Treadle Sewing Machine

What drew me to the estate sale I went to today was a treadle sewing machine listed on the items available for sale.  I went with the attitude that the cabinet and the machine were probably not in good shape, the chances of me getting it would be slim, and I didn't really need another sewing machine.  I told myself these things to save myself from disappointment.

There were over a dozen people ahead of us waiting in line for the sale to begin.  I kept repeating the above.  Once inside I simply asked where the treadle machine was instead of wasting time looking for it.  I was told, "In the basement in the back corner".  I searched for the basement door.  There were already a few people down there.  I kept thinking I would be too late, but there it was sitting in the middle of one the rooms with the $75.00 tag still on it.  I immediately pulled the tag off before someone else did.  I was so impressed with the condition of the machine that I quickly put a sold sign on it.

The cabinet is damaged, but not like other cabinets I've seen where the veneer is spliting or missing. It is workable; however, I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to its style.  My husband arranged for it to be placed in our vehicle.  When we finally left the sale with a whole lot of other stuff, I noticed how compact the cabinet was.  I've never seen one like this before. 

After some research, I discovered this is a "parlor cabinet".  It's meant to look like a piece of furniture and not a sewing machine.  Nice job!

Here it is opened up, bought as is, with no cleaning.  As you can see, the cabinet has been disrespected.

I was delighted over a few discoveries.  There was the original manual in great shape.  Acesssories were there and the bobbins are round.  It has the cutest oil can.  There is a box of accessories that I'm not sure is original to this machine.  The basis for this is the fact that this machine doesn't use elongated bobbins.  You can see the elongated onces in the case.  These bobbins won't work, but the accessories will.

  

Further research via the serial number reveals this machine was manufactured in 1922.  What a treasure!

SWAP Is Wrapping Up

I stopped posting about my SWAP in March to spend all my free time sewing with hopes of finishing.  At one point the light at the end of the tunnel was visible by first changing option 2 (two dresses) for option 1 (tops and bottoms) and being allowed to use 3 pre-sewn or purchased items. 

I've had these two skirts hanging in my closet for too many years. They're are both made from a soft double knit fabric.

The problem with them was that they were too long (at my ankle) and too tight in the waist.  If I altered them at the waist instead of the hem, I could make them wearable.  I started the alteration of the black skirt by marking 10 inches from the top and cutting the fabric away.

As a result, the waist became too large, so I tapered the side seams from the hem to the waist using my serger.  The original waistband was treated in an interesting way. 



I was excited about reproducing it, but realized that if I ever wanted to take the waist in or out, it would become quite a process, so I went with serging the raw edge and encasing the 1 inch elastic.  Here's a before and after photo.



I repeated the same process for the red skirt, except I made the length a bit longer.

At this point I had three completed skirts, two knit sleeveless tops, and one pair of slacks partially completed.

My next project was the KWIK SEW 3494 blouse made of silk.  I avoid knots on silk as much as possible.  A knot wears away at the fabric.  This is how I work my darts. 

My secret for working with silk is to use lots of pins.  I enclosed some of the seams with french seams.

Truthfully, this is my favorite piece.  It's soft and comfortable.  The hem looks crooked, but it is just the way it hangs on the hanger.

At this point I picked up my McCall's 7883 gold charmeuse blouse to finish it up and also cut out a black charmeuse blouse using the same pattern but with a different neckline.  The black blouse went together quickly, because I had already dealt with the fitting issues.  I had enough gold fabric to cut out a silk camisole to wear under my knit tops.  I purchased a black camisole for my final piece.  Now, I had exactly one week before the end of April.  I convinced myself that I could make the deadline.  This was when the light began to fade.

For some crazy reason, the sleeves of the two blouses were shorter at the bottom front edge than at the bottom inside edge.   I had enough fabric to recut the sleeves, but I needed to think about the problem in order to solve it.

I also had to redo the neck top stitching, because they were puckering.  They also needed button and buttonholes. 

I only had the straps of the cami to turn right side out and attach.

The bottom line is that I didn't make the deadline.  Two people did, and congratulations to them.  You have to be dedicated and commited to finish, and they were.  Be proud!

SWAP 2011 - Week 12 of 17

You've probably thought by now I've given up on the SWAP contest, but I haven't.  I've gotten a bit distracted but also have been working on enlarging McCall's 7883.  It's five easy pieces. 

People sew for a number of different reasons.  One of my many reasons is fit.  My shoulders and collars of my tops, dresses, and jackets pull toward my back.  The round neckline of this pattern pushes on my throat giving me a chocking sensation.  This unbalanced problem causes the blouse to look a bit maternity.  The front hem ends up being shorter than the back and poofs out.  I've seen this look on men also.  I found the solution for this in this alterations book from 1976. 

The author, Kerstin Martensson, made the first pattern produced by KWIK-SEW.  The illustrations are fantastic. 

I sliced both the front and back pattern pieces from a point halfway between the shoulder and the bottom of the arm opening all the way across each piece.  I overlapped the back decreasing the pattern by one inch and separated the front pattern by increasing it by one inch. 

I haven't cut the sleeves yet, but I will need to change the shoulder mark.

This blouse is cut from gold silk charmeuse.   I'm using french enclosed seams; a technique I don't use often.   The smaller the seams, the stiffer the seams are.  To keep the drape soft, I started the first seam by placing wrong sides together and stitching 1/8 inch away from the edge. 

I sewed a second seam with the right sides together stitching 1/2 inch away from the previous pressed edge.

MPB Shirt Sew Along ~ Muslin Preparation

My DH is traveling a lot, so his making of a shirt is going to be a slow process because of that and the learning curve.  We did make some progress this weekend.  I started with instructing him about straight of grain, crossgrain, and the bias of fabric.  I had him tear his muslin fabric to get a straight edge and pin the torn edge and the salvage edge.  The fabric looks a mess.  You can see it needs a good pressing, but you can also see how it is twisted, out of shape.

He steamed and pressed the fabric and got it looking straight again.  I explained that if he doesn't take the time to do this, by the end of a day, his shirt will end up twisting no matter how much he has the cleaners press the shirt.  It's ready to put the pattern pieces on. 

My DH spent considerable time cutting out the pattern.  I had him use weights and a rotary cutter.  I forgot to warn him about the dangers of a rotary cutter.  My thoughts were that as a wookworker he would know, since he uses razor blades all the time.  He tried to guide the cutter with his finger and managed to take a tiny, tiny bit of skin off.  Ouch!  I believe people learn from their own mistakes.  He did.  I had to show him the safety button even though his drill has the same kind of thing.  Association is not always evident. 

He did an awesome job with the pieces ~ took his time and did the process with accuracy. 

I am not going to have him make a complete shirt out of the muslin, but I am going to have him do the sleeve placket completely for practice.  It's intimidating looking, but they do go together quite nicely.

Back to Cold Weather

Just yesterday morning, I was walking the beach.  Now I'm wearing my winter coat.  Brrrr!

I've made progress on my DGS's sweater.  I've managed to finished the sleeves.



They were knitted together, so the lengths would be the same.  The stitches are identical to the stitches in the hat.  My only new experience was increasing in the loop between the two stitches.  This sweater has raglan sleeves.   It's important to have two rows of a stockinette stitches along each edge.

I couldn't wait to start the back with all the fun cabling.  The first inch was my challenge.  I couln't see the pattern right away.  However, once I saw what was developing, there were no further difficulties.  It will be knitted straight up with no increases until the decreases for the sleeve edge.  The right and left edges are the same stitches as the sleeves and hat.