Sewing machine studio

    I know some of you will dismiss what is posted here as excessive, impractical, ridiculous, or laughable. Regardless, this setup works for me and keeps wonderful vintage machines doing what they do better than any new machine- sew straight stitches. All of these combined cost less than the piece of expensive junk lemon quilters Pfaff that I bought new 9 years ago (long gone).
     I have a table my husband made for my most used machines and I have it set up like a woodshop. In a woodshop, different tools have different functions. No one would think of having one saw or one drill. There are circular saws, band saws, table saws, hand saws, radial arm saws, etc. In my studio, each machine fills a role and in some projects I may use all of them as in wall hangings I just finished for a show. This enables me to have a good workflow with minimal set up time and work on multiple projects.

     Each machine has a particular function is set up to do it.

      This LBOW (Light Beige Oyster White) Singer 301 Slant needle is my piecing machine. I have another I use for retreats or travel. The best straight stitch machine ever. The motor is direct drive, no belt, and is incredibly faster than any new one. The slant needle area give phenomenal visibility.

      This Singer 15-91 is also a direct drive machine. I use this for sewing on all my bindings and pockets on the premade tote bags I use for comfort quilt giveaways. Absoulutely rock solid and powerful.

      This is my newest 301. I have a black one, but this mocha 301 works better. It is used for FMQ smaller quilts than put on the long arm. It quilts flawlessly with perfect tension and great speed. The quilting foot is on and ready to rock and roll at a moment's notice. I never name machines, but after using it recently I called it Mocha Momma because it really cooked.

      This Singer 401, another slant needle, direct drive, but a drop in bobbin, is my zig zag machine. I used to use it for blind stitch, but the finer one on the next machine took over. It is a powerful, smooth, awesome machine.

     The Bernina 830 was purchased because I needed a free arm machine for some uses. A friend in Pittsburgh recommended it and I found a great one on ebay from a sewing machine store on the West Coast with all its accessories. This machine makes a tiny blind stitch with monofilament flawlessly for applique. Plus the freearm so I can sew inside things. An all metal machine but for the camstack, it is easy to clean, oil and maintain- a real dream of a machine.
    I also have a Singer 15 treadle that I use sometimes when I just need to get calm sewing, but it is not in the rotation you see here.
    I truly use all these machines and they are a pure joy to sew on. I do my own maintenance, which I love. I am always in awe of the craftsmanship in these machines.  
     There is a lot of help and parts available in using vintage machines- don't dismiss them in favor of fluff features like built in cutters, bobbin winders or knee lifts. For sewing smoothly (no jumping machines), perfectly, and economically, vintage has my full loyalty. My expensive longarm is the one machine that always gives me fits.

Happy Vintage Surprise

     With the help of a friend finding the fabric, I was able to create the Christmas card design that was in my head. The fabric matched the sketch I did days earlier. I am not going to show the cards now as they need to get in the mail. I have to write them out, but all else is done. 
     However, the fabric needed an edge and the stitches on the Singer 401 just were not the right thing. I had some novelty yarn left from when I knit funky scarves and tried to think how to attach it. I tried to use a zig zag over it, but it kind of looked mashed. I opened the vintage manual from the 401 and looked for ideas. Lo and behold, there was a foot designed to couch yarns and do some other stuff. I dug out the box of attachments and there it was. It seemed rather tinny and small and I thought it was going to be a joke. I screwed it on, used the blind stitch, and it sewed the trim on flawlessly and easily with no learning curve. I was so surprised- and grateful. I don't need another reason to love my vintage machine collection, but this was a real good one. I sewed all 100 fabrics to the heavy interfacing with the trim. Yes!

Valentine Cards

     In preparation for Valentine's Day, I made about 30 cards. Half of them were little quilt hangings. When I got them all in envelopes, I realized I did not photo them. They were 4" crumb hearts sewing into a square. I learned that I never want to make crumb hearts again. 
     Then, I did a paper piecing card (pattern free from Carol Doak's site) which looks very nice. I finished the edges with the 401 fancy stitches, otherwise all the sewing was on the 301. I had some blank cards with windows that I used for these. I was not making more little quilts to turn inside out and add a ribbon. I hope they brighten the day for the people I sent them to. I mailed about 30.

Card when closed

Spa time for another 401

    This 401 was rescued from a rural auction in Springville, NY by a friend's husband for $25. It was mighty dirty, but surprisingly, the electrical was very good. There was rust on all the metal surfaces, but not very deep. Between the TR3, KrudKutter, and Mother's aluminum polish and lots of cotton balls and wooden sticks, it finished up very, very nice. The piston for the zig zag was not frozen up. It just has a little nick out the edge of one gear tooth in the top gear which is not impeding the stitching. I can hear it though as it runs. 
  Before:

 After:

     After I saw this photo, I cleaned the lower part of the machine under the bed and took off the hinges. Never unscrew the hinges from the cabinet like this- unscrew the set screw that holds the pin of the hinge in the machine and slide off the machine. They were dumping the cabinet which I think is why they did this. Anyways, it is shiny under the lip edge now.

401 ready to rock!

    Mary's 401 is all ready to stitch a storm. All polished, adjusted, oiled, greased. New spool pins and felts, new foot controller, it is an awesome machine. The needle did not want to move off center and took ages to swing. I can't believe how well these are machined and made. I would clean one any day of the week! She was really happy with it and has taken it to her cottage for summer sewing.

Clean camstack. Took a long time to get the zig zag working and needle to swing.

Clean bobbin area, no more moldy lint

It's go time!

Another day, another tuneup, cleanup

     A woman from my guild received a 401 from a neighbor and asked me if I would clean it up for her. Gladly I will clean them to keep them going. This one had been in a basement. The foot pedal was totally corroded inside and stuck in the on full bore position. It needs replacement. I don't think a lint brush was ever used. It took a couple of hours with a dental pick and pointed wood sticks to remove a huge wad of felt pushed all around the hook and lower gears. And it was moldy. Thankfully, no corrosion inside. The oil must have preserved it. I polished it all and am waiting for the foot. It does run and the light works as I used one of my controllers to test it. These are the before photos.

Why oh why, masking tape on the bed?

Red marker lines, Really?

The camstack took sometime to degunk and move freely,
not the worse I have seen

Quilt cards

    Just love to make quilt cards with my batik scraps. I had some birthdays around recently, including my grandson (forgot to take the picture of the trucks fabric card) and granddaughter (one day, two years apart although neither fell on my birthday, March 3rd). I like to make multiple cards at the same time because I get more warmed up as I go and it is a lot of scraps to take out and make a mess. I start with cut heavy weight interfacing and layer scraps on. I iron them and quilt them on, in this case my Singer 15 with belted motor. Then I used ribbon yarn to edge the cards. I did this on the 401 with zig zag and invisible thread. I just have to fasten the quilts onto the cardstock, stamp the inside, and address the envelopes.

Inside of Jolene's accordion card

Outside of card looking in

Before edging

Before edging

After edging

After Edging

401 cleaned and out the door!

     The 401 is totally cleaned and tuned. I delivered it to its owner, the receptionist at my PT on my visit for the neck. After all the gunk was cleaned out and oiled. there was a little corrosion to the tension discs in the tension dial. I had to disassemble, polish and reassemble. Good thing I have a 401 so I could check I was putting it together right. I always forget to photo something before I take something apart. I guess I am just too eager to jump in and fix. There was some other corrosion starting in the hook and thread guides. It needed a new spool pin, new felts, a new bobbin tire and lots of oil. The finishing touch was polishing with TR3. Just love the stuff. It does not harm the decals and the shine is so glass-like. It was missing the drip pan, it sits in a cabinet and I could not talk her into buying one on ebay. It has all the accessories except the straight stitch foot. 

All shiny! Yes, I know the spool pin is still missing in this photo.
I had not drilled out the old one yet.

No more gunk or corrosion

All the lint scrapped out along with hard gunk.
Isn't that machining just gorgeous?

401 Bubble bath time!

   Well, not actually a bubble bath, but serious scrubbing time. The receptionist at my physical therapist's office told me about an old machine she had and didn't know if it was worth tuning. I told her to bring it and I would grab it at the next appointment. It was a wonderful 401! Her husband had bought it used for her when they got married. It was running, but very gunky with hardened oil and grease. I have it almost cleaned except for the tension dial and polishing with TR3. I used rubbing alcohol to get rid of the gunk with qtips and wooden pointed sticks in all the gears and cam stack. Everything was pretty hardened up and stuck on. I love when it all comes off and the metal looks like new. I have not taken the finished photos yet. It is a great machine.

Under the hook

Camstack with gunk

Handwheel removed

Needle bar area

Making Valentine Crumb cards

  Every year, I make Valentine cards. Usually, I silk screen them. However, I am immersed in quilting lately and in love with crumbs. So, here is how I made a bunch. The insides need to be stamped yet. The stamps are from my former life as an art teacher. Every year, I taught the kids to make valentine cards. We made cards for the local VA hospital using collage and stamps. That was a great thing for the kids to do.
  I started with red and white and pink scraps sewing crumbs together. I love to do this.

I like to throw smidges of other colors in

     I keep building the crumbs until I get a large hunk. I ironed Heat and Bond on the back. I don't like it for quilting, so this was good to use for this.

     Then, I cut some heavy interfacing and fused the crumb piece to it. I traced a heart shape on in pencil, as close to each other as possible. I even made some small hearts out of the leftovers.  I made my heart template making sure the heart was not equally symmetrical (boring). I cut out the hearts. I like the heft of the hearts cut out.

    I buy the cards already cut and scored with the envelopes, using a coupon at Joanns, AC Moore, or Michaels. I put Crafter's Pick, The Ultimate Glue on the back and glued them to the cards. I have this quirk I can't make two things the same. So, I tried some pastels and crayons behind the hearts for a few.

     I wan't really crazy about that. I glued some buttons on some of them as an accent.

     Then, I sewed some fancy yarn around the edges using the Singer 401 zig zag and invisible YLI thread. It was a lot of work. I don't know how much it added.

      The rest, I just glued them on as I thought they had a lot of design going on. It is hard for you to see that they have dimension to them.

     Bottom line is, I just think they need to be on a quilt. I am not making 20+ mini quilts. I did not want to make postcards because I wanted the hearts 3D. I thought the hearts might look good on mini painted canvas but who besides me would hang them up? I am thinking maybe I should make some mini quilts in these fabrics and have them next year for a few people. I just should be happy that I made plenty of cards with crumbs to give away. The line between card and quilt is hard to break.

Just had a brain flash! I could have bought valentine scrapbook paper, like red lines or simple small shapes and glued it on the card first, then the heart. Sigh....

Trying to stay warm!

    This isn't news to most anyone, but it is frigid! The sun is shining today, but the temperature is dropping. South of Buffalo got hammered last night with snow and wind and schools closed. I am north of Buffalo, and just got some snow. Makes me all the glad to sew more and those vintage machine foot controllers keep me warm. I am working on a bunch of stuff, as I have 5 machines set up, all with something different going. Hey, woodworkers have many machines set up as they all do different functions. I have a 301 set up for piecing, a 301 that has small comfort quilts being FMQ, a 301 with a large quilt being quilted, a 401 that does zig zag on fabric collages for cards, and my treadle for scrap crumb quilts. These all cost less than my ill bought $2200 P machine that could never quilt well (sold it). Yesterday, I worked on all of them doing a lot of different things.
    I hope some of you visited your local quilt store on Saturday for the national LQS Saturday. I did my part at Pine Grove. I got fabric for my daughter's tote bag and some great grey for putting together crumbs.
    On Friday, I helped my friend, Jan, continue on learning to quilt. We have been working on a dog themed quilt based on the free pattern Patience Corners from http://jellyrollfabric.net/  The plastic guide I bought from Nova Montgomery is a huge help for Jan to keep the seams even; it works much better than the foot with the blade. Here are the blocks on the wall ready to sew.

Blue tape show order of blocks for sewing

    Another quilt I started, You've Got Mail, free pattern and video from the Missouri Star Quilt company, is from a layer cake and 10" white squares cut from yardage. I layed out all the blocks and have 22 out of 42 sewn.The rest are pinned and waiting to be sewn. When they are all sewn, I will put them back on the design wall and break the blocks into two quilts, 4 by 5, for two comfort quilts.

Not in any order, just for pinning

All pinned for sewing

    Since the only kids comfort quilt I had was given away, I started another, because, unfortunately, I will get another request. I decided to do Disappearing Nine Patch, rotating all the kid prints to the center. I bought a pack of I Spy 5" squares on ebay, and am using my own 5" for the other squares. These are how many I have done now.

Needs three more rows

    I don't usually put my paintings on this blog but on my flickr site. However, it is so cold and I thought at least one newer one might brighten the day.

A bouquet from last year's Buffalo Garden Walk