In a second subsequent email Leon wrote:
Just for fun is a dashboard Fleetwood (Brother re-badge probably) complete with fins on the top. Can it say "50s" any louder? I haven't even touched it yet. Just dragged it home. I can see using it as a hand crank at some events.
James
We're sending special best wishes to James, who sounds like he has had a difficult Thanksgiving this year. He writes:
I have not done much sewing related stuff since the last meeting. There were some machines I wanted to bid on but with travel and my Dad's funeral going on just before Thanksgiving I did not get much done.
We took my mother's Singer 301 with table and accessories to my brother down to Texas where we had Thanksgiving with him and his wife. I brought my English hand crank Willcox and Gibbs for her to try out. We tried it out on some dish drying cloths. We found out that if you pull on the fabric at stitch length 12 it will create loops. I switched it to 16 length and it holds firm. I guess that dish drying fabric is just a bit too stretchy at length 12. My prior sewing with the Willcox and Gibbs were all on regular quilting fabric.
She was nervous about it being a chain stitch instead of lock stitch. I got to see her sewing machines including her Mother's Singer 500 and a featherweight she picked up at a good price at an estate sale. She makes occasional quilts for the Linus Project which collects quilts and blankets for children in need such as hospitals and shelters.
James
In Closing
We will post here again next month for the first meeting of the 2022 new year. Until then, everyone have happy holidays and a safe and prosperous new year! Thank you for reading.