Work, work and the other work.

Where have I been? The motorcycle resort I work at is seasonal and when it opens April 1st it's time to train the work campers. The office manager, the young lady that has been there a lot longer, and I, have been working lots of hours to get everyone trained up. It seems we have two good recruits. After this week new kids have a couple of solo shifts and then we can revert to our regular schedule. Whatever that may be. I have also been working on a BIG project in the shop.

I finally managed to get my table cleared off!

Unwrapped about 15 yards of Sunbrella Plus.

 Doubled it, sewed it together on one side, flipped it open and top stitched it,

with my baby Zena, the barbarian warrior princess. 

Just as I was ready to proceed, my husband showed up with........

A Singer 128-23 It's 3/4 size in a beautiful wooden case. 

My husband sat down and without any interference from me threaded it up and it sewed like a dream. Then he gave it a good once over with oil can and let me take it for a whirl. Imagine my surprise when I was looking at the accessories and found long skinny bobbins! It's a vibrating shuttle!

I got so excited just talking about it, I lost my bag of carrots I was munching and had to regroup. Ah. there it is, I ate all of them and the bag is empty and hard to see it with all the junk on my desk.

The next machine is an Elgin. It was originally made by the Elgin Watch and Bicycle Company but this one is probably post WW2 because there is a made in Japan sticker on the end. This poor baby was a mess. We blew a whole morning tearing it apart to find out what the problem was. 

That big round silver thingey that the cams sit on to produce the decorative stitches was frozen solid. My DH Earl almost completely disassembled all of that stuff you see there into individual parts. Then he hit them with PB Blaster, scrubbed some of it with wire brushes, wiped everything down and put it back together, then oiled it.  It only took three tries before we figured out where everything meshed back together and all the springs hooked up. Then we went to work on the underneath part, cleaning and oiling, what a mess! I think this machine was in a home with one or a few heavy smokers. Even the outside was covered with dark brown tarry looking stuff. I washed the outside with car wash and waxed it with McGuires. Ta-Da! It sews! I have some upper tension issues and I need to take the whole tension assembly apart and clean it. It is probably gummed up too. I had to put that aside for now and get back to WORK! You know work in the shop, not the work at Ironhorse where they pay me to show up and play with the customers.

The monster on the table is a 10' by 10' bimini top for a monster pontoon boat. As of today I have it finished and ready to put back on the frame and tomorrow I will take it back to the marina and install it on the boat. I'll post some photos. 

Have a wonderful day. It's bright and sunny here with a pretty stiff wind. I worked outside in the garden a bit this morning so now I need to eat some lunch and get ready for work, you know, work, work where they actually pay me, Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge. That work, not my work here in the shop. 

Sue

Eureka!

The Singer 66 my husband brought me didn't have a case, cabinet or foot pedal. He built a box to put it in so I could oil it and free it up but I had no way to see if the motor ran.  When I was cleaning off the table Monday, I was putting the Singer 306K away in its case and had to unplug the power/foot controller. I stood there for a few seconds staring at the plug in my hand. Then it hit me… it would fit the 66. I hooked it up and plugged it in and bingo! The motor runs great and the machine hums right along.

Tuesday was town day. When you live where we do, you don't just "go" to the store, it is usually a planned day trip. I warned all participating parties it would be a quick one, no dawdling. We went in and hit both thrift stores, the dollar store (aka. Robbinsville Walmart). Ingles was the last stop and then home. We set a record arrival home time of 1:30 pm which left me time for the shop downstairs.

Check out that bobbin winder...and the dirt...it needs a new tire. I wanted to see if it sewed FIRST.

While I figured out how to wind a fresh bobbin and replaced the needle, DH Earl found a nail the correct diameter and touched it up with the bench grinder to provide a spool pin. I dug some denim out of my stash of old bluejeans and I began to wing a pair of work gauntlets for Earl. The poor guy always wears a long sleeve work shirt but he still tears his arms up. I made one with heaver denim that is stiff and one with stretch denim that would be less constricting. He will test them today.

Right off the bat, that machine sewed. I think the top tension was fiddled with or bumped because I had to increase the top tension quite a bit but it now has a beautiful stitch. It sewed through up to sixteen layers of denim over the seams and never slowed down. I am so delighted with this machine! It's a keeper.

Happy Wednesday! Sue

Tutorial

I spent the morning trying to clear my table. I managed to put away four of the six machines camping there, when I spied those motorcycle jackets. I went upstairs and retrieved poor old "Dirty Ken" and brought him down. He is the one with the free arm.

I wish I had pictures of the "before." I found him in a basement. I had stopped at a rummage sale and there was a machine there but it was above my price range. I asked the nice lady if she had any other machines. We went downstairs to this overwhelming huge space full of "stuff." It

 was all dirty. She told me that this building used to be a brake shop and my body immediately went into asthma mode. Purely psychological I'm sure but I didn't reach for my inhaler because I didn't want that dust to penetrate deeper in my lungs. She led me to this machine, It was so dirty I had to find a rag on the floor to mop it off a bit to figure it out. I found a plug and tested it to see if the motor turned it over. I must admit this was a pity purchase. I couldn't bear to leave this machine here. There were other machines there, as well but they were older and I am on a very limited budget. I told her what I would pay and she wanted more. I told her that I get that. She could clean it up herself and get more money. I wasn't trying to rip her off, I just have my limits. When I got ready to leave she decided to accept my offer. She even found the case and gave me that, as well. Bless her heart, she helped this poor little machine live to sew again.

It took me half a day to clean and oil it up but it came out fine. The free arm is what I needed right now so here we go. I had two jackets to do so I snapped some pictures. 

I have no idea how the professionals do it. I have no claim to that status. My mom started teaching me to sew when I was four years old. Except for home economics, I have had no formal training. From doing this I learned to bast the patch on. The jackets are stiff and there is a slick backing on the patch. At first I tried to pin but when you are trying to wrestle it through the machine you sometimes run a pin in your hand. Rule #1: Don't bleed on the fabric. (doing my Leroy Jethro Gibbs)

Try to flatten the jacket out as much as possible, starting at the front edge work your way towards the sleeve. When you get down the sleeve a bit make sure the free arm of the machine is going down the sleeve. You might have to grab the armhole opening and work it over the free arm like dressing a reluctant child. 

I aim for a a starting point at the upper left side of the patch and then work my way to the bottom right. Be sure to back stitch at each end. Sometimes I only get three or four stitches before you have to re-position and flatten your work, I use a fairly long stitch, why torture yourself. 

 Half way there!

Starting again at the upper left corner, work your way to the bottom left and leave that needle down as you gently turn to come across the bottom. As you sew you may may to stop and rotate the sleeve around the free arm. Take your time. 

Ta-da!!! Now clip those stitches and pull the basting stitches out. No blood was shed. 

 Don't forget to turn the sleeve inside out and get those threads clipped as well. As you can see. I'm not the only one who had a thread ball or two. Mine is on the left. Don't beat yourself up. As long as you slip a fingernail under the edge of the patch on the front side and it seems tight, don't sweat it. There are probably 10 years of patches on this jacket. All have thread balls and none have come loose or have fallen off. 

This is the foot I SHOULD have used. It's clear and I could have seen what I was doing better.

Five more years and the patch sewing will have to move to the front or rear of the jacket.

If you have patches and a free-arm machine give it a try. If it's on the front or rear of the jacket a free-arm is not necessary. A size 16 needle and slow is all you need.

May the force be with you!
Sue

Getting organized.

This is what I need to figure our today. All of these have to find somewhere to be... other than the  middle of my work table. Three of them I might be able to wedge in somewhere, Locations for the other two have yet to be determined. Earl said he would build some shelves for me where we just removed the propane heater. Our shop is like one of those puzzles where you have to move one square to move the next. Hopefully I will be able to make some order here.

In the rear there, are some motorcycle jackets I need to sew patches on. I work at a motorcycle resort and occasionally, that happy chore follows me home.

I am grateful to have a large place to sew. I never had that until recently. When we moved to NC in June of 2003, our house was only 12 by 24 feet. We were tiny house people before they had that show on television. My one and only sewing machine lived in a box in the corner with some stuff piled on top.

My husband set to work to build a 18 by 26 shop. It took about a 5 months but when he was done, I promptly confiscated 6 foot of the end against the house to put in a "real" bathroom and utility room for the washer and dryer I hoped to acquire. I'm not complaining about going to town to do the laundry. I quickly discovered a cleaner who did drop off laundry service and so I did. Then I went to do the shopping and picked up the clean and folded stuff on the way home. About 2 months later my husband commented, "When did you start ironing my blue jeans?" I was busted.

Eventually we acquired a washer and dryer from our friend Larry in Florida. We were still working on our slow move north after hurricane Charlie. It took a year to sell what was left of our house down there and we made multiple trips with two vehicles with two utility trailers. My take over of half of "his" shop is another story.

I had better get busy, I also have to work the evening shift at Iron Horse today. Time's a'wastin!

Sue

Don't just stand there!

It's a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning and I am sitting here trying to wrap my mind around the new sewing machine sitting in the shop.

A singer 306K. I went online this morning and ordered needles as this one takes an unusual size.

This madness started in March when we were visiting the kids in Florida. I looked on the computer at Craigslist to see if I could find a vintage sewing machine for sale. This led to a lovely lady named  Debi. She had a Gimbles for sale that sounded like a good replacement for my everyday machine. I do quite a bit of quilt piecing and general sewing. Since I've been home I have used the heck out of this wonderful machine and I love, love, love it.

Debbie could see how tickled I was with the Gimbles and she offered me this:

I haven't sewn as much with this machine, YET, but I love it as well.

I sew every day. I had been using a Kenmore that I purchased new in 2002 and while it was a good machine for a while it eventually started giving me problems. I bought a shop manual online for $15 and for the past 4 or 5 years I had to periodically tear it down and work on it. The upper tension parts were buried inside the case and it was a major tear down to get to it. The plates that the thread passes through would start to rust and I had to polish them and put the whole mess back together again. I'm not an expert but it seems that the metal was inferior. Once it started to rust the process seemed to accelerate. I finally decided to go vintage.

Now I have so many machines, I've started to loose count. This blog was started to give me some focus. My husband hits all the garage sales, junk piles and salvage yards and brings more home before I can figure out the last one. Somehow I need to find homes for some machines and figure what I want to keep for myself.

I warn you, if you are looking for photos of beautiful, well organized sewing shops you need to move on before you are overcome by the crazy stuff to follow.

Have a blessed day! Sue