February brought Colorado quite a variety of weather, from overnight lows of -14F with a daytime high of 7 in Denver to much more pleasant days reaching 60 degrees. I must say, we prefer the latter. Other parts of the state got even colder. But spring is just around the corner.
We have project notes from Dianne, Courtney and Dorothy this month. So let's get started.
Dianne
Dianne tells us about a Vibra machine she has and her Singer 128, along with some ideas for quilting. She writes:
Hi Everyone,
About the middle of the month I set aside the Vibra, which still needs a new bobbin winder tire, and pulled out my Singer 128. This machine is a hand crank model, AB648502 from 1927 according to my records. This is one of the first vintage machines I purchased, way back in 2009. It was chosen for February because it uses standard feet - well, standard for my 15-91 (1952) which is the usual machine I use. Some half-square triangle blocks were the next project in line, and a machine that could use a quarter-inch foot was desirable.
A needlebar page shows the 128 being manufactured from 1916 to 1952 in Elizabethport and the 128K from 1912 to 1962 in Kilbowie. Over 4 million were made, so the model was well represented. One difference between the very similar 127 and 128 models is the shuttle carrier and shuttle. The manufacture of these two very similar models overlapped, with the 127 being produced to 1941 at Elizabethport and the 127K until 1939 at Kilbowie, producing over two and half million of them. That said, Singer made many more Model 66s - 8,906,297! That is a lot of sewing machines. But even that pales to the number of Model 15 and its variants, over 26 million machines.
My machine has the La Vencedora decal set, used from the beginning of production of this model to 1960. Was something else placed on those last few machines produced in Kilbowie, or is this information incorrect? That would be interesting to find out. The decals on my machine are fairly intact, despite the fact she seems to have been well used. The crank turns incredibly easily, and will continue turning for several stitches if you let go while in motion. There are no notable problems with this machine, but it does like smaller, older-style spools of thread rather than the newer and larger crosswound type. The upper thread will sometimes break if using those, but never did using smaller spools. It might be the angle the thread approaches the first guide or inconsistent pull off the spool that causes the breakage. Anyway, that problem was easily solved and the HSTs are almost all stitched into 16 patch blocks of various designs and sizes.
The size difference of the HSTs was due to having on hand a tall stack of scrappy 3 1/2" squares. Wanting to make some 3" finished HSTs, a line was drawn diagonally to stitch along; but not wanting to waste close to half the fabric, another line 1/2" away was drawn and also stitched. Cutting between the stitchings produces two half-square units. The 3" finish ones have been used with very little trimming needed; the smaller cut-off squares needed trimming, but that can easily be done to make 2 1/2" squares. So, ending up with 8" finish and 12" finish 16 square blocks, I will border the smaller ones up to 12" finish and alternate the two sizes in a quilt. This will separate each block from its neighbors and should make an interesting quilt.
Dianne
Courtney
Courtney tells us a bit about his activities and sewing interests this month, including stumbling upon a buttonholer. He tells us:
Dear All,
My report this month will be short but that is appropriate because February is short. Actually, February weather has seemed to last forever this year. Hopefully, Spring will be here shortly. A week or so ago we had a PCCP (Post-Christmas Christmas Party). A good friend had been in the hospital and recovering from a fall so we had to keep putting a Christmas celebration off several times. I raked in a bunch of loot, all sewing. I got a jelly roll and two charm packs, a couple of fun quilting activity books and a JoAnn gift card! Although, I have not done much concerning sewing machines this month, I have been working on a couple of quilts. After I finished my cowboy sougan (sugan, soogan, or whatever), I started on another quilt, which is about half pieced now.
My one sewing machine activity occurred quite by accident. While wandering through my local thrift shop I noticed a "YS Star" YS-4455 industrial buttonholer. I do have a couple of semi-industrial machines that use high shank feet and a couple of older domestic machines that also use a high shank feet. I have not had a chance to try it out yet but everything was in the box and ready to go. This style of buttonholer has been around since the 1890s. In fact, this one looks almost identical to a "Famous" buttonholer from the 1930s. (I have a "Famous" down in the basement but could not find it). I did take a picture of the "YS Star" and a pre-war, pre-cam Singer buttonholer. Both the Star and Singer work nearly identical but the Singer did move things around a bit. During the pandemic one of my daughter's friends was given a Featherweght and so she decided to take up sewing. It included an early Singer buttonholer so I sent her information on its use as well as a couple of YouTube videos on its use. The nice thing about these buttonholers is that unlike the cam type of buttonholers, they can sew custom buttonholes. You can adjust the width of the zig-zag on the sides (bight), the length, and the cutting width (space between the two parallel sides.) It is amazing what they can do with a straight stitch sewing machine. Buttonholers are quite amazing machines themselves(and cute)!
Courtney
to be continued...