Block Exchange Tote Bag

Every year I look forward to spending a day or more with sewing friends that I have made through the Treadleon group of treadle and hand crank sewing machine enthusiasts. In the past we have met in Lake City, home of Cindy Peters, one of the founders of Treadleon and a dynamite sewer.  Cindy died in the winter of 2019 but her dream didn't as we have continued to meet in Lake City every September for the River Rats TOGA, a gathering of treadle and hand crank owners/buyers/sellers and sewers. We have only had one TOGA without Cindy before COVID19 invaded our lives and this September we knew gathering in person was not going to be a good idea. What should we do? It turned out we could have a virtual conference with plenty of Zoom sessions for learning skills and just gathering to share our current projects. 

It was a great success! Mea is our leader in this adventure but there were so many helpers in getting sessions together as well as the annual BLOCK EXCHANGE. I agonized over my blocks as I wrote about in the post Card Tricks. Imagine my surprise when I opened my package of quilt blocks that were resent via Denise, the organizer, to find someone else had also chosen the design called Card Tricks but in very different colorways. Each block was so unique and well done it was just fun to look at all of them. But what was I going to do with them? With only 15 it was going to be a pretty small quilt, I have no room for wall hangings, I could collect them and at a future date make up a larger sized quilt, or I could....make a tote bag. I had so much fun designing it and getting it done in a day that I wanted to show it off on out last free-for-all Zoom session. It was a big hit so thanks to all who gave such wonderful praise and affirmed I wasn't out of my mind to make a bag instead of a quilt. I was asked to share how I made it and I told them I would write up a blog post to show some of the steps. Here's the end result:

Quilt block tote bag: Virtual River Rats TOGA 2020

To begin with, I spread out all of the blocks and grouped by colors. Then I checked my fabric stash and grabbed what was right on top (why not?) to see if it would pull all of it together:

Side, front, lid

Back, other side

I got busy sewing the sashing onto the blocks and making a large tubular casing with them all sewn together, adding a rectangular bottom, sewing the lining, and then sitting back to determine what I needed to do to give it shaping. To start, I made an insert in the bottom that would give a nice "floor" to the bag that would also be washable. Plastic canvas that was popular a few decades ago can still be found in stores but I have a stash from my aunt just begging to be used. It wasn't long enough so I added a section on and fused it with a hot iron, protecting all of it with an old t-shirt. As it turned out, it fused onto the cotton shirt so I just cut it to size and used it as one of the layers. I made a pocket for the right sized plastic canvas out of the lining fabric, stuffed it into the pocket like a pillow in a pillow case, and sewed it up. Down into the bottom of the bag it went and even was sewn into place so there would be no shifting. The lining went in next and I pulled it up to the top, folded both the outside and lining edges in for a finished look but it just flopped there. Now I remembered a hint from another blog about making a wire rimmed top but I had never done something like that before and the materials that were used in the blog post were ones I didn't have on hand. Well, that wasn't going to stop me! Here's what I came up with:

Wire coat hangers

Using only 2 hangers, I cut off the hook on one and the hook and one arm on the other one so there was very little shape shifting needing to be done. I laid them down as in the photo above and wrapped the cut/loose edges with electrical tape and then electrical shrink wrap used in wiring. The heat shrink tubing was 1/4" - 1/8" size and I added it before assembly so I could slide it into place after wrapping the corners. Applying a bit of heat from a candle tightens up the plastic and creates a bond of sorts. Now I could insert this frame into the top of the bag:

Frame ready to be inserted

Frame stitched into top: note 2 rows of stitching

Installing it was quite the process, deciding to create a pocket for it by stitching down about 3/4" from the top folded edge, inserting the frame, using clips to hold in place, and the sewing the top edge to hold it all in. Using my Pfaff hand crank, it wasn't too difficult until the corners. All but one corner worked well but the final corner just could not fit under the arm of the machine: that will need some hand stitching.

Before I added the framework I did sew the top or lid onto the backside and it became a part of the top structure but was not in the way at all. I liked how it was turning out but realized I hadn't used one of my quilt blocks since there was only room for 14 and we were a group of 15. But I still needed handles. I check my project bin and there were five of my blocks that didn't get sent or used:

Card Trick blocks sewn together for straps

When sewn together, cut down the center, pressed, and filled with nylon webbing:

Straps ready for sewing

 I now had 2 straps to sew onto the top edge. This proved to be difficult for the Pfaff and some of the stitching has pulled out so I need to go back and hand sew into place. I'm considering adding a bit of embroidery on the outside of the bag where the straps are sewn to cover up the stitches but we shall see. Here are all of the sides of the finished tote bag:

Lid

Side

Side

Back

Front

Such a fun project that only took a day, or less, and that included the time to figure out how to engineer it all together. Next one will be much easier. Next one? We are talking about have a Mid-Winter TOGA and it just might have another quilt block exchange. Now you have another idea of what to make with your blocks!

Card Tricks

 The River Rats TOGA, virtual this year, is coming up September 18-20 with lots of workshops, gathering times for show-and-tell, and the annual quilt block exchange. I'm all signed up for most of the day on Saturday and looking forward to seeing everyone again even if we have to use Zoom to do so. This is my first year to join the quilt block exchange, not having had the time before I retired, especially since this is the start of the school year and there was just no extra time pre-retirement. The numbers kept changing and it made a difference if I need to make 5, 15, or 25 blocks but I finally settled down with around a dozen people signed up. Here's how this exchange goes: you make up a pieced quilt block for each person signed up, according to the guidelines, and send them to the "hostess" who then divides them up among the participants and sends new blocks them back to each one. There are 16 people signed up this year so I made 16 blocks that were 6.5" and in a pattern and color of my choice. Usually we go to the TOGA in person and just lay out the blocks and then walk around and take one from each stack but this year we will do this by mail. Here's my stack all done:

Card Trick pattern, 16 blocks

I know, this doesn't look like much but it IS a big deal to get them all done and looking good. First off, I tried using an online tutorial but it was a disaster with the sizing all wrong and much to much struggle. I finally came up with my own plan and kept making adjustments until they came out okay. As you can see, not only are my points not perfect, I had trouble making them so the edge points were a quarter inch from the outside edge. That way when sewn together the point won't get cut off. It was a struggle and hope I don't embarrass myself too much but I am a beginning quilter! Then there is the ordeal of signing each block so everyone knows who made what (yes, now the whole world can see who is a good quilter and who still needs practice). I had a Micron pen but it was dry so I finally found one a Hobby Lobby. Here's my practice block, trying to figure out how to put all of the information in a tiny space:

Who am I anyway?

I think it will be fun to collect these blocks and maybe make them up into a River Rats TOGA quilt but right now I'm just collecting. Oh, by the way, since this is a group for treadle and hand crank sewing machines, I had to use such machines and settled on using my Singer 66 Red Eye in her beautiful parlor cabinet:

Singer 66 Red Eye in parlor cabinet

Practice makes perfect and this was just the practice I needed.

What else have I been up to? I'm into restoration now with a Husky Lock 936 serger that's getting parts swapped out, buying a Baby Lock that truly is for parts (I had high hopes there, too), refinishing bentwood cases and a cabinet out in the garage, and adding bases to two wood box bottoms with the help of my son-in-law. Photos might follow in a later post. And today I'm going to pick up a Bernina 807 that needs a motor swap but I have the parts and hope I can do it. Cooler weather this week so I need to get the garage projects done before winter. This year it looks like I won't have any cabinets in the garage over winter and will have those projects done way ahead of the first freeze. That's depending on me not bringing home any more cabinets but my will power is firmly in place. Let's see how I do...

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!

River Rats TOGA Third Edition

We had a good weekend with the treadle aficionados in Lake City, MN, despite the heat and community celebrations. Coming from the Twin Cites to the southwest area of Minnesota, there were all kinds of motorcycle conventions and corn fests along the way to keep me focused on the road and get there on time. As per last year, I only attended on Saturday but it was great fun learning how to clean metal parts, heads with decals, how to identify feed sack prints, solving tension troubles, and the ever famous raffle late in the afternoon. I managed to bring three sewing machines and not take a single one home again. Oh wait, I did bring two in for repair consultation that did come home with me but that was the plan.

The Davis vertical feed came to me completely frozen up so the first thing was to get things moving again. With very patient cleaning and oiling it finally broke through and had complete movement. I continued to clean and put parts back where they belonged until I decided to thread it up and stitch. There was a part missing, just the first thread guide, but it looked odd. Since I have another Davis I looked at it only to find there was a small disk, just like the ones found in a tension mechanism held in place with a screw and spring. The bag of parts that came with this machine did have a small screw with spring but no disk. There was no solution at the TOGA and no additional parts but when I got home I looked in my boxes of parts and think I found one that would work:

Davis with top thread guide added

Next up was the little Ruby sewing machine head. She was a freebee given to me by a neighbor who is also a co-worker. It started with not knowing how to thread it, then finding a needle, so Cathy and Bill both worked on it with me:

Cathy and Bill debate how the tensioner should be functioning

There was something wrong with the top tension mechanism so it was taken apart and put back in the correct order.

Ruby with repaired tensioner

Cathy knew how to thread it but it would take a much longer needle. She showed me a neat little trick in lowering the needle to the right length and how to make a small guide to use each time the needle needed to be replaced:

Needle positioner

Once we had it all threaded up it kept jumping out of the take up lever so it was decided it needed some surgery. Cathy made up a new ring to replace the broken part using jewelry wire and her handy tools for making jump rings:

Ruby has some surgery

New ring in place

With only a small amount of tweaking it did stitch. The shuttle bobbin was adjusted until the stitch was perfect, at least for black bobbin thread, always a no-no when testing out stitch tension:

Ruby Stitches!

Now I need a table to put little Ruby in and I think that's going to be very hard to find. It's a standard small treadle opening but the back pins are spaced wider than usual. It did come with the wood top and tray so I can hope to replace the top of a standard treadle with this topper. Maybe?

I did go to Cindy's storage shed and came back with a cool machine but that's going to be another post since it is waiting for a belt: to be continued!

TOGA Redeux

After waiting a whole year to have another River Rats TOGA, it has come and gone in a flash. I saved up a few sewing machines that had problems to see if I could get a satisfactory solution, brought a hand-crank sewing machine that I didn't get sewing last year back again, picked out items to bring to the raffle, and connected with friends ahead of time to see if they were going. All of this orchestration over the summer and then it finally was the day to drive down about 90 minutes to Lake City for my second River Rats TOGA. Old friends, new friends, so many treadle and hand-cranked sewing machines and nary a white plastic wonder in the place: it was heaven!

My first project was to get my hand-crank German made machine to work:

German hand-crank

It is a transverse shuttle model, very similar to a Singer 12, but I suspected its failure to sew was user error. Sure enough, I didn't know how to thread the boat-type shuttle and several people helped me since mine was just a tad different. I also needed a different needle but there were none any for sale at the time so I was encouraged to just set the needle lower to see if I could get it to work. Success! Now I will have to work on cleaning it up and figuring out how to fix the chipping paint on the bed. It's oh so smooth when it cranks so I'm happy for now.

The raffle was a hoot with only a few items up for individual raffle and most of it was "all in the pot" with everyone called just getting the pick of what was on the tables. There were many sewing machines, lots of fabric bundles, and a great deal of miscellaneous. My picks were bundles of fabric:

My raffle fabrics

some bags with books that are questionable (no more cross stitch!), but almost at the very end was a lonely Singer sewing machine that was meant just for me:

Singer 15-91 in green (it really is green!)

She's fairly green but this photo doesn't do her justice. What's so special about this one? It's a potted motor 15-91 and I don't think anyone recognized it as the beloved gear to gear sewing machine:

Singer 15-91: see the potted motor sticking out on the back?

What a gem! The power cord is missing and the wiring was disconnected but everything was there to put it back into shape. This is going to be one great machine once it's back together ...and it's green! After I sat down with it, Bill looked over and said "Do you know what you have there?" and I said "You bet I do!" and he confirmed that I had one of the best models and a rare green to boot.

Everyone had to clear the place out of their winnings so it could get set up for the turkey dinner to follow. Here's a few of the raffle winnings going out to their vehicles:

Part of the haul going out to trailers and hatchbacks

Before he said grace, pastor Dave brought out the stole he was presented with last year to show it off again and Cindy presented him with a huge collection of new pot holders for the church kitchen. I was proud of my contribution that I wrote about in a previous post, Free, as in Free-Motion.

Cindy Peters with Pastor Dave and his quilt square stole

At the end of this satisfying day we went home without the rain that was predicted, happy with our raffle winnings, new friends made, plenty of stories for future posts, and a little white Singer 221, the Featherweight. That's right, I have a white Featherweight! She is beyond cute so I'll have to tell you all about her next time so stay tuned to the adventures of Sewing Machine Mavin!

TOGA!

Well, I'm back from the long awaited and much anticipated River Rats TOGA, a convention of sorts for those who love people powered sewing machines. There were so many people from the Treadleon forum that I've only read their comments who attended and now I have a face (and personality) to go with it. Now I can share photos and recap the highlights of this wonderful weekend.

It starts with the accommodations that were unusual in the arrangement. Six weeks ago Sally said she had room for two people in her large motor home so Phyllis and I jumped on that offer only to find out Phyllis has allergies and a weekend with two dogs in a motor home wasn't going to work for her. So it was only me. With Sally and Tom. Whom I have never met (or even talked with on the phone) so now this does sound a little crazy! Here is the BUT in this scenario: we all ended up loving each other and agreed we are new best friends! Sally was a wonderful hostess and when my husbands hunting trip was cancelled he came on down and stayed with us, too. Jim and Tom hit it off with hunting and fishing stories as well as how to haul a toy trailer with a semi. That's right, a semi, in bright red!

I arrived at the Lake City VFW to hear the last half of Sally's talk about using vintage linens in quilts. As I listened and watched, I noticed a woman who looked like Cheri, our friend who bought Judy Jetson (now out in Montana with her niece) and several other sewing machines. Sure enough, when Sally finished and I went up to introduce myself as her house guest I grabbed Cheri in a big hug! We were equally surprised to see each other at the TOGA but the last time we sent messages back and forth was during the summer months before either of us had made these plans. Cheri came down with Carole, a quilting and Featherweight teacher, and we got to know each other over the next days, too. The rest of Friday was spent looking at everyone's machines, the items for the Saturday night raffle, and checking out items to purchase.

Universal feed chain stitch machine

 Most of us went on the Pearl of the Lake paddleboat cruise to watch the stunning sunset and I went off with Sally and Tom for dinner afterwards. We stayed up too late talking because Saturday was going to be another busy day but we had so much to talk about and learn from each other!

As the sun sets over Lake Pepin

Saturday was a mix of demonstrations on cleaning, chain stitcher machines, hemstitchers, quilt block exchange, and individual consultations with the experts on how to fix/heal our personal sewing machines. By late afternoon we were warned to get things cleaned up because the raffle was going to begin!

Quilt assembled from a previous years block exchange now up for raffle

All of the larger/valuable items had lunch bags attached to them for ticket drawings but there were hundreds of items that were in the "free for all" category. After only a few items were drawn I heard my name and when I discovered I had won the Boye needle display/container I almost cried:

Boy of boy, it's a Boye

It was perfect: I told Sally earlier I really didn't need a Boye needle tin since I didn't have the type of older sewing machines that take those older needles but this one came without any of the wooden tubes that hold the needles, perfect for display! My time at the TOGA was now complete as I excitedly brought my prize back to my chair. Jim had arrived by then and was happy for me, too. They kept drawing names for other large items and my name was called again, this time for a terrific Elna Supermatic:

Elna Supermatic (it's okay to be green)

I asked if it was okay to be called a second time and I was informed that I could get up to three items this way. Not to fear, I didn't get called again. All of the leftover tickets were now put into a very large bag and they were drawn one by one for people to come up and choose from things still on the tables. Well, I never did get called and there sure were some nice items but I wasn't too envious when I noted my prizes. Oh wow.

After the raffle we had to take two trips back to the campground to get all of the large items Sally won, such as a White Rotary sewing machine in a lovely table, a sewing stand, and even an Elna Grasshopper sewing machine. Too bad I didn't think to take photos of all she won, but they were her treasures now. We came back in plenty of time for the turkey dinner and time for a last visit with our new friends. We had a bit of a surprise after dinner when Helen Howes, our special guest of honor from the UK, gave a bit of a talk about her own journey into sewing and people powered sewing machines. It was a rare moment to hear her story from her own lips, something I'll always remember. Final goodbyes and we headed back to the campground where we, again, stayed up too late!

On Sunday we enjoyed breakfast in the motor home and treated ourselves to a lunch at the Rail House in Lake City where we ran into the last of the TOGA leaders, Cindy Peters, Bill Holman, Helen Howes, Carol, and a few others I can't remember having coffee before they headed off for a dinner at the casino. Another round of goodbyes and promises to come back next year, we headed off to our own homes, most of us only a few hours away. It was quite a weekend and lived up to its promises: no one is a stranger and everyone helps everyone else. So true. Thank you, Cindy Peters, for all the work you do all year long to see that we can have this get together, to Bill and Marcia  Holman for your expertise and hosting Helen Howes, and to Helen for flying over to our country just to visit and share her vast history and knowledge of the sewing machine. You rock!

Anne, Pastor Dave and Cindy with stole made of members blocks

Prep Work

I'm a pretty upbeat person and you have probably read about my excitement in regards to anything sewing machine related but I'm so very, very excited about the River Rat TOGA that I'm going to tomorrow. Of course, I'm not ready but I'm heading in the right direction. I have items I'm going to sell, sewing machines that might be of interest to other onions (that's the term they use in referring to each other) that could be for sale, and I'm thinking about which sewing machines to bring for advice. There are so many! But for now, here's what I'm bringing:

Original handcrank

Minnesota

Free Westinghouse in custom made base

Wizard (like the Brother Selectomatic)

Western Electric

Singer 66 with Lotus Decals

There is also a raffle on Saturday night that helps pay for our rental of the VFW hall in Lake City and other expenses as there are no registration fees for this convention. I'm bringing my Singer 75-1, a small but extremely heavy, serger. It is so unique but needs a treadle for successful use and I'm hoping someone will know exactly what to do with it. I'm hoping it's a hit due to its rarity.

Singer 75-1

One of my biggest sellers in my Etsy shop are the bentwood case carriers made out of web strapping and a set of snap buckles. I made some up and have an additional three as kits for other model as they don't have to be used only on bentwood cases but other older carrying cases, too. It's always a fine line between creator and buyer, wanting to keep my original idea to only be available through my shop. But can't anyone else take my idea and just make their own set of carrying straps? Maybe they could buy a set from me and then make up their own. Or make them up and sell them. Wait a minute: isn't that what I do? Well, yes, but if the idea originated with me don't I have the right to keep the product available only through my shop? That's a bit of yes and no but I need to place a statement on my Etsy listing for the carrying straps saying if the consumer uses my design to make their own, it can only be for personal use and they cannot profit by the sale of such items. It's  not copyright or patent law, just an intellectual property issue.

Singer 99 in bentwood case: all strapped in!

So wish me luck as I travel a couple hours south and spend two days steeped in antiques and sewing! I'm excited to stay with Sally and her husband and to meet Phyllis, too. TOGA, TOGA, TOGA!