewing in Minnesota using Kenmore's I have sold to them. That Brother sewing machine is going to sell but not until I find the buyer who can use it as it was meant to be used. It's a huge disappointment to buy a tool only to find out it's the wrong one and now you are stuck with it. By using available expertise you can save yourself time, money, and grief or maybe that's just part of the process for some. Go figure!

Deep Knee Bends

I'm having knee problems; No, not my knees but knee controls. Bernina Record 730's can come with a knee lever as speed control and although I have one of these machines I cannot find a lever for it. Two have sold while I was searching so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong in my search that I cannot find and purchase before it is gone but I'll keep trying. It's the all metal folding kind, not the one with a plastic handle (the connections are different):

Bernina Record knee power control (not presser foot lifter)

While I continue to search for this elusive knee bar control, I picked up a Singer 99 in a bentwood case that also used a knee bar for speed control. The wiring looked unsafe so before I could even test it out I needed to fix that wiring. It was a model that used these very old plugs but you can take them apart and add new wires:

Plugs that need new wire

Screw for tightening down the new wire (red circle)

Even the funky plug connection was different than most so I added new wire and a new wire and plug to the outlet. It ran but things just didn't look right. Come to find out, the knee lever pulls on an internal lever to activate:

Control box and how it should look inside

How mine looked: see lever out of the slot

and it wasn't in the slot but next to it. Wait a minute, the whole thing isn't screwed down. When I removed enough of the mechanism I found three screws floating around in the bottom so it must have been tinkered with and not returned to its original state. I got it all screwed down, every lever in position, and it worked. Well, there was power to the motor but the sewing machine needed oil and cleaning to rectify the sticking points. As I worked with it all of a sudden it just didn't work. Dead. No power. Since my husband had been sitting at the table at the time, we discussed all of the possible problems and why it suddenly stopped getting power. Out came the multimeter, going over all of the steps we took before this happened, but he kept saying "It's gotta be the box" meaning the metal box where the controller was housed.

Now I took everything apart, again. and when I pulled up the controller there was only one wire connected. It needs two. Upon closer inspection I could see where the wire had finally snapped off. No wonder! With very careful work I could pull through enough wire to give it a new connection, making sure there was no wire touching the metal box. Warning! Warning! Warning! I am not an electrician and only do what I know is sound, having either my husband check my work or I consult with a son-in-law who is an electrician. Do not take chances with electricity!

This one looks pretty nasty inside but both leads are connected

Once I got things back in good shape, it finally ran but needed that cleaning and oiling, all easy in comparison to replacing so much of the electrical system. But there's another part of this tale: I sold the same model to Jordan and the knee lever was not in the right position. I was sure I had worked on it and there was no repositioning of the knee lever. But maybe the lever in the control box wasn't inside the slot to put it in the correct position. Here's the steps to correcting this problem (lever positioning, not electrical connections):

How it looked before with lever outside of the correct slot (green circle)

Remove screw (purple circle) to either lift lever off or up

Move lever (red circle) into place and tighten everything back up

As you take it apart it might fall into too many pieces so take a good look at it before you start to see how it all fits back together. You only need to check the wiring and to make sure the lever is in the correct position.

Icy weather out now so we are hunkered down and sewing. What's up now? An embroidery machine! That's next up so stay tuned.

Sewing Machine Spotting

It's deer hunting season here in Minnesota and I just had to accept it when I moved here and embrace it when I married a hunter/fisherman a decade ago. While he was going to be out in the cold I decided to visit my friend in Arizona. Knowing I had missed our vacation a few years ago due to his kidney stones, my husband gave me gift cards for Delta last Christmas just so I could visit Cathy this year. We got it all arranged and I took off in six degree weather in Minneapolis on Tuesday and flew into seventy degree weather a few hours later. It was heaven!

Left is Arizona temp of 70 and right is 6 degrees as I left Minnesota

Among the usual pool time, favorite pizza and ice cream shops, we took in Scottsdale's Canal Convergence water and light festival. Great fun to see how water is important to the desert and making it fun with lights and music. We also went to the Scottsdale Museum of the West for a Barry Goldwater exhibit of his photography. Before we got to his terrific display we took in the work of Maynard Dixon. As we wandered around I found this line drawing:

Maynard Dixon's sister at the sewing machine

Leave it to a true sewist to find a sewing machine everywhere they go! All in all, it was a wonderful get-away with sun, extra sleep, great conversation, and love of a dear friend.

Coming back to 38 degrees wasn't as hard as I thought but the question came up about getting both cars back into the garage since snow is coming. Before I left I got the summer furniture up in the garage attic with the help of a daughter but now we have the returned the snow blower to it's rightful spot and need to get the sewing machine cabinets out of the way. While I was gone I got an email about the Singer 27 in a drawing room cabinet:

Singer 27 in drawing room cabinet

and the calls have been coming in for the rest of them! How great is that? Here's the garage on Sunday at noon:

Waiting for their buyers this afternoon

Tom and Freeman both came at the same time but it was a fruitful session with two collectors/sellers. Now the Singer 12 in the house is gone and the Singer 27 is in a new home. While checking everything out Freeman asked about the Singer 301 cabinet and then it was gone, too. Three machines in one hour! I nearly cried because now there's only two left, one empty cabinet, and hopes of getting the cars inside before the snow. Here's how the garage looks now, waiting for the Bernina 730 to be sold tomorrow:

After three more gone

Good to have a warm vacation and rest, good to be home again, too. Now, what's my next project? I think I'm making legging for a seven year old granddaughter!

In the Meantime

As usual, there are so many sewing machines and just too little time! I've acquire some very nice ones, sold a few, fixed a few more since my last post but it's craft fair season! I do not have time for machines, just sew, sew, sew. Tomorrow is our final day for being in a craft fair so I took some of the comments from the last fair to heart and have made a few changes.

The baby booties attracted some nice attention but it was the little cuties herself who stole the show:

Kelly & Evelyn at the Blaine show

Yes, that's my granddaughter Evelyn, with her mom who got many offers but apparently she is not for sale. Hoping she could model some of the booties brought about the comment of her too-big feet. I don't think her feel are too big but I made only the smaller sizes: 3-6 months and 6-9 months. People wanted to buy them but they were just too small. In the two weeks between craft fairs I have made a dozen pair of booties in sizes 9-12 months and 12-18 months. They are much easier to make when you aren't struggling to turn them right side out so there's no objection from me! It's always fun to match up fabrics with patterns:

Booties for sale

When not sewing up a storm, I managed to pick up a Bernina Record 830 for a song. As usual, when they say it's still available, I do not hesitate but go right over (before they change their mind or get a better offer). It came with a wonderful set of accessories but no extension table or carrying case. During the testing phase I found out the foot control was wacky and this model would need a much more expensive replacement for $75. Ouch! Maybe there was an alternative? I Googled "Bernina 830 foot control rewire" and found a YouTube video. I had a nice new electronic foot control so I opened both up, switched wires paying attention to the colors and instructions, put it all back together, and it worked. It continues to surprise me since the whole process is pretty simple but the inside of an electronic foot control is anything but simple.It's my plan to continue to learn about circuits from LinkedIn Learning and my son-in-law so I'm saving the complex problems for later. Here's the Bernina Record 830:

Bernina Record 830 with accessory box (full!)

The garage continues to get cleared out with another treadle going to a new home to a maple tree farmer, a Singer 15-90 going to a young father who wanted to make gear (his wife had a new computerized sewing machine he wasn't allowed to use),  and a few sets of treadle irons and cabinets without machines were let go very cheap. So there is a plan and we should get one car back in the garage after the craft fair is over. No new machines! Especially in cabinets! Then I spy a Singer 301 in a table. Oh no, not a black 301. Yes, it's still available if I can get there in the next two hours. You bet.

It's an estate sale so they do not know anything about sewing machines. It's missing the power cord and the foot control has the button missing but it comes in a decent table with the cradle so it is mine. It is also Halloween and I need to get home to relieve my poor husband. That means since he answered the door while I was gone I get to answer the door during dinner. Oh well, that's a price I'm willing to pay.

Right next to the front door is a Singer 12 treadle that I've been working on rather unsuccessfully. Someone has shown some interest in it so I'm motivated to get it working smoothly. For this one I check Treadleon for how to clean and adjust a treadle and then Youtube videos for threading a model 12. I finally put a brand new leather belt on it, shortened it twice, adjust the pitman rod to shorten it, and she runs! I keep treadling to work out any of the kinks and find she's really fast, loud, but fast. I'll try it again this weekend but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Singer 12 treadle

Singer 12 treadle with new belt

The cabinet is in good shape and a coating of Howard's Feed & Wax really make it look good. I have to keep wiping it down to get the excess off but by now it's practically glowing.

 

 

Singer 12 in treadle cabinet: she glows!

Team Spirit

Minnesota seems unique to me in their adoration of their sports teams even when they under-perform. I'm from Chicago where there have been great teams and years for the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, White Socks, and Cubs: there was something to be proud of. Alas, Minnesota continues to be disappointed with the Vikings and even the Twins give reason for angst. But, If I'm to market my hot mitts to a wide variety of people I must include sports and their teams so I'm busy making them out of fabric that has Twins and Vikings logos on them.

After adding over a hundred hot mitts in a variety of colors, I checked my stock of sports teams to find no Twins, four Vikings, many Packers, a few Timberwolves, Wild, and Gophers. I had to get busy and sew up some Vikings since we would still be in football season during the craft sales, and since there are diehard fans I even had to buy more Twins fabric:

Left: newer logos waiting for binding, Right: traditional

Just to be generic enough to include many teams, I had some fabric with NFL teams so I added some football fabric to make these:

NFL on white with footballs on black for inside and binding

They sew together so nicely but since I've made hundreds I've got the process down pretty good. This is the second year of using the Bernina 217 industrial sewing machine and I really like her. It's all set up for the heavy layers for the hot mitts and I'm not certain enough of my skills to try and adjust it for two layers of cotton.Besides, don't I have at least one other sewing machine I can use for light weight sewing? I think so.

With my first craft fair only 10 days away, I need to get going on baby booties and cobbler aprons. I got distracted by all those sewing machines from the River Rats TOGA but for now I need to ignore them and get cutting and sewing!

Bin with many of the new hot mitts

TOGA TOGA!

It was another River Rats TOGA last weekend and it did not disappoint: hand crank sewing machines, treadles, even some electrics, but all about our passion for sewing. On my way into town I stopped off at Cindy Peter's house where her family was busy making deals in hopes of getting her vast inventory of sewing machines and parts cleaned out. Cindy was the founder of the River Rats and instrumental inTreadle-On, so her passing last winter was a huge loss for our community. Some of my friends were there and we consulted each other on identification of parts and the necessity of it. I loaded up my trunk with two Berninas, a Jones Meccaro, and a Husqvarna CB-N along with a large bag with foot controls with cords and many miscellaneous parts. On to the TOGA!

After unloading my raffle contributions and checking out the tables, I bought tickets for the raffle which helps defray the cost for the TOGA. One of my main tasks was to get my little Pfaff hand crank working so I tracked down Cathy Nelson who helped me last year with a German transverse shuttle sewing machine and she did her magic again. I didn't know which needle would work and she has a nifty chart and inventory of needles to figure it out plus she showed me how to set and time the needle. I worked with Bob who assisted in threading the boat shuttle and we were off and running. Speaking of running, this was the first year for hand crank races and was it fun. With nine contestants there were three heats

From 2 of the heats

In the final contest we had a very close race when there was a mechanical problem (see top photo below) but it was very close:

Middle photo shows start of the final, top photo when something went wrong, and our winner at the end

I think this is going to be a regular event but next time we will have those who have been training for the whole year. There were other events like sewing machine cleaning, chenille quilting, block exchanges, much selling of our own extras, and that included fabric in a separate room. Yes, I bought more fabric. Once I had a chance to think about what I got at Cindy's estate sale I decided I needed to go back so I made a final haul. This time I got new foot controls, bags and bags of low shank presser feet, a Pfaff 130 without a motor, needle plates, bobbins, accessory boxes empty and full, and even some Singer flat cams and Elna cams. All packed into my car and I headed back to the TOGA and geared up for the raffle.

The raffle has some of the more prized items with individual "bags" where you can "up" your chances by feeding more tickets into a bag of something you really want. What did I want the most? A quilt kit that wasn't finished but oh-so-nice. The raffle started with Mea and Diane calling out names for the bagged items first and, tada, I got the quilt kit! On my way back to my seat I was told it was found with Cindy's things so that made it extra special:

 A dozen of the 16 blocks were completed

As my name was called I kept choosing items until I could no longer fit anything else into my vehicle. I finished up and made my way home, hoping to travel while it was still daylight, but the raffle took so long I ended up traveling right through downtown St. Paul after sunset. When I got home I had to bring everything inside, write up receipts for my purchases, and check everything out:

Inside the trunk of my car (no Jeep this time)

4 were from Cindy's, the others from the raffle

Cindy's estate sale

and the raffle: too many tickets this year?

Confession here: I was secretly glad my husband was up north hunting so I had a chance to check everything out slowly and put it all away over the next 24 hours. He's always supportive but this was overwhelming! I checked out the sewing machines, those purchased and those as part of the raffle, and will continue to have fun getting them up and running, sorted the presser feet, tested the foot controls, and ran my hands over the fabric purchased. I'll have more to say in future blog posts but for now it's goodbye to another River Rats TOGA. It's always great fun to share your passion with those who are just a bit crazier than you!