A Change of the Machine Guard

I'm still working on my MIL's wallhanging!  I'm hoping to finish either today or tomorrow.  Part of the reason for the delay in progress is that over the weekend, I had to change sewing stations:  the drafting chair I use while sewing has breathed its last!

I've had it eleven years, purchased long before I had my Koala table.  Guess I'll be shopping for a new chair for New Year's.  None of the house chairs are high enough to use at the sewing cabinet so I've had to switch over to the dining room table and Rhubye, my Singer 401, and I are making it work!

I haven't had her out in a while so it's good to give her a work out.  I had finally decided on her name over the summer.  She's named after my (maternal) grandmother's middle sister.  My 401 was birthed in South Carolina, is sturdy and a bit modern much like her namesake.  My great-aunt was a thick-set and very no-nonsense woman.  When I was a teenager, there were many summers that I traveled with my aunt to visit our relatives down South.  She was the first in her family to go to college, which she did at a late age, unusual in her day.

I also outfitted Rhubye with a new gadget recently:  the Singer Featherweight Shop ran a "12 Days of Christmas sale" and on one of the days the special was for their new thread post.

This creates a horizontal spool pin on the machine which allows for better thread flow for cross-wound spools.  Although the Featherweight Shop primarily offers accessories for Featherweight machines, they are now starting to add items to their stock for other vintage Singer machines too.  However, this new thread post will also work on Featherweights.  I already had their original thread stand for my Featherweight:

I think it adds to the vintage look of that machine.  However, I do like the "low  profile " of the new thread post for the 401.  I think it fits her modern style -- although the 401 is not as "space-age modern" as Singer 500 "Rocketeer" Series machines.

So, Rhubye and I are hard at work on finishing up my MIL's Kringle gift.  Let's get back to work!

Fanny Featherweight has worked so hard, she deserves something for herself!

Up until recently, I had been using Fanny Featherweight as my primary machine since right before Christmas last year.  Since that time, she successfully pieced the tops for both Bonnie Hunter's "Ringo Lake" and "En Provence" mysteries.

When the mysteries were done and after giving her a little over due TLC, it was now time that I finally got around to doing a little something special just for her.  When I originally got the machine fourteen years ago it didn't come with a case.  Since I had hopes for this to one day be my travel sewing machine, I wanted to get or make a carry bag for her.  Actual Featherweight cases can be bought but new ones can be expensive and you have to worry about old ones being musty.

There are also generic carry bags around.  Rebecca over at the Cheeky Cognoscenti blog wrote about the case she got and showed you how to give it a wonderful personalized spin with a custom embroidered monogram.  I also want to point out that she wrote an absolutely fabulous post about her *two* Featherweights and some history of the machines and how to use them --- check that out here. 

When I put my machine back in working condition in 2016,  I began to look around for a bag in earnest.  Fortunately in this internet age, whatever you can think of is usually already out there!  I found Jeni Baker's post about how she created her Sew Portable Travel Set for her Featherweight.  I love that it not only provides a bag for the machine but one for the foot controller and a cover for the extension bed.  The pattern is available on her website or from the Singer Featherweight Shop.  You can see her tutorial for constructing it here and see it made up in fabrics from the Singer Featherweight line from Robert Kaufman here.

I was lucky enough to get the pattern and some fabrics in a clearance kit from Connecting Threads.  When I pulled out the kit, I decided it needed something so I too decided to add a little of the Singer Featherweight fabrics to it!  It was perfect timing because right at that time they were on sale at The Singer Featherweight Shop.   Eventually, I also purchased some webbing for the handles (there are two sizes in the picture because while shopping I wasn't sure which I preferred) and then finally got started on it at the end of the Summer.

I had to make changes to some of the supplies --- the pattern called for using canvas and interfacing inside the bag to provide stability.  Of course, wanting to get right to work on it, I didn't have either.  But I did have some Pellon Peltex (701 single-sided fusible) that I thought would make a great substitute.  I tested it out....

Top:  Exterior fabric, Batting and Peltex, Bottom: Fabric and Peltex only

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... and found I like the combination of the batting and Peltex on the exterior and batting quilted to the interior so that there was both padding on the outside and next to the machine plus a bit of stiffness to the bag exterior.  During the testing I got to try out doing free motion quilting on my Featherweight although I actually ended up quilting the bag parts in straight lines with a walking foot which also went fine.  I had purchased a few special quilting feet for her awhile back so this was my chance to finally try them out.  The Peltex is so stiff  that when I cut out the pieces that would make up the bag exterior, I cut them an inch smaller to leave the required half inch seam allowance (per the pattern) exposed all around.

However, after that I got stuck!  The first problem was that I didn't read the directions through and carefully enough.  When I read further down in the directions, it turned out that the body pieces were actually cut oversize and supposed to be trimmed down after quilting!  Yikes!!  So now I was concerned about having the stiff Peltex in the seam allowances if I did cut it down or if I didn't cut it down, that the bag wouldn't be a snug as it looked in the pattern.  I rolled around ideas in my head for about a week on how to make that work.

When I thought I had one,  I tried moving forward to the next step which is to join the ends of the webbing cut for the straps to connect them.  Uh oh!  The pattern called for something normally very simple:  zigzagging the ends together with the join and the whole strap to be covered later with a strip of a coordinating print.  Yeah, simple unless you are working on a straight-stitch only machine and both of your other zigzag machines need repair!  Unfortunately this just shut me down completely as this project was really the thing I wanted to get done.  I did try moving on to making a runner for Halloween but ran into some issues with that too and then just seemed to walk away from the studio for too long a while.

But with the year winding down and realizing that so many things I had wanted to get done for the year were sitting idle, I really had to push myself back into the game.  Added to that there was talk of a potential trip go to visit a friend and I wanted to be able to bring this machine so once again this bag became a priority project.  But how to move forward?  Well, I could go fix my electronic machines but I admit, I have been reluctant to do that.  Looking at Fanny, I began to think about the possibility of buying another vintage machine, one that could stitch zig zag but was old enough where I could maintain it myself like I have been able to do with her.  After doing some research I found what I was looking for in my new Singer 401A.

She hasn't been named yet (I'm still rolling around a couple of options), but she has already been tested and put to work.  I was able to use her to join those strap ends...

....and  to cover the strap with the decorative trim fabric and attach it to the  exterior.  In the end, I did cut down the exterior pieces as per the pattern, cutting away as much of the Peltex from the seam allowance as I could.  However, suddenly the 401 seemed to not like stitching on or even next to the Peltex!  Everything I had read about the 401 said it was a workhorse and was good at sewing through heavy materials.  I was getting really frustrated (frequent thread breakage and uneven tension) and thought I was going to have to throw in the towel on this project.  But as a last shot,  I pulled Fanny back down and she came to the rescue!  She had no problem stitching through or around the layers and I was able to finally get the bag body done!  Whew!!

Concerned that the 401 had now developed operating problems, when I went to construct the remaining accessories, I went back to her to see if she'd stitch.  Would you believe it  -- this time, no problems at all!  So I used her to quilt (once again trying both free motion for the interior and walking foot for the exterior with slant shank feet purchased just for this machine) and sew up the extension bed cover and the drawstring bag that will carry the foot pedal and cord.  So here they finally are in all their glory!

The 401A is only four years younger than my Featherweight so how cool is that little Sis got to help finish making a comfy travel home for her older Sister!  This also notches my first finish for the year.  Hopefully it won't be the only one!

It's Friday so it's a Bonnie Day!

"Bonnie" meaning good and Bonnie meaning it's time for Part 2 of Bonnie Hunter's newest Quiltville mystery "Good Fortune".

The instructions for this week's units --- blue and neutral half square triangle squares --- are here.  Bonnie says the colors for this week's units were influenced by the beautiful painted ceiling beams in the courtyard of the Temple of Heaven in Bejing (be sure to check out her post for the pictures of them!).  It's interesting to note that most of Bonnie's mysteries start with simple basic units like the nine patches from last week and the HSTs today.  If you are working on the mystery, don't forget to link-up on Bonnie's blog on Monday and show everyone how far you've gotten -- no pressure!

I don't have the "Good Fortune" to be working on the mystery but rest assured I've downloaded the instructions.  However, like many of you my sentiments for today are that....

Quiltville Mystery mugs available from Zazzle.com 

For the first time in weeks, I've got a day with no errands, appointments or commitments so it'll be a Quilt-A-Thon day for sure!  My Bonnie Project for today is to continue working on "Scrappy Trips" blocks.  Last week I was here with them:

This week started with a plan to make a block a day for the next two weeks.  I got the blocks done for the first three days this week so am now here:

After adding the new blocks to the layout, I counted to see where making blocks over the weekend and next week would leave me.  While it would be enough blocks for the size quilt I want (generous lap size), I realized I'd need another week after that to complete the top and then more time beyond that if I want to get it layered and possibly quilted.  So change of  plans:  I've now decided that since I want to stay within the two week time frame to get this to a top (because I've got other things to get to as well), I'm going to bump it up to making two blocks a day from here on in.  This way I can have the blocks and the top completed within the two weeks.  As for the layering and quilting?  Well, I'll see how busy it gets as we go into the final leg of the holiday season and make a decision on that in the coming weeks.

Yesterday after a day in our community garden (they came to take out our Port-A-Potty until the Spring), I got two more set up for the finishing stitching:

I'll finish those and then make the two for today.  After that, I can move on to one of those "other things":

This was the project I was working on back in the summer when I realized I needed to move beyond the capabilities of my Featherweight machine if I was going to complete it.  Now that I have the 401, I've already done some work on that project and would like to bring it to completion.  With a whole day to devote to quilting I should be able to get that done.  Wish me luck!

A Warm Welcome To A New Member of My Quilt Studio Family!

The thing that stopped me most recently was the loss of my Featherweight machine for two weeks.  No it wasn't broken -- it was a featured star!

For a while now I've been sewing on Fanny my Centennial Featherweight.  A friend in my complex got a grant to host a series of Oral History nights for the Tenants Association of her building.  She recruited seniors in her building born between the years 1920 and 1950 to come down and share stories of their lives or how they came to live in our community (which, by the way, is Co-op City, which has been said to be the largest affordable housing complex in the world).   She had the idea to decorate various areas in her Association room with "nostalgia stations".

When she started telling me about a sewing themed one she wanted to do, I asked her:  "do you have a machine?".  She didn't so I volunteered mine.  When we brought together our stuff, I realized she actually didn't have much in the way of iconic sewing items so a lot of what you see on the table is from my stash of family sewing items.  As I've related before, the Featherweight came to me through my mother whose boyfriend had been a tailor.  The forged cast iron on the table is real and belonged to my great grandmother, the pinking shears, tracing wheel, sock darner and tape measure were from my grandmother's sewing stash along with the Poinsettia hankie displayed.  I have a bunch of my grandmother's hankies and we were able to use them to accent each of the other displays in the room as well.  It was fun to work with her on these first two events and I was pleased to get to share some of my own family history in the process.

Another part of my loss of momentum was getting stuck on another project (and hopefully more on that in another post).  Getting stuck led me to re-evaluating my equipment needs.  I've long needed to fix my two electronic machines but admit I've been reluctant to do so.  Both were serviced in the last year and yet the problems I'm having with them have reoccurred making me wonder if it's time for an upgrade.  I'd really like to trade in both of them for one new upgraded machine but admit that the cost of that, even with the trade-in, is at the moment prohibitive.  This led me to think about what I features I really needed right now.  Fanny the Featherweight has been a champ and I love that I can maintain it myself for the most part.  The two limits have been the 5" throat space and that it doesn't do zig zag.  Actually the throat space is not a huge issue considering that it's still possible to quilt on it for small projects like mug rugs and runners.  For six years of this quilty life I quilted even queen size quilts on my Euro-Pro which is a standard 7" throat space machine.  

Quilting the flannel "Triangle Trips" in 2010.

Also, some years ago I bought Marti Michell's "Machine Quilting in Sections" book.

She also has a class and DVDs on Craftsy/Blueprint on the same topic.  I've never tried this technique formally but had already planned to try it with a Christmas top I want to get quilted before the year ends.  So it occurred to me that for the cost of servicing these two machines, maybe I could consider investing in another vintage machine if I could find one that had zigzag capabilities.  

I did some research focusing on the all metal Singer models.  I narrowed it down to the machines in the 400 - 500 series (this and this are two of the many posts and YouTube videos on the various machines in this series).  After scouring listings on eBay, Craigslist and Etsy, I just recently came across this beauty.

So now there's a new equipment addition to the quilt studio!  It's a Singer 401A from 1956 purchased from Etsy vendor Ed Hurston of Stitches 'N Bobbins in nearby Connecticut.  She came Saturday and I've already had a chance to test out her zigzag and decorative stitch capabilities which allowed me to give my stalled project a boost.  I'll do a full post on her once I've had a chance to put her through her paces.  But I'm really looking forward to establishing this new relationship!

P.S.: I think I'm starting a new quilt addiction:  vintage machines.  I swear if I had the display space, I'd get this one just for show!

Do you own or covet vintage machines?  Do you like them better than modern electronic machines?  Inquiring quilt minds want to know!

Calming Down and Cleaning Up

You know things have calmed down greatly if I'm able to finally get back to my "Bucket List" goals!  Once again, I'm going to try to restart my Double Wedding Ring project because the Quilt Gods have sent an accountability angel:  Jo over at Jo's Country Junction has inspired me to get the DWR back into the quilting rotation with her new Double Wedding Ring Quilt Along on Wednesdays!   

She started this two weeks ago and I wanted to jump right in.  However, first I had another task....

….cleaning off my cutting table, LOL!!  Got to say it's been inspiring to read the posts from The Creative Spaces Blog Hop that's been hosted by Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis and Cherry Guidry of Cherry Blossom Quilting.  Watching all the participants show their studios, favorite tools and how they organize those tools (next week they'll be covering Fabric and Scraps Organization) was the perfect incentive to get my space in order. 

 

It has taken a while but....

….now, that's better!   So with that done and if I'm going to be sewing, I also need to do some additional studio maintenance -- namely, clean my Featherweight machine. 

 

If I thought the bobbin case area was dusty, look at the feed dogs!

I also lubed her up so she'll keep running for the indefinite future.  Now she's ready to go back into action!



There's also one other thing I've been waiting to do for her but since I still have to do it, I'll cover that in another post.

Spending Quality Time With My Featherweight

Now that the Christmas gift quilt is finished, my plan was to get back to focusing on the Bonnie Hunter mystery projects.  That is until I sat down to sew and my old Euro-Pro machine wouldn't stitch!  It's running and I can pull up the bobbin thread but the machine will not form stitches.  I believe that means the timing is off on the bobbin race.  So the bad news is that now, once again right before Christmas,  both of my primary machines need to go in for repair which I'll do after New Year's.

The good news is that this time, I have a back-up for the back-up machine:  Fanny, my Featherweight is fully operational for this go-round!

I guess it was an omen that I had recently bought some accessories for it.   Singer-Featherweight.com had a Christmas sale for most of December and during that I got:

I had long wanted the seam guide and they were selling these canvas accessory bags below cost because they were manufactured slightly smaller than the size they had wanted them to be.  For me it was perfect because it is just what I needed to store all of my Featherweight stuff in.  I had also long been eyeing some free-motion feet on eBay:  

A while back (during another sale) I had purchased a feed dog cover plate for the Featherweight.  I've read both pros and cons regarding doing free-motion on the Featherweight and wanted to be able to try it.  Sew-Vac  was offering a discount on all the feet I wanted so my Christmas present to myself was to get them.  Why three kinds?  I use each of these kinds of feet -- closed toe, open toe, and echo -- on my other machines depending on the project so wanted to have them all for the Featherweight too.

This is also good because on my "To Do" list has been plans to make a carry bag for the Featherweight since my machine didn't come with a case.  In both of the bag patterns I have, the bodies need to be quilted so it will give me a chance to test the new feet out. 

For now though, it will be a while before I can put the feet to the test since I need to catch up on the Bonnie stuff.  Part 5 for "On Ringo Lake" dropped on Friday but I'm still working on Part 3:

 

It's said that the Featherweights weren't designed to work efficiently with cross wound thread spools and it's better to use a thread guide with them to feed the thread to the machine.  In my post about the Christmas gift quilt, I had talked about my old cast iron thread stand and how I had lost the center pole that holds the thread.  Right after posting that, I found a solution for a replacement right under my nose:  as you can see in the picture above, I found a wooden dowel in my quilt space that was just the right circumference to fit the hole in the stand!  The next thing I'll purchase for Fanny is a dedicated thread stand that will fit in the top oil hole of the machine that will also allow the thread to sit on the machine's spool pin.

 

Picture Courtesy of Singer Featherweight.com

So now it's back to work with hopes I can fully catch up before the (late) link up on Tuesday.  Time to:

 

 

Putting the Featherweight In Service

Twelve years ago, I came in possession of a Featherweight machine.   It originally belonged to my mother's boyfriend who was a tailor.  At the time, I had only been quilting for two years and had always heard such good things about these machines so like most quilters I coveted one.  Not for sewing with it mind you -- I just wanted to display it!  Once I had it, I set up the quilt space display I had dreamed of.

The iron 2nd from the left is real and belonged to my great grandmother!

I made my first mini quilt for it, choosing the design and sizing the quilt so it would deliver the maximum impact when displayed on the machine bed.  I also eventually learned that you can date these machines by their serial numbers (here is one place to look that information up).  Based on its serial number, this one was made in 1952 so is one of the "Centennial Edition" machines.   It was a given that when we moved, setting up another display in my new quilt space was a priority.  At first it started like this:

However that first little quilt looked really lonely on that long expanse of wall and I realized that I had the perfect excuse to make more mini quilts and the perfect place to display them.

Back in December with a couple of projects still to finish up for the end of the year, both my main Janome and back-up Euro-Pro sewing machines went on the fritz.  At that point, I thought it might be time to actually try to use the Featherweight for sewing.  When I originally got the machine, I had no idea if it still worked and (sheepishly) admit that I didn't even try plugging it in.  Ironically, I had thought about this very same thing in April so had done some research about Featherweight maintenance and based on what everyone said had purchased David McCallum's book "The Featherweight 221 and I" which promised to get me up to speed on servicing, maintaining and even restoring Featherweights.  So when I sat down with the book and the machine.....

....almost immediately I found out that I was out of luck!  The first thing I discovered was that the belt on the machine was split!!  This meant that even if everything else worked, the main part that drives the needle was kaput!  Fortunately I was able to switch production of the projects I wanted to work on to doing them by hand.  Even so, I still (finally) plugged in the machine and found out that in fact the motor and light DID still work so decided not to let the broken belt be an impediment.  I added a plan to service the machine and get it back to running to my 2016 "To Do" list.

Once my hand work was moving along at a good clip and my Janome came back from service, I wanted to see if I could also get this machine up and running to use as the new back-up.  If I can learn how to maintain and service this completely mechanical machine myself, I won't have to stop production when my electronic machines need to go into the "hospital".

I finally sat down with the machine two weeks ago and reviewed the whole book and the machine to determine what parts and supplies I would need.  I researched where I could get the things on my list both on the web and locally.  Unfortunately none of the local places were nearby whereas two of the three best web sources I found offered free shipping.  Even for the one that didn't, the shipping cost was less than what I would have paid in carfare to travel to Manhattan or gas to drive up to Westchester which is where the two closest local sources are.  By the weekend, all the orders arrived from:

April 1930's Featherweight Specialty Shoppe (now The Singer Featherweight Shop): 

Note:  They are conducting in-person workshops on Featherweight maintenance all across the country this year.  If you're interested, information about where they will be held is here.

Nova's Featherweights and Quilting:

and NgoSew (eBay): 

 Also following the instructions on Nova's site (scroll down to her June 2015 "Tip of the Month"),  I went to the local hardware store to purchase some Kerosene to clean off the old lubricant on the gears before putting a fresh application on (this is the smallest bottle I could get which is still waaayyy more than I needed!).

With Mr. McCallum's great instructions, I worked my way through replacing the belt, cleaning and lubricating the machine's gears (there are also great videos on this at April 1930's and at Nova's at the bottom of their pages), oiling the machine and cleaning it off (soap and water).  I also had to change the feet on the bed of the machine -- the old ones were totally dried out and crusty!

I replaced the original light bulb:

....with a new bright LED one:

 Here are the two bulbs:  the old one on the left and the new one on the right.  Not only does the new bulb have a "cleaner" light but another advantage is that it is sheathed in silicone so is not hot to the touch!  I've read more than a few comments about being burned by the old lights because they (and the metal housing above them) get very hot once they've been on a while.

I bought a supply of bobbins, a 1/4" foot and a walking foot made for single hole thread plates so I'd be ready to stitch once it was up and running.  I would like to eventually buy a new bobbin case and a needleplate with seam guide markings but I think I've spent enough on this for right now!  Oh and what's a shopping expedition without a few tchatchkes!

Nova had this cute Featherweight pin that I just had to have to add to my quilt pin collection.  I had seen red or white felt spool pin pads at a number of sources and figured I would just make my own from some felt I have around here --- that is until I saw the *cutest* crochet spool pin doilies at April's and again I just couldn't resist!!  The only thing I've still got left to do is get some (would you believe it) car wax to polish her up.

I've christened her Fanny -- a fun bit of alliteration and a nod to a (deceased) aunt of mine!  So after all of that, the real question is:  Does she work?

Yes!!  Here she is on her first project with me:  sewing the binding strips (with the new 1/4" guide foot) for my High Strung +2 quilt.  Something else I didn't know about Featherweights is that while they are straight-stitch only machines, they are able to stitch in reverse!  Next she also managed just fine attaching the binding to my "High Strung +2" quilt that I finished hand quilting on Monday.  This gave me a chance to try out the walking foot. 

What I hope to use her for next is an accessories project just for her!  Many people swear by their Featherweights as a traveling machine.  My Euro-Pro machine was my traveling machine but I admit it's pretty heavy and bulky even with the Tutto bag my MIL gifted me many years ago.  One of the places where I saw McCallum's 221 book recommended was on Jeni Baker's blog In Color Order.   She did another post where she made a tote for her machine (and there's another good tutorial over at the Crafty Hipster blog too).  It just so happens I already had a bag pattern for a tote the same size and having made a tote in 2014 as a gift for our neighbors, figured I can try making one for the Featherweight too.  Looking forward through out the rest of the year to put this baby through her paces!!

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Attention Vintage Sewing Machine Fans!!

If you are a fan of antique machines, you may be interested in a new documentary on them called "Still Stitching".  It can be purchased on DVD or watched as a streaming download.  Check out the preview on YouTube here.  The DVD can be purchased here and you can tell your own vintage machine story here and possibly win prizes!