First hand crank machine sewn project finished!

Finally finished my cover for the 66K - sewn on the 66K! 

I hunted out every piece of sewing- themed fabric I had, patched them together and made this!

 

Vintage sewing update

 Gosh where has the time gone? Between moving house, going back to work, & life in general - there has not been a lot of crafting going on around here of late! 

But I did finally get to visit the new Anne Bonney’s Locker vintage sewing machine store in Hawthorn last week, where I bought a hand crank for Clara, my 66K. ( There may have been a detour via GJ’s Fabrics in Fairfield on the way too…)

Fitting the crank was super easy - I was so fortunate that my machine already had a spoked wheel, so I did not need to change the wheel over. One bolt, tightened with an adjustable wrench, make sure everything is lined up ok and ta-dah! She sews about 4-6 stitches - or about 1 cm - for each turn of the wheel with the crank. Much faster than just turning the wheel with my hand!

Clara does not have a cover - nor a proper timber base yet - so I pulled out all my sewing themed fabrics, and sewed up a cover. Quilting the layers together now old sheets for the backing, and some wadding scraps inside for a bit of structure) before I turn & shape it into the cover. All done with the hand crank. There is no  reverse on a 66k, so when I put the pieces together I turned them to stitch back the other way. Now I am just leaving long tails and knotting them. 

So much quicker to make a bobbin now with the handcrank fitted too! 

When I finish the cover I will post a photo of it in place. A nice cosy blanket to keep her warm, now the weather has turned.

66K in action!

 Reading through my lovely vintage 1954 Singer book inspired me to get sewing again! And I also wondered if I could get my 66K to sew - without having to wait to buy a hand crank next year. I gave her another quick clean, & a few drops of oil, studied the manual and threaded up a bobbin by winding the balance wheel. Buoyed by my success, I threaded her up and ta-dah! She sews! 

There is no backstitch, and the only adjustment is by winding the knob to the right of the Singer badge, this adjusts the stitch length. The longest stitch is really quite long, so I am using it as a basting stitch - much quicker & neater than basting by hand. 

I cut this dress out last summer & was not sure of the size  & fit - duh I should have written a note back then for my future self - now- to read! So I have compared it to one of my favourite basic summer dresses ( which is actually sitting in the to- do pile, because I want to put some darts in it to give it a more classic vintage shape).

I have been tacking pieces together, re cutting, measuring, & am now ready to do the actual sewing. Will sew it up on the Janome as I will give myself RSI sewing the whole thing in fine stitches turning the wheel on the singer…

I have decided to name my 66K Clara, having just finished reading this book about a remarkable rhinoceros named Clara. I have been trying to think of a suitable name, & Clara  just felt right.  

Can’t wait for Anne Bonny’s locker to open in Hawthorn next year, & buy a handcrank for her! 

Vintage singer sewing

 I spotted a vintage Singer Sewing book in the window of a  local op shop a few weeks back, but forgot to go & buy it the next day & of course it was gone! I had a look for a copy online, & found a review where someone said it was good because it had tips for an older model machine.

 This got me thinking - which years was the book published? And so with a bit of searching ( World of Books, always my go-to for vintage and out of print books, came  up trumps again!).  I managed to find a 1954 edition - the same year as my 201K! 

It is a gorgeous book and has a selection of colour plates that are just fabulous!

Meet the newest member of the family…

 …my sewing family that is!

I love sewing with my vintage Singer 201K, and have learnt a lot about vintage sewing machines from the fb group “ Vintage Sewing Machines Australia and New Zealand”. I often look on fb marketplace and dream about buying a vintage machine to repair myself, and maybe turning one into a hand cranked machine. 

Then on Sunday night, a vintage 66k was offered up in a local fb group. I sent a message to say I was interested, and collected it yesterday!

She is just sooo pretty! 1935 Lotus finish 66K, love the design, and she has a spoked wheel so all I need to buy is a crank handle. And get my H to design and build a timber box base!

Will keep you posted…

Vintage treasure

 I found a little sewing machine oil can a while ago, when searching through some of the shoe repair tools & old machines my Dad used to use. I would not have even known what it was, but luckily someone in the  Vintage Sewing machine fb group had posted a picture of a vintage oil can, so I recognised it! 

I worked on it on and off for weeks, mainly just rubbing lots of SMO ( sewing machine oil) into it. I also worked in some toothpaste with a toothbrush. I left the SMO soaking into the outside of the van for a week or so at a time. Super happy with how it looks now, and special to know that both my Dad and my Grandpa would have used this little can. 

This is what I started with - 

Smooth Sewing

 Sewed a quilt with my 201K last week - sews through the layers just perfectly! But I was getting a bit annoyed with the scratchy timber case, most of the lacquer  has worn off & it is rough in patches. Decided to do something about it today.

Gave the timber a light sand to remove the last bits of lacquer, then mixed up some ” cleaner/ restoration mixture” ( recipe from the Hand Tool Preservation Assoctiation, seen at the Lost Trades Fair. My son has used this mix to restore some hand tools found in Grandpa’s shed.)

Super impressed with how good the base looks now, and it feels soooo smooth (smells good too!)

Sew vintage pt 1

I finally got around to something I have been meaning to do for ages... figure out how to wind a bobbin on my singer 201K. Thanks to YouTube and a print out of the original manual, I managed to wind not 1 but 2 bobbins!  

I also puzzled out how to cut a skirt from a lovely scrap of plaid fabric I found at an op shop years ago, and had stored in a box labelled " Outlander fabrics". But really there was not enough of this fabric to make an Outlander length skirt. But there was just enough to make a past knee length skirt, based on a green plaid skirt I found in my abandoned projects box - another op shop find, but the skirt was slightly too small. I finally figured that by unpicking and widening the pleats, I could add in a little bit more width to the waist. Of course I added in a pocket too. 

So using the green skirt as  pattern inspiration, I cut out the brown plaid. There was just enough for the skirt and pocket, with only a bookmark sized scrap left over! 

Since it was a sort-of vintage styled skirt - inspired by Bernadette Banner's modern day Victorian walking skirt - I thought it would be  the perfect first project to sew on my vintage singer!

The only modern day sewing was that since I thought the wool fabric would fray like blazes, I overlocked the edges of the 2 skirt pieces & 2 pocket pieces ( the skirt is basically 2 large rectangles). 

The singer is a dream to sew with! I love love LOVE the speed control I have with the knee lever, I can sew soooo slowly if needed, like the tricky bit around a zip. And it is much more quiet than my Janome. I even like the smell, which is probably mostly machine oil. I read that they use a bit of oil & that it is recommended to oil the machine at the start of each new project. I figured since mine has bwen sitting there unused for a year since I had it serviced, a few drops  of oil wouldn't go astray. 

I just have to finish the hem of my skirt tomorrow & it is ready to wear. It should be lovely and warm in this chilly weather!