Feline comings and machine goings

February has not seen much sewing but there have been some comings and goings.

You may have spotted a visiting tabby cat “helping” me with my sewing on previous posts. “Not-our-cat” has been visiting regularly for nearly two years and we assumed he had a home, but choose to visit us (and the neighbours) for a change of scene. However, he disappeared for a week between Christmas and the New Year and turned up at the neighbours in a very sorry state with an injured eye and mouth. It turns out that he was not chipped and not neutered and long story short, seeing as the neighbours already have two cats, a name change followed so he is “Now-our-cat”. Unfortunately for my sewing, he quite likes sitting on my knee, so all I have managed to sew this month is a soft collar for him to wear when he had his eye removed.
 
 
He’s had a tough couple of months with many trips to vets, each of which seemed to involve him losing a part (or two!) of his anatomy but hopefully he is now out of the woods. He just needs to have one more tooth out so he can close his mouth properly and stop sticking out his tongue.
 
 
On the goings side of things, one of my machines has now found a new home. I got my current machine about 9 years ago and the 1990's Husqvarna Orchidea that I got "third hand" about 12 years ago has not be used since. Since inheriting my Mum’s Bernina and getting it repaired last year, I’d been thinking that a machine should go to make room for it. When a colleague at work was considering getting a Singer from Lidl, I mentioned I had spare machines if she was interested in one instead. She has used a machine previously (her Granny’s Bernina) and so I warned her that she might be disappointed by a basic model Singer.
 
 
Despite not being used for years, the Orchidea powered up without any problem and I was able to find all the accessories. I cleaned and checked the machine and reminded myself how it worked before dropping off the machine and spending a couple of hours going through the different functions with her. I explained that it was an old computerised machine and the electronic parts are not available any more, but hopefully it will last a while. A few days later I got an update that it had already been put to good use – sewing a Batman patch over a hole in her son’s jeans!

It is much better for it to be used rather than it being sat in the spare room. Now I just need to find homes for some of my other machines.


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July's sewing

I'm glad to say there has been some sewing in July - some of it fun, some of it routine, and some of it very much a group effort.

First was a quick and easy cushion cover as a birthday present for a friend. We usually exchange one sensible and one silly present – this was the silly present (just in case you were wondering!).

I used an invisible zip from stash which could have done with being a bit longer in order to get a slightly neater finish at one end. Other than that, it went in very easily using the concealed zipper foot for my machine.
 

The next project was shortening four pairs of trousers for Mum and again it was a case of the right tools making the job much easier. Two of the trousers were woven fabrics and so it was a straightforward job of turning them up. The other two were knit fabrics and required a stretch stitch. I knew I would get the best result with my coverstitch machine, but it was stored in the depths of the box room and hadn’t seen light of day for several years. I had read that a twin needle could be used for stretch hems and thought that might be quicker than trying to find the coverstitch: it wasn't. I wasted about half an hour trying to get a balanced stitch before admitting defeat and venturing into the box room. Once the coverstitch machine was set up, it took me less than 10 minutes to do both pairs of trousers.

(Twin Needle)

(Coverstitch)

The final sewing was done at this month’s meeting of Leeds MQG. I took the little red sewing machine and spent the day sewing together blocks sent to the Manchester Quilting Bee. The little red machine is not the speediest of machines, but I managed to get the blocks of one quilt stitched together before having to head home. At least the slow stitching meant I had plenty of time to admire the variety of blocks that had been sent in and to appreciate the effort that had gone into some of the blocks in particular.

Next month is Festival of Quilts and thanks to a ticket giveaway from Jo at My Bear Paw, I am now planning just how much (or how little) I can fit into a five hour visit.

Sewing Machine Makeover – Another Modification

I have a mini sewing machine that is light enough for me to carry it to Liverpool Sewing Club and Leeds Modern Quilting Guild. However, whilst it is good that that it is light in weight, it is not so good that it is light on features. 

Back in January, I gave my mini machine a makeover which allowed me to use my spare Husqvarna feet on it and I found a tiny light that could be attached to it. However, each time I used the machine I would find myself reaching for a non-existent thread cutter. While sewing blocks at a Leeds MQG meeting, I realised that the machine had a handy gap in the casing which was ideal to secure the threads prior to cutting, but I still needed snips or scissors to cut them. 

However, all it took was 5 minutes, a craft knife blade and some washi tape and this gap became a thread cutter. I wrapped washi tape around each end of the blade, leaving 2-3 cm of the blade exposed.

I then secured the blade to the machine with more washi tape, positioning it a few millimetres below the gap. I’d like to pretend that I chose the pink leopard print washi tape as a safety feature so that the blade was highly visible, but it was just what was to hand. 

I’m very pleased with this cheap and cheerful upgrade to my mini sewing machine. The blades were £1 for ten from the market and the washi tape was £1 for three rolls from The Works. My next challenge is to find a way of covering the feed dogs and maybe making a lightweight extension table so that I can do small pieces of free motion quilting!

Sewing Machine Makeover

Several years ago I got a second hand John Lewis mini sewing machine from a well-known online auction site and I used to take it along to Sewing Club. The machine was fine but I struggled with the chunky combined foot and finger guard design on the mini machine. After years of sewing on Husqvarna machines, I have got used to their standard foot with its simple, but oh so useful, step design.

Fast forward to the present day, and I am again wanting to take this machine to Sewing Club so that I can do some patchwork piecing. I had read that the mini machines can take a standard low shank screw on foot, but when I tried this I found the needle was off centre. Looking at other presser bars, most have a flat side to which the foot attaches whereas my mini machine has a curved presser bar which prevented the foot from fitting properly.  As I had spare Husqvarna feet, including a quarter inch foot, I decided to buy a Husqvarna ankle and “adapt” the mini machine. One needle file and a couple of hours of filing later, the presser bar now has a flat side and my mini machine can take Husqvarna clip on feet and stitch a perfect ¼” seam.

As the mini machine does not have a light, the new white ankle makes it much easier to thread the needle as there is now greater contrast between the eye of the needle and the background (again something I have got used to on Husqvarna machines, but a feature that does not appear on all machines). 

Even though threading the needle is easier, I thought it would still be nice to add a light. I had wondered about the stick-on LED lights that can be used in cupboards, but these were far too big for my mini machine. Luckily in Clas Ohlson I found a tiny LED lamp designed to attach to screwdrivers which turned out to be the ideal size for the mini machine. It is currently attached to the machine with a blob of blu-tack, but only time will tell if a better fixing is required.

I’m so pleased that for a little over £10 I’ve managed to give this mini sewing machine a new lease of life and will be able to use it for hours of patchwork piecing at Sewing Club.

Step back in time to the 1960s

One of my favourite shopping expeditions is to hit the charity shops in a town to see what treasures are waiting. My latest find was a Woman’s Realm sewing and knitting supplement from 1967 for the bargain price of 49p!
  

So what has this mainly monochrome magazine got to offer? My favourite project has to be this “upcycling” feature on how to give two hats a brand new look by cutting holes in one and sewing the patches onto another!
  

 

A bit about me (and my sewing machines)

Well, after a bit of playing with the blog's settings and layout, I think I should stop fiddling with colours, backgrounds, borders, etc and start posting.  So to start off, here's a bit about me and my sewing.

I've been sewing for more years than I care to admit to. I used to do quite a lot of dress making and have recently ventured into the world of patchwork and quilting. I'm probably a "keen amateur" for dressing making and definitely a beginner for patchwork and quilting.