Encore

Saturday dawned a cold day outside but it was a warm welcome that I got from the quilting group up in Cambridge at the First Baptist Church. Back in September I did a bit of show and tell at the first meeting of the  new year, talking about how great vintage sewing machines could be. A few of them were already believers but after my talk I sold several to members of their group and made some new friends. It was fun to go back and this time show them how they could clean their sewing machines inside and out. I loved to see what they were working on but especially all of those sewing machines! Of course, they were portable and mostly "white plastic" but they really had some very nice ones and I was only too glad to admire them:

I spy the Singer 99's bentwood case on the far right: yup, she bought it from me after my last visit!

They had already been working an hour when their leader, Gale, gathered them together around my small set-up of two sewing machines, a Signature from the 1970's and a Brother from the 1990's. The various parts were labeled and I talked about what could be cleaned on the outside and what could be cleaned and oiled on the inside. The top would come off the Signature sewing machine to look inside and oil, but the Brother was all sealed up, as most of their sewing machines were, too. We talked about what could be done in the bobbin area with a brush and a drop of oil in the right spot. They were invited to bring up their own machines and any questions and I had two nice women who showed me their sewing machines and wondered if they could be put to right again.

Here's the first woman with a very nice Pfaff that she said was not working as good as it used to so with a few screws removed under the handle this is what we found:

What is that stuff?

She was speechless. I wasn't sure what all of the junk was but it seemed like some kind of linty stuff so we got cleaning with sewing machine oil on cotton swabs. In the meantime, there was another woman with a Viking 150, I believe, that she bought at a thrift shop that she wanted to get working. It did work but seemed way too sluggish to her so we just took a good look at it:

The top did not come off but we found the bobbin area could be taken apart and, boy, was there a whole bunch of lint in there! While she worked away with cotton swabs and tweezers, I went back to the first sewing machine where it was now looking pretty good. While they worked on cleaning up their own sewing machines I walked around the room and talked with everyone and answered questions that I could but most women just wanted to know that their sewing machine was okay. Of course, they were fine and with their new bottles of Triflow sewing machine oil they hope to keep them running good. I bought a dozen bottles of Triflow as part of the class I hoped to teach but with no students I brought them along for the quilt group and sold all but two!

Back to the Pfaff that had so much lint, it was now cleaned up inside but as we were getting ready to place a few drops of oil in select spots I found a thread stuck in the take-up lever. Try as we might, it was going to need needle nose pliers at home to get it all out. The ouside was finally cleaned with TR3 Resin Glaze and now she was going home with her sewing machine looking and acting like new again. All of the lint cleaned out and a few drops of oil made all the difference so wait until that stuck thread was removed!

The Viking was now much, much cleaner and when put back together and tried out: success! It ran great, full of pep that it didn't have before. This sewing machine is going to be used by an exchange student who has shown an interest in sewing and now it will be a great machine to learn on. I think we all went home pretty happy with our conversations about sewing and the machines we use to accomplish it.

Back home again and working on my own sewing projects, but first I better order another dozen bottles of Triflow oil so I'm ready for the next time.

Other Duties As Assigned

There are many days when my job is busy and even hectic and at other times I'm at my computer all day in my office. Then there are days when we get to have other duties that make our jobs interesting. Just last month I made a series of costumes and props for a Star Wars themed break from final exam week. Today I fixed the new sofas that came not quite to our specifications.

It started when our old leather sofas could no longer be repaired and were getting pretty shabby looking. The search for new furniture was long and arduous but we finally ordered two long sofas, a few chairs, and several cubed ottomans. The big day came for delivery and when the sofas appeared there was a bit of head shaking. Was this the color we wanted? Somehow it looked "off" so the samples were brought out and, much to our dismay, they were the wrong shade of brown, more of an olive brown. At first we were just happy to have the new furniture in place but then the consensus was it needed to be the color we originally picked out. After many phone calls and much finagling, we were able to order the right color sofas and kept the olive tone models and were charged a much smaller price for their mistake.

For the most part we are happy but then we noticed only the bottom cushions were tethered to the frame and the back cushions are just loose. But we ordered them to all be tethered! After a round of sighs I suggested we might be able to do this ourselves so I got to work. Vinyl in a similar color was found and small D-Rings were bought so I brought my Singer 201-2 into work for the day. Here's one of the vinyl straps with a D-ring attached getting sewn into the end of the cushion, right above the zipper pull:

As only a 201-2 can do, it sailed right through the many layers of vinyl and the nylon zipper teeth. Here's how it looked on the inside of the cushion:

and then on the outside:

The D-ring gets snapped into another clip that is tethered via an elastic strap. Although the bottom cushions are tethered on both sides, it was only going to happen on one side of the back cushions due to their construction. Here's the ring with the elastic strap:

We only rigged this up to the sofas that are not inside the library itself, where they are at the entrance and actually outside in the hallway. I know that sounds strange but our buildings are connected and the library is on the third and fourth floor of one of the centrally located buildings. That hallway and lounge area gets a lot of use and we just didn't want those back cushions to wander away. Here's the whole thing done and in place:

That's right, you can't even tell. It's supposed to be that way, just like underwear: you need to have it but we don't want to see it. I could do this because I knew I had a sewing machine that would sew all those layers of vinyl, my trusty Singer 201-2. Have I mentioned I love that sewing machine? Indeed I do.

Yes, we are Still Stitching

As promised, I watched the film Still Stitching, produced by James and Brenda Wolfensberger of New Savvy Productions and think it's worth the price in time and money to watch. At first, I thought a film only fifteen minutes shy of two hours was going to be just too much, especially since I watch so few movies or even television (how do you think I get so much done?) but they captured my attention right from the start. If you enjoy looking at and talking about vintage sewing machines, this is one of the few current films that will satisfy your longing. Maybe it will stir your interest in further collecting, too, so this could be an enabler device!

Following a chronological timeline of the first lock stitch sewing machine in 1844 to the late 1960's when plastic took over metal components, we get to see those first machines and detailed explanations of how they worked. I loved the ideas put forth about fashion and how it has changed because clothing no longer had to be sewn by hand with the introduction of the mechanical sewing machine. Of course, more was said about Isaac Singer since he captured the market, but Wheeler & Wilson, White, National 2-Spool, Free Westinghouse (just like mine!), Davis, Elna, Necchi, Pfaff, and Kenmore were all described as we viewed these works of art. There was education, to be sure, but the presenters were clearly lovers of these old machines.

So who were the presenters? Scott Kennedy, Danna L. Fore, Cathy Racine, Joseph Brennan, Karen Castor, Will McCann, Terry Crawford Palardy, and Renato Pace. Of these eight people, some names I recognized, others were new to me, who got into this hobby (for most of them) for a variety of reasons yet clearly love what they are doing even if it's now a business. After watching these experts talk about their machines, I really wanted to know who they were and how I can visit each one since we are such kindred spirits but I had to wait until the end when each one was identified and a bit of their history was revealed. Wow, was that ever neat! Cathy Racine's father was an auto mechanic so she had been exposed to mechanics early. She found that after teaching autistic children all day it was refreshing to be able to work on a sewing machine, to fix it, and find it stayed fixed, implying her students were  not going to get "fixed" or remember lessons from day to day. That resonated with me, too. A final comment by Will McCann was a fitting way to end the film when he said we should have a convention where those of like mind can gather to hear experts talk about and give lessons and we could just be together. Yes, that does sound like an event I would like to attend, too. How about you?

If you would also like to watch this film, I invite you to go to Still Stitching where you can watch the preview for free. If you would like to experience all of it and save some money enter the code sewmavin to rent the film for 30 days at 50% off or use the code to buy the DVD for 15% off. This offer is good until the end of January, something nice to do when it's too cold outside to be running around and we look for inside entertainment. John has extended this offer to me and I could have made you email me for the code but I really just want to make it as freely available as possible. Yet, if you do watch Still Stitching please consider making a comment in this blog post so we can all enjoy your opinion of the film. This is a great community of vintage sewing machine fans and we would like to hear from you, too.

Learning to Sew

I've been so excited to have a new class offered in our local community ed programs: Vintage sewing machines! Since I have so many maybe I should take this class and see what I've been missing...no, wait a minute, I already understand quite a bit about vintage sewing machines and how to use them. Maybe I should be teaching this course. Well, as it turns out...I AM!

That's right, I proposed a class in learning to use your vintage sewing machine and they thought it was a great idea. Beyond the basic organization for the two nights of teaching, I've recruited a fellow sewing enthusiast, Susan, who is willing to help me if the numbers are more than six. There is an online catalog that contains the description of the class and what you will learn as well as the time and cost.

But now I am sad. I have no students. I was warned that it might take awhile for this to catch on as that's  typical for this community but I was still hoping for at least four students so we could get the ball rolling. If you are interested in taking a class like this and you do not live in Minnesota, please take a look at your local community ed classes to see if something is offered. You might not have thought to look into a resource like community education. If you do live in the Twin Cities, well...get going!

What has been happening here in Sewing Machine Mavin's life? My computer went down for a couple days and that caused a bit of panic but my dear son-in-law, who is handy with computers, took it home and replaced the video card and now we are humming again. Whew! That was close.

Along the lines of sewing, I took a favorite old fleece top and cut it apart and made a new one. It was a success, the first of this kind for me. 

Fleece shirt patterned after an old worn out one

With Christmas over, fabric sales are great with 70% off holiday fabric and other clearance fabrics at 90% off plus an additional 20% off the whole bunch of fabric that I purchased. That got a few of the fabrics as low as 72 cents a yard and that's pretty exciting. Sorry, no photos of stacks of fabric this time.

Stay tuned to a fabulous opportunity to see a new movie, Still Stitching by James and Brenda Wolfensberger. As part of this blog, I'm going to review it and you will have the opportunity to purchase at a reduced price or watch it streaming for half price during the month of January. I think we are going to like this but please check back again soon for this great opportunity!

When Old Is Made New Again

Those who have been reading this blog know I love vintage. My friends know I love vintage so they sometimes pass along items they think I might be interested in. A big thanks goes to Natalie who gave me over a dozen of her husbands silk neckties. Having retired and no longer in need to so many ties, he went through them and according to Natalie "When he's willing to let go of anything I just go with it." The ties sat around for many months until the craft fairs were over and then I got going on making those ties into two items for my Etsy shop, a foot stool and a pillow. I didn't dream these up myself but found them on Pinterest. With only photos I did need to figure out how to make it happen.

Much of it depended on finding a footstool so it was my lucky day when I spied one at Goodwill for $5, plus it was seniors day and I got a further discount. Yes, I nearly ran out of the store! Once I had the base, I could measure out the circumference and decide how many ties it would take, then make a template for each wedge. I got the idea to take the wide pointed end of the tie and have it hang over the edge and that turned out to be a good decision when it came time to actually fasten this to the footstool:

I left the footstool intact and just covered over it, tacking the intersections with decorative nails. What about the center? It needed to be pulled down so it got a button and the cord through the shank was pulled through to a hole on the bottom. I had to put a small piece of metal to tie it off so it wouldn't pull back up but it seems to be very sturdy:

Now that I have cut off the larger end of the 14 silk ties, I still had a sizable length of tie left over. In comes the idea of making a pillow by weaving the short ends like a lattice pie crust:

I really had a difficult time making it square but in the end it did measure out to a nearly perfect 16" square. I mounted it onto a section of new coat lining, added upholstery fabric from the compact cabinet project, installed a zipper and it was nearly done. Although I wanted to serge the edges the ties interfacing was too thick and kept jamming the two sergers I tried. I ended up trimming first and then using the serger to provide the stitches on the edge, no cutting. I like the pointed end of the ties hanging over the edge, too, deciding that's where the zipper needed to go.

With a custom made pillow form, it's complete and in my Etsy shop. I even had to made a new category: Home Decor. Not exactly easy to do because I had to figure it out on my own, yet it was very satisfying to have them done.

A fitting post for the first day of 2016 where I used something from the past that will decorate someones home in 2016 and years to come. Welcome the New Year!

Bridal Bliss

As the resident seamstress of the family in Minnesota, I was asked to hem the wedding dress of my husbands second daughter, to be married in May. Looking at a photo sent in a text message, it was hard to say if it could be altered much but I would take a look. We finally got together at Christmas and she modeled her dress that needed to be let out in the bodice and hemmed 3.5 inches. Because the back was laced, there was a panel that was sewn in plus snaps so I could adjust it to give her another inch without showing the adjustment. But now for the hem: (sorry not much for photos to protect the groom from seeing this gorgeous dress)

It was made up of a satin base for the dress with layers of chiffon. Every other layer was pleated and all of the layers were on an angle, or asymmetrical. Since she needed so much off the bottom layer, a pleated one, I was afraid it would look like the last layer was just barely peaking out. But back to the beginning of this job, I was going to have to shorten the satin layer first, then the underlining, then the two layers of stiff netting before I worried about the chiffon. You might know it, the satin layer has a fine net stiffener all around so I needed to take out two rows of stitching and reapply that stiffener. Because there was a train, I didn't have to take out the entire hem, just the front and tapering back to the train. The underlining and layers of netting were pretty easy so that left only that chiffon, the part that would really show.

I decided I need to master the hemmer foot and now I had yards of chiffon that I just cut off to practice on. Enter the Singer 201 with a standard hemmer foot:

Singer 201 with hemmer foot

These were part of a set included in almost all straight stitch Singers of the day so I got out the instructions, watched videos, practiced, practiced, practiced, but here's what I got:

Hemmer foot in action (or in-action)

Note the fabric coming out the back of the needle? The stitches are there but it didn't catch the fold in the fabric. At least, sometimes it did and sometimes it didn't. This wasn't going to work.

Then I remembered how great the Bernina's stitched and they had a whole collection of hemmer feet so I got out the Bernina 830 Record with foot #168:

Bernina foot #168

From the top, those two models of hemmer feet hardly look different but when turned over there are differences. Look at the hem the Bernina made:

Bernina hemmer foot in action

Nearly perfect! I had a few stops and starts in the beginning but then I got into a rhythm and it really rolled along, pun intended. It was such a tight hem that I didn't feel the need to even press it and thought she might want to have the whole dress touched up right before the wedding anyway and could decide then if it needed any extra care.

Moral of the story: when faced with a high level task, go for the best equipment. Bernina is know for their marvelous quality of stitches and their feet might be expensive but for hemmers, they were the best. Did the hem look like it was a tiny ruffle at the bottom? Not at all, it looked perfect and she will be a perfect bride.

Small But Mighty

I've had a wonderful cabinet sitting in my kitchen. Of course it has a sewing machine in it and not just any sewing machine but a Singer 15-91 with the famous potted motor for gear to gear smoothness and strength. The machine is great with near perfect decals but the cabinet needed a bit of cleaning up and new upholstery on the seat:

Hollywood cabinet

Yesterday was the day to finally replace the red vinyl with new fabric and it was easy to do. I thought I'd share with you how it was done and didn't even require a sewing machine just hammer and nails. For starters, I needed to take the bottom of the seat cushion apart. It was a nice board with only four screws holding it on:

Base of seat cushion

Once it came off I saw there were tacks every two inches but I'm not going to put that many in, hoping the fabric I'm using isn't going to pull out as maybe the old vinyl would. The foam base in still in great condition so I'm leaving it as it is, covering it over with the new striped fabric.

Slab of original foam in excellent condition

I do use the old tacks that pull out straight so I don't have to hunt down the big staple gun.

Seat cushion before

All tacked down

The base board (second photo) gets screwed back on and now returned to the bench: it's a fit!

Seat cushion done and backrest is next (there's storage under the seat cushion)

Now I need to match up the stripes and take off the back rest on the bench but see how it's held on?

Bracket and screw holding the backrest in place

Only a bracket on each side with one screw; that doesn't seem like much but I'm forced to use their system since I have no better plan. Once back in place it now looks great:

Bench seat done and ready for sewing

I think it took me less than an hour and it really updates this marvelous sewing machine that does not go out of date. Here are some photos of this compact cabinet that is housing the Singer 15-91:

Singer 15-91 with nearly perfect decals

Here's my kitchen companion

This might be a small sized cabinet but it holds a mighty sewing machine, ready to tackle all kinds of sewing, from light to heavy. I think that's appropriate on Christmas Day when we think about God coming down to us in the form of man, a tiny humble baby born in meager circumstances. He might have started out that way but He is mighty to save. Now that's a celebration!