Showing posts with label Accessories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Accessories. Show all posts

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Tiny Dress Techniques

I was inspired to make this tiny sun frock after watching BBC TV's  The Great British Sewing Bee.   




I have never made a frock before so I thought I would start small.  The dresses they made on TV were very cute.  They had shirred bodices and rouleau straps.  What struck me, when watching the judging of the dresses made by the contestants, was the number of different techniques that could be demonstrated in such a small garment.

I don't have any shirring elastic in the house.  In fact I haven't seen any since I was a little boy and my Mam put some in the cuffs of one of the sweaters either she or Gran had knitted for me.   It was blue flecked wool with a crew neck and I rather liked it.  I would put money on that same bobbin of shirring elastic still being in my Mam's mending box 30 years later.  I must ask her the next time we Skype - I digress.

With no shirring elastic in the house, and no desire to go and buy any, a shirred bodice was out.  I don't have a gathering foot either.  Does anyone know if the braider foot from the Singer 28K's archaic tool kit would work?  From what I can gather that foot, teamed with additional bits and bobs, was for braiding, quilting, hemming and binding - Dr Singer's Universal Cure All!  Anyway, I found this pattern online.

I had plenty of off-cuts of nice white cotton kicking around after I finished making the backing of the log-cabin quilt so I set to work.  I wanted this project to be a work out for the new (to me) Singer 99K and an exercise in using as many different accessories as possible.
  1. French seams (seam guide)
    In the short time I have been sewing I have made the seam guide my right hand (this is almost literally the case when you are sewing with a hand crank).  The seam guide is so useful on little black Singer's that don't have markings on their needle beds.  I found Muv's video on French seams indispensable with this task.

  2. Gathering (ruffler)
    Lots of people, I have read online,  are afraid of the ruffler foot that came with their machines.  I have never been afraid, more unsure, of how to control the results on a project I might already have spent a lot of time on.  This project was different.  The whole point was to try different techniques and attachments without getting hung up on the results.  I set the ruffler to 'gather' rather than pleat, set the Singer 99K for the longest stitch and the ruffler to the fullest gather.  By luck rather than hard work and good management the skirt ended up gathered to nearly exactly the same width as the bodice. WOW!

  3. Corded piping (adjustable cording foot)
    This felt like a biggie.  I got to cut my first bias binding from a scrap of striped poplin shirting.  I used the corded handle from a gift bag and got to try out the adjustable cording foot.  I have used it to install the zipper in a hobo bag I made on the Singer 201K.  I think my first attempt is passable but it was more about the learning experience.  I am encouraged to use this technique in the future.

  4. Hemming (adjustable hemmer)
    I did try this but it really wasn't successful.  It felt impossible to get the bulk of the French seams through the adjustable hemmer.  This fabric has a strong pattern of squares which was a gift for turning a regular hem so I did that.  Job done.

Monday 8 April 2013

Meet the Singer 401G

Introducing:

Singer 401G Sewing Machine showing balance wheel.

"The SLANT-O-MATIC - the greatest sewing machine ever built!"

Well that's what Singer told new owners back in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  It really is quite a claim and probably an indefensible statement.  I am however quite fond of my example of the breed.

Singer 401G Sewing Machine showing needle and tension unit

I don't know how anyone couldn't fall for the streamlined 1950s styling of the Singer 401G.  Part Hillman Minx and part Roberts Radio - what's not to love?

Now I am prepared to accept that 401G might not be everyone's cup of tea but there is no denying that this machine was a range-topper in its day and, if one can bond with one, these machines still offer a lot to the domestic sewer.


Face plate open, tension unit and needleStitch length regulator

What really strikes me about this machine is the general quality and attention to detail on offer.  How thoughtful that the faceplate is hinged for cleaning and oiling and that on the inside is a threading diagram for both needle and bobbin?  The feed is fully reversible and, after the anonymous chrome knobs of the 28K and 15K, the clearly labelled indicator plate is a doddle to use.

AK3 is the setting needed to obtain a straight stitch

There is a lamp hidden behind the "Singer" name plate which is prefocused on the needle - very handy.  The red lever slides to set the position of the needle or the width of the zigzag.  The large centre knob is used to set the type of stitch.
The top of the machine opens to reveal yet another handy diagram.  This one shows the settings needed to obtain some of the many stitches the machine can produce.  The circular space int the top of the machine is where pattern cams can be fitted in order to obtain even more patterns. This machine was originally supplied with five cams.

Now those of you have been following the blog will remember that I had tracked down a set of tool drawers to match this machine.  The way these work alongside the machine and its extension table is typical of Singer's thoughtfulness at this date.

Notice the spring clips on the extension table and the profile of the edge of the tool drawers

The extension table clicks onto the top of the tool drawers

The unit attaches to the bed of the machine, the extension table is supported by the tool drawers and the overall result puts me in mind of an aircraft carrier.

And when ones is done the whole lot packs away beautifully.  It's no bigger than a large brief case but it weighs a lot more.



Thursday 7 March 2013

Goodies!

I like parcels.  Even if I have a fair idea of what they are going to contain.  Yesterday when I got home there was a red and white card on the mat telling me that the postman had something for me.  Hurrah!  I clattered around to the sorting office as fast as my brogues would carry me and came home with this.


The return address is a giveaway.  A parcel from Helen Howes can mean only one thing.  My sewing machine goodies have arrived.  My experience of Helen is that she is very good at getting things out to her customers in a hurry.


And she wraps things up very well too!  Can you tell what it is yet?


Some will know exactly what this is, what it's for and where it goes.  I didn't think I would ever actually get to see/own one.  These two little drawers are the tool boxes which would have been supplied with the Singer 401G 'portable' when new.  My 401 came with a few useful bits and bobs (not least the walking foot) but was missing the original tool box.  I have been adding to the 401G's kit as and when things have appeared.  The hearing aid beige plastic tool  drawers tone perfectly with the case that mine came in and it has a rather clever trick up its sleeve.  More of that to follow at a later date.  There's still more bubble wrap to get through today.


I just couldn't bear the idea of buying the tool drawers without something to put in it.  This is an adjustable slotted binder made to fit Singer slant shank machines.  It makes me want to run up an apron or a table runner.

There were more goodies in the parcel.  This time for the 15K80


New 15 class bobbins and a second hand spool pin of the correct pattern it's a perfect match for size and shape with the spool pin under the 15K80's bobbin winder.  Now I need to dig out the rubber-faced mallet.  It was last seen on a camping trip to Cornwall two summers ago and is probably stowed with the tent pegs.