A glimpse of machine history... and quilts

     At the beginning of June, I went to the Genesee Valley Quilt Guild Show at the RIT fieldhouse in Rochester, NY. Among all the quilts were some machines on display by the guild. I was wowed to see in person, the precursor to the Singer Featherweight- 2 of them! They also had my beloved 301s on display as well as many others. I was so thrilled to see a display of these machines at the show. The Singer Featherweight Shop today had a timeline and history of the Featherweights which is terrific. 

      A couple of outstanding quilts from that show:

One block wonder escaping

Most pieces are under an inch, Yikes!

The refinish job commences

    Ok, what I really wanted was a treadle to put a Singer 237 in. What I got is some pretty filthy irons and a cabinet, beautiful, but yucky finish. Today, since it was gorgeous, I decided to get dirty. I bought some GooGone for outdoor grills and ovens and sprayed it all up. Great stuff, no odor, nice clingy foam. I let it sit for almost an hour. Then I scrubbed with a new stiff plastic bristle brush and toothbrush. What a lot of thick, disgusting, dirty crud lifted off. I wore old clothes and gloves, but I was covered in yuck. I don't usually mind getting dirty or messes, but this was pretty nasty.

   I rinsed it all with blasts from my garden hose. I scrubbed a bit more. I can actually see gold paint on the decals. It took everything off down to the metal. Now, how much do I have to wire brush? Can I just lightly sand? How about it experts?

 

     Not satisfied with gook and mess, I started on the cabinet. I did parts of the top and one drawer. Below are photos so you can see the difference between cleaned and not. I used Formby's Refinisher. It kind of melts the finish, removes some and evens it out. I have to get some more muscle and bulk up or I won't finish this until 4th of July. This stuff stinks, so I have to do this in the garage which means when it is warm so I have to hustle.

     All I wanted was a treadle stand and a 237 to sew on...

Finished comfort quilt out the door

The finished crumb quilt went out the door yesterday to a woman named Sandra. Prayers for her as she is having difficulty with treatments. Sewed on 301s. Purchased bag, pockets sewn inside and out.

Crumb quilt with Faux piping binding

Bag with book

The CNYTOGA

  Last week, I had to thrill of the year, to go to a treadle machine gathering. We just sewed on multiple machines, learned to clean and troubleshoot, learned how to use the attachments in demo and sample, asked questions, sewed and sewed wonderful straight stitiches. I fell in love with a Singer 237, which is kind of an ugly duckling, but sews awesome. It is an electric machine, converted to treadle. Zig zag and treadle. Wow, what a wonderful thing. I also got to sew on a 201 and the worn one I used hummed so lovingly. The setting was magnificent, in the country in a little red barn. Who needs Disneyworld? Now I am back to sewing all alone.

Attachments demo

Heart Bargello- it's a wrap!

     After 4 years ago buying the fabric and book, the Heart Bargello, all batik, is done. All bound, sleeve on for the quilt show. This is the first quilt for my own bed. Now, I think I would have picked another design, definitely curves, circles. Still love the colors. Pieced and quilted on a trio of Singer 301s. I have the Heart Bargello book, but will never make another. If any of you have a burning desire to make one, let me know, you can have the book for shipping if you really are going to make one. If it wasn't for the encouragement of my guild, the Kenmore Quilters Patch, I would not have finished so it is fitting that it will be in our show Oct. 4th and 5th- Only have a show every 3 years. I used the Sharon Schamber washable glue binding method, but I sewed the binding to the front, folded to the back, glued, sewed in the ditch from the front with invisible YLI thread on the front, Bottom Line on the back. No hand sewing. Sorry, I just can't make myself do it for binding. I can hear the quilt police whistles already. The designs are from Leah Day's except I kind of made up the last border.

Queen size all done

Edge of border

Inside borders

Some of the machines

      I realize that I did not post the base that I refinished for the Singer 99 that was resurrected from the scraps that were delivered due to poor packaging (once was a whole machine) and the Spartan that I turned into a handcrank. I have another Spartan in its original green case, but this one came in a broken bakelite shell. I bought the case bottom from Cindy Peters, stitchesintime@earthlink.net who is a wonderful seller of parts for antique and classic sewing machines. It came unfinished and I used Minwax antique oil finish, at least 4 coats, and it is just terrific. It is cherry wood. I am going to buy another, but here are the 99 and the Spartan in the same base. Converting to the handcrank was easy. I bought a vintage spoked handwheel, unscrewed the old handwheel, put the vintage one on, bought a reproduction handcrank, unscrewed the bolt for the motor, removed it, and that was it. The machine itself was extremely dirty and gunky, but now it is just terrific.

Singer 99

Spartan Handcrank

Base before finishing

My new Kenmore 1040

Mold dots, dirt, but intact

Dirty, but unmarked

Ugly discoloring

All clean and put back together!

Discolor all gone!

All shiny, now can I get the bobbin winder to work? Can't get the handwheel off

Beautifully clean in design and finish

Cute, functional, compact, what is not to love?

No more mold!

    It did not take much coaxing from Elizabeth, mysewingmachineobsession.blogspot.com, for me to pursue a Kenmore 1040. I have a couple of 3/4 size Singers, a 99 and Spartan (turned that into a handcrank) and like the small size. The Kenmore can zig zag however. One came up on eBay and it turned out it was only about 10 miles from me, so I could pick it up and avoid shipping $$ and possible damage. When I got it home, there was the musty factor and a couple of dots of mold starting on the case and machine. Anything that was plastic, I threw in hot water with Spic and Span to soak. I wiped the whole machine down with rubbing alcohol and then swabbed everything, taking off everything I could. I oiled and greased, polished and reassembled. The machine got a coat of Turtle Wax and polished. It sews amazing. The case is so neat, compact and functional. I can take it to classes and anywhere! The plastic pouch that housed the foot pedal is all ripped, so I am not sure if I should make something for the pedal, or tape it up.
   On the quilting front, I finished the Black and White top I started in a class, but it was too dreary today to photograph it. My mom sewed a bunch of blocks for me, so now I can sew up two more comfort quilts. I was able to fix her old Brother by swapping a knee pedal/foot pedal from a Singer 401 I bought at a garage sale since I removed that machine from its cabinet. Now she won't get a bruise when she sews from the pedal. Quilt pics to come.

More cleaning!

   A woman at church was moving into assisted living and when the helpers from church were moving things, they saved a sewing machine from going to the curb and gave it to me. It is a Kenmore 158.1654. I fixed a friend of mine's Kenmore once, but I usually fix just Singers as that is what I sew on. After I got it out of its cabinet, it was apparent it was pretty filthy and not used in many moons. It needs a new belt, (ordered), and spool pins (ordered) since the ones in there are sheared off inside the holes. Everything else seems ok. It did not even move at all when I first tried. I took off the cover and soaked the shaft at the wheel with Liquid Wrench and kept working it. The cam was sort of cemented in also. Lots of solvent, Tri-flow oil, and wiping, and everything moves like silk. I found some cams for it on ebay. I remembered to take some before pictures. This machine could use a good home. It is very sound and a workhorse. If I could find someone who wants to sew, I would drop it off with some instruction. Hopefully, some wanna-be quilter is pining for a machine.
  I can't wait to put all the new pieces on and try some stitching on it.

DIRTY TOP

STARTED CLEANING SO I COULD SEE THE DIRT

SOME GRIME REMOVED, SEE THE CONTRAST

JUST LIKE NEW

ALL WAXED UP, OH FOR THE SPOOL PINS!

LIKE NEW!

READY TO STITCH

EVEN THE BACKSIDE SHINES