OurWorkbench

Courtney

Courtney sent pictures of some of what he's been working on.

I still have not been able to do a lot of work on sewing machines because of the pandemic. I have done some sewing. First, I finished my "Sugaridoo" � quilt along top. I had a great time working on it and talked about it some last month. "Sugaridoo" is a YouTube channel and a blog by a young lady named Irene in the Netherlands. Her quilts are very different from just traditional squares and so I learned a great deal from her. I have included a picture of the completed quilt top laid over a bed. Now I have to get busy and get it quilted! Second, Connie found some fabric with old books printed on it. She bought a yard and wanted to make face masks for her writer friends. We set up an assembly line and finished the masks.

I have spent some time emailing back and forth with James about Willcox and Gibbs machines. So I though I would send a couple of pictures of a W&G treadle I picked up visiting my daughter in California a few years ago. The machine had been left out on a back porch and the top was totally ruined. Both the machine and treadle were totally in pieces when I picked them up. I brought the metal parts of the treadle home on in my luggage on the airplane (when we could fly before the pandemic.) After I got home I was well pleased with how the drawers had come out when I had refurbished them so I asked her to send me the bonnet. It was in pretty sad shape. Totally black with water damage and about ready to fall apart because all the glue had gotten wet. When I got it back to Colorado, I glued and clamped and glued and clamped for about three weeks before it had any constructional integrity. I was able to sand off the outer portions of the bonnet enough to refinish it. When my daughter came out for a visit she brought the top. It was in very bad shape. The veneer had all turned black and was coming or had come off all over. I removed the veneer and found the underlayment was actually in recoverable shape. I fixed it up and then put on some walnut veneer because that is all I had. I finished it and It came out quite nice. One of the picture I have enclosed show the walnut veneer quite obviously but this is only because it is in direct sun. In the house you really cannot tell the top is walnut and the bonnet and drawers are oak. I had to make a fold up leaf as the original was totally in pieces.

Courtney










James

James has some things to share with us, along with a lot of pictures.

I have gotten quite a few sewing related items since the last meeting. This is not all of them!

First is a 1904 Singer 24-7 that arrived mounted to a board with a 1950s motor and pedal attached. Since the wiring was so bad, I bought a new L bracket motor with a motor block and electric pedal. I took off the L bracket and reused the flat bracket that was on the old motor. It runs fine now except I broke the needle so I am waiting on new needles to arrive before I can actually sew with it! Of interest is the unusual foot that is on the machine? Does anyone know what it was used for? It looks sort of like a quilting foot that uses a bar.

Next is a box of attachments and accessories for "The Automatic Sewing Machine". Based on the lettering on the attachments I believe this was for a machine made by the National Sewing Machine Company called the Eldredge which looks very much like a Willcox and Gibbs chain stitch machine. These accessories will fit a Willcox and Gibbs as well as very similar looking machines. They will also fit a Singer 24 as they are bed mounted. There is an envelope that originally held a manual for the Western Electric portable sewing machine which was a chain stitch machine that looked liked a Willcox and Gibbs. Inside the envelope was a little leaflet on using and attaching the Western Electric sewing motor.

Last is my big purchase since the last meeting. It is a 1879 factory dated Willcox and Gibbs English hand crank. Courtney was nice enough to send me a belt of the correct length along with his home made ferrule to attach the ends. I did have to get a replacement spool pin since the original was missing. I ended up having to file down the end of the brass knurled thread of the replacement spool since it was rubbing at the back end of the hand crank. I still need to work on loosening up the presser foot bar as it will not lower.

The box is the original carry case for the machine. It is in pretty rough shape but everything seems to be there except the front plate cover for the lock and the original key which would have looked like an old fashioned skeleton key.



.... to be continued