Cabinets and Miniatures

 It's that time of year again where I need to clear out the cabinets from the garage so we can get both cars in before it snows. When I peek into the garage I see two cabinets with sewing machines that are listed and ready for a new home, one refinished but empty cabinet, two cabinets in the process of being refinished, one waiting to get listed, and an industrial I just don't know what to do with.

State of the garage

Up front is the cabinet with a Singer 201-2. It's one of my favorite cabinets, a cabinet no. 2 of the treadle variety but not treadle, electric.

Singer 201-2 in refinished table

It came all apart so I could strip and refinish every last piece. The straight legs even needed to be painted, something I haven't had to do with this model of table so I went to Ace Hardware for a sample size of brown paint, about the cheapest way to get a mixed color in a small batch. It wasn't quite right so I went back and had it darkened. Turned out to be a great color that I might have to use again. All those pieces were like a puzzle but after doing several parts three times it finally works. Isn't she a beauty? And the sewing machine works well, too.

I couldn't resist a free Singer 401 and I thought the cabinet was going to be okay. Once it came into the garage I realized there was just too much flaking varnish so the whole things got stripped and refinished:

Singer 401 will go back in this table

This model had no real marks on it, just the flaking varnish so there was exposed wood that had turned darker. It's going to look spectacular when it's done (even the fake drawer pulls polished up nicely). With the nice weather we are enjoying I hope to get all of these done and listed for sale by Saturday.

Now we can get to the one I'm going to keep, the Davis vertical feed. The cabinet is oak and has seen better days with the veneer chipping on all sides of the top. I just had to make a decision about how to deal with that much chipping but I kept it intact and just sanded, getting ready for sealing coat. What was I going to be underneath the veneer? I didn't want to find out. The irons were pretty rusty so I cleaned them up and painted them. This was a first for me, at least I don't remember painting irons before. They turned out really nice but the cabinet languished. I finally got going and have it stained and ready with the 401's cabinet for a seal coat:

Davis cabinet, irons behind it

You can see I'm busy and looking forward to the craft fairs at the end of the month. Yes, they are back!

A package came in the mail a couple months ago and I have yet to share the contents with you. My sister, Sue, said she was sending me something but it wasn't ready yet. By the time it came I had almost forgotten those words so was so surprised to open the box to find this:

A tiny suitcase?

Once I got it opened I found a miniature Necchi:

Hand crank toy Necchi

Fits in its own small carrying case

It makes a good chain stitch:

Chain stitch sample

When I had it open to oil I noticed the red lever on the bottom:

When fully open you can see it's a music box! The red lever engages the mechanism or turns it off. The tune sounds familiar but I cannot pin it down. I'm going to have to share with my daughter Kelly who would easily be able to identify the tune. The back story to this little gem goes back a year or more when she sent me a photo of the machine and asked if she should buy it at a local garage sale. I said yes and then forgot about it. The hand crank mechanism was broken and then she had the dilemma of how to fix it.  JBWeld was suggested and that seemed to do the trick.  I'll turn the handle carefully! All in all, it was a very thoughtful gift from a thoughtful sister, one I will treasure.

Authentic Hand Cranks

The past few years I've been interested in hand crank sewing machines, my interest piqued because of the Treadle-On group and specifically, the River Rats TOGA I've been attending. When you see them in action and try one out for yourself, it's a bit hard to resist. They are generally old, beautiful, and somewhat smaller than a standard sewing machine. Up until this time I've converted a few 3/4 sized Singers into hand cranks with an after market crank:

Singer 99 with after-market handcrank added

They are not as nice but affordable and gives you a taste of this type of sewing. Then I bought a nice German hand crank and got a better one:

German hand crank in fancy wood case

The action is smooth, precise, and perfect for piecing blocks when quilting. Just in case you are not a quilter and ask "What is piecing?" as I once did, it's where you are sewing together the pieces cut out to make the whole of a block (and the blocks sewn together to make the top of the quilt, etc.). The more precise in cutting and sewing, the better your pieces fit together, look better, and you have fewer problems, at least with your quilting project. After using the German machine I had an opportunity to buy a Harris from Joe, something I wrote about in Three of a Kind. The Harris is a fairly small hand crank sewing machine and I've found it works well on the ironing board. As I cut, press, and pin with a cutting mat on my ironing board, there's room for the Harris on one end for sewing and then back to pressing. That's how I sew those block-of-the-month patterns where each block is done only once with precise directions. No multiple layers or cuts so setting it up on the ironing board works good for me.

Beloved Harris in wood case

At First Quilters last Saturday I had a request for a hand crank sewing machine so I brought an after market crank and a a Singer 99 for demonstration. As fascinating as something like that is, it's still a very heavy sewing machine, not great for travel as the woman who was interested was thinking about. When someone has a request, I start looking and the next day a child's sewing machine was for sale, a Singer model 40 hand crank:

Singer model #40 hand crank

The owner told me how much she used it as a little girl with all boys in her family: this was something all her own. Missing a needle and the case was pretty cracked up, I worked on it until she was purring again. Needles? I found some round shank industrial shorts that worked and were just lying around, waiting for the right sewing machine. The case could be taped up with colored Duck tape for a passable cover when traveling. The only hitch I can see is that it's a chain stitcher, not a lock stitch. With a chain stitch you only need a spool of thread for the top, no bobbin, but unless you secure the thread at the end it can be easily pulled out, a plus for mistakes but a minus for longevity. My research on chain stitching tells me it's more flexible and less likely to break that a lock-stitch but I'm going to have to try this one out.

Chainstitch front

Chainstitch back

With a taped up carrying case, it looks more like a child's play doctor kit:

Singer model #40 carrying case (tape on bottom side)

Even though it's a toy sewing machine, something I scoff at, this one might just be okay!

On Display

I love to stumble upon sewing machines that are shown to be of value as I value them.  In December I stopped by my public library and found a display of toy sewing machines, mostly antique:

but a few are vintage:

and even an American Girl doll gets into the collection:

Can she sew?

I commend the library for having such a nice built in display space that you cannot help but notice as you walk into the library. The cabinets are about waist height so perfect for a child to see. They keep the displays up for only a few weeks so you better enjoy them when you see them because they will be gone before your books are due!

I have a few toy sewing machines but I find them less than satisfying because they really weren't meant to do any serious sewing on them. The exception might be the beige model in the photo above that I've heard several people comment on using them as a travel machine where they piece quilts. I like my little hand crank Harris but it's fairly heavy and not exactly a lap machine. Maybe an aluminum body machine would be a nice addition if you were traveling across the country in an RV.

This needs to be a shorter post this week as we have said our final goodbye to my husband's mother, Mary Dubay. You might have read about the dresses I made for her and the delight in seeing her in a fancy dress for some of the many weddings we were at together. She was always cheerful, enjoying life in her own Irish way. We will certainly miss her laughter and devotion.

Marie, Rose, Mary, and Karen, 2013

Toy Story

As with most collections, there's an element of fun, and even whimsey, in what we choose to find and save. Today I'm going to shave two of my toy sewing machines. The first one I actually purchased via Craigslist, a toy Sears with a vibrating shuttle:

Compact in its case, pink, of course.

All of its goodies!

Bobbin case open with shuttle exposed

 It runs on batteries (AC cord was lost) and makes a fierce noise when you use that miniature foot control but it certainly does stitch! It was a hoot to figure it out and listen to the racket it makes but probably delighted some little girl back in the '60's. I think a 3/4 sized sewing machine would do a much better job and still be small and manageable, but Sears was out to capture a portion of the market with this toy.

A friend gave me the next toy and it certainly does not stitch but is way, way too cute to just set on a shelf:

All closed up with treadle underneath

Top flips open to reveal....

...a tiny hand crank sewing machine!

Moving parts: crank, treadle, 2 drawers

It is only two inches tall and three inches across so this is really miniature. With a hand crank I'm not sure what the treadle is for but it is still pretty cute.

This weekend I'm babysitting three of my grandchildren. As you can imagine, I will need plenty of engaging toys for a 7, 5, and 2 year old. I'm not going to take either of these toy sewing machines but I will take a hand-crank for fun times indoors. Stay tuned to see what they try to sew with Grandma Karen!