OurWorkbench

Courtney continues

I can sit the Featherweight on the plywood base. I only need to disconnect the motor belt on the Featherweight; I do not need to remove the motor like I have seen on some other Featherweight hand crank modifications. The belt from the hand crank does have to be twisted to make the featherweight turn toward you (counterclockwise) when turning the hand crank clockwise. Since using a hand crank is not high speed it seems to work well. I used a neoprene belt and hooked it together with a W&G ferrule made from a Chicago nut. When done using the hand crank the featherweight can be removed, the Belt reattached, and it is ready to go again. No major modifications necessary.





The plywood base does not need to be quite as large as what I started with. It could be made much shorter. I think 11 ½ inches would be fine. The 8 inch width however is about the minimum and could be even a bit larger.
I was quite proud of how well things worked with the Featherweight, so I thought I would quickly try some other machines. A Singer 201 worked quite well with a twisted belt.



A Wheeler and Wilson worked out quite well. Since it turns clockwise, the belt does not need to be twisted. I will have to come up with some way to wind the bobbins, but that should not be too difficult. My W&W machine was “refurbished” with a Godzilla finish and an electric motor many years before I obtained the machine, and the bobbin winder wasn’t working as it was originally a Treadle machine. However, as I mentioned earlier one of the benefits of this hand crank is that the motor does not have to be removed as you can see in the pictures.



One quick note. I do like the neoprene belts. But for trying stuff out, I usually use inexpensive oxygen tubing held together with heavy duty staples. It is cheap and easy to quickly set up and try things out as shown in the pictures above of the 201 and W&W machine.

That’s it for this month!
Courtney Willis

PS The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum is having their bi-annual men’s show through April 18th . It is a national juried show (international if you count one quilt from Ontario.) I am pleased to say my ‘After Picasso’ wall quilt was accepted!



In Closing

That is all for now. Hope that those hit with cold and snow are staying warm and dry. Spring will come, no matter what the prognosticators say.

Thank you Dianne and Courtney for your contributions.

Thank you for reading. See you next month.

OurWorkbench

Denver broke the record high for February 15th with a high of 68° February 24th Denver tied the high of 71° with 1981. Denver had 41 days at or above 60°F for the meteorological winter (December–February), Denver finished with its 2nd-warmest winter on record since 1933-1934. Denver had the second snowless February on record and first since 2009. February 2026 was also the third-hottest February on record in Denver.

A little late getting this out from usual. There is going to be an in person get-together on Saturday. We did get a couple of notes from members.

Leon
Leon, our member at large from Kansas, tells of a recent machine acquisition and giving hand crank demos.

Just checking in. Happened to be close to this Elna TSP last week. "doesn't work, needs electrical work". Cheap and came in a cabinet. We dragged it home and gave it some oil and cleaning. Light always works. Power randomly. I did get it to run for 15 minutes. Then nothing. I haven't taken the plug area apart yet. It may need a drop of solder. It is fun though. Oh our state museum finally opened up and we got to go do demos for our hand crank machines. Maybe 400 Kiddos tried them out. Greetings from Kansas. Stay safe. Leon and Iris.





Cheryl & Chris
Cheryl sent a note about Chris doing a rewire of a foot controller with notes on how he did it.

We had a little bit of sewing machine related activity lately. Chris noticed that the foot pedal on my 301 was looking sketchy so he did what he's done many many times before and rewired it. But this time he documented it. Here's a link with photos of the process and there are his comments with each photo describing what he did and why.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ML2Mtp1hRNcNJ6Jw8

In Closing

As mentioned before we plan on meeting in person on Saturday so will probably have a part B next week.

OurWorkbench

As mentioned last week some of us were able to get together in person. A few could not attend due to various reasons, such as car trouble, previous commitment and being out of state.

We met for lunch at Wrigley Chicago Bar and Grill that is not far from the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. Courtney brought one of his Civil War Willcox & Gibbs machines, which according to https://ismacs.net/willcoxandgibbs/wg_dating.html dates it at 1863. He had another 3D printed hand wheel on it, this time in black.





We then went to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum https://www.rmqm.org/ for the 2026 Men's Exhibit. There were 36 quilts in the Men's Exhibit. The Men's Exhibit is a biennial event. Courtney already has plans for the next one in two years.







In Closing

It sure was nice to be able to get together in person. Hopefully we will be able to have more in the future.

That's all for this month. Thank you for reading.

Farmhousesewer

I don't know anything about 3 D printing, but just joined Knox Makers, a membership group in which you can use all equipment of every kind, of course after training. 3D equipment included. Are there plans available to purchase or being shared in QB or in VSS? . Forgive me, I should have checked there first.

OurWorkbench

Sending a PM. I believe Courtney found the file for 3D printing online, but may have had a university student draft it.

OurWorkbench

Denver has been having some strange weather. March 14th the high was in the 70s, but woke up to snow on Sunday. Denver broke many high temperature records in March which included some all time highs for March with a couple of days at 85° and then on the 25th was 87°. On the 30th, Denver hit 80° which made it the 8th day of temperatures of 80° or over in March. Typically, March is the snowiest month.

Enough weather, probably many enjoying the summer like weather as only got one report this month.

Courtney

Courtney has been busy putting together various both old and new pieces to make a working machine.

Most of my time recently has been working on drive trains for my Civil War project. Last spring I bought an old rusty looking Willcox and Gibbs machine. When it arrived I found out exactly how old it was, 1863. This gave me the idea of trying to sew a Civil War quilt with a Civil War machine. I had to do some research on what an actual civil war quilt was like.

The U.S. Sanitary Commission (forerunner of the Red Cross) asked for quilts of a specific size about 50 inches wide and 7 feet long. Rather long and skinny, but this was because they were going to be used on cots, not beds. A normal bed quilt would be hanging on the ground and getting in the way. During the war, the Sanitary Commission received about 250,000 quilts. Apparently only about 20 are known to still exist and half of these were “Pot Holder” quilts. A mid 19th century version of a modern Quilt As You Go. Women of a particular group would make pot holder squares of a particular, size completely pieced, quilted and bound. The pot holders would be brought together, and then the bindings would be sewn together to make the quilt. So, I have decided on a pot holder quilt. I have never tried a pot holder quilt but came across 27 old log cabin squares which I am going to practice on. (see pics)

Earlier I reported on the 3-D printed hand crank I had found online and the base I made for it. It turned out great. But recently I have been working on a treadle since I already had an 1859 W&G machine. I had cut the wood for the small trestle table, and It was sitting down in the basement. The top was made about 15 years ago to fit on top of a W&G treadle while I was refinishing the real top. I found an old W&G drive wheel online cheap but when it arrived it had gotten broken in shipment, so I tried some JB Weld and it seems to be holding so far. It was patented in 1857. The foot plate was from an old treadle I already had, so the only thing left was a pitman (the lever which connects the foot plate to the drive wheel and makes it spin.) My drive wheel only had an old broken part of the original pitman. My plan was to try and put something together out of wood, but a good friend has a metal lathe and decided to try and make one of metal. It has finally all come together. I kept using an old broken W&G machine I was given a few years ago while trying all the building of the hand crank and treadle so I would not accidentally harm my Civil War machines. It is even sewing nicely now. I guess I have no more excuses for putting things off!

The treadle has turned out so well I am thinking on taking it to History Fest next month. History Fest is put on by our local museum at Centennial Village here in Greeley. For a week 4th graders visit the village and get to wash clothes on a board, eat real beans from a chuck wagon, watch a blacksmith forge a nail, and of course get to hear the history of sewing machines. I also have them sign their names to squares which I make into a quilt. Each quilt has a different theme. This spring the theme is the 250th birthday of the United States and the 150th birthday of Colorado. So my Civil War machine may still have a couple of quilts in her!
Courtney









In Closing

Thank you for reading. We will post next month. There is a strong possibility we may have an in-person meeting.

OurWorkbench

Colorado hasn't had such a record breaking ups and down weather this past month. However, 98.3% of state is in drought and the remaining 1.7% being Abnormally Dry.

We had contributions with pictures from a few of our members, so let's get to them

Dianne

Dianne tells of a couple of items she has acquired recently and some history behind them.

In the past month two antique sewing-related items have been added to my collection. The first is a thread counter, a common enough item, but in excellent condition in its original case with snapping lid.. The counter bears the name ‘Alfred Suter New York’ and also ‘Bausch & Lomb Rochester NY’ These were both key anufacturers, with Bausch & Lomb well known for its microscopes and related optical instruments. This thread counter is hefty and well designed, as it continues to work perfectly and has an easily read scale in fractions of inches. Alfred Suter came to the US from Switzerland, called himself a Testile Engineer, and had offices at 200 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. He died in 1947. Suter apparently also made a device for measuring the twist in thread and yarn, which would be interesting to locate. There is information about the history of thread counters, also called linen testers, at: https://www.microscope-antiques.com/linen.html

The second instrument is named "The Eureka Thread Tester, for testing the strength of silk, linen and cotton threads." It is a sturdy and weighty device, which is hung from a nail or hook. A thread is looped over the knob at the bottom, wound around a finger, and then pulled evenly until it breaks. The needle will stay at whatever the high reading on the scale indicates, which is in pounds. A way to test a single thickness of thread is also possible when the doubled thread exceeds the rating on the scale. It seems to work, but I need to explore it more using various threads. Inside the original cardboard box are the instructions printed on both sides of a single sheet, still in good condition, and the box bottom is stamped with the date Feb 8, 1917. A serial number of 949 is under the dial. Eureka was a commonly used term and it is difficult to sort out founding and dissolution dates for this company, but the instructions place The Eureka Silk Mfg. Co at 118 - 122 East 16th Street in New York. An emblem for the company is a thread spool on its side, saying Eureka Silk on the end and Eureka spool warranted on the side. There was a Eureka Silk Mill in Massachusetts, that name given in 1881 to a much older silk mill which underwent several changes of ownership, having been first built in 1839.

There seems to be lots of trade cards for Eureka on ebay. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...from=R40&rt=nc









... to be continued

OurWorkbench

Lisa

Lisa tells of her experiences this month and getting a fantastic gift.

I may have a problem.

I have been collecting sewing machines for several years now. My friends and relatives send me photos when they are on vacation or thrifting and run across a vintage or antique machine. But worse, strangers bring me their orphaned machines.

It has gotten to the point where I lost count of my collection and people would ask how many I have and I would guess “oh, thirty plus or minus.” Well, it was clearly time to do an inventory. I did just that this weekend and found I seriously undercounted. Sitting at 46, I have reached the breaking point of physical and mental room for them.

I have a business servicing sewing machines and having all these extras around is not helpful. Except for those I keep for parts, use for quilting, or have true historical/collectors value, I will be selling the rest. I hope to get my collection down to about 25. (If you are interested in seeing a list of the machines on the chopping block, let me know)

That said, I was just gifted an amazing mint condition Necchi Supernova. What a cool machine! Some of its highlights include:

· All steel

· High shank

· Rotating needle plate with 3 different hold configurations

· Not only does the needle go back and forth for the zigzag, but the entire bobbin/race shaft moves back and forth as well!

· Decorative stitches that use interchangeable pattern cams making a zillion possible stitches

· The cam and accessory box lid has a cool “interactive” guide for decorative stitch cam assembly telling you the perfect needle position, stitch length and stitch width

· It also has a variable speed motor, feed dog drop, and can do double needle decorative stitching.

Pretty innovative for a machine developed in 1954. Even Sophia Loren advertised and used one! I’m really looking forward to playing with this one!

~ Lisa Selzler











... to be continued

OurWorkbench

Courtney

Courtney shares about his excursions this month and looking forward to History Fest in May.

Dear All,
It has been a rather hectic month. We traveled down to Portales, NM for the Williamson Lectureship at Eastern New Mexico University. Connie was the master of ceremonies for the luncheon. While there I was asked if I could drop in and take a look at a sewing machine that had been acting up a bit. The sewing machine was at a Western Ware store downtown. I said that I had not worked much on industrial machines but would be happy to drop in. When I entered, I was told that they had gotten it to behave, but I asked to see it anyway. It was not for alterations but an industrial leather machine. Boy, was I pleased they had gotten it to work because I could not have been much help. The machine was a Landis number 12 model K and weighed nearly a ton. They needed a fork-lift to get it into place. The owner used it to make and repair cowboy boots. To sew on a leather sole, it first punches a hole through the leather, then pulls the thread (actually waxed cord) through the hole. I only had an old camera that I had been playing around with, but I did get a couple of shots to come out that give you an idea of the size and heft of the machine.

The week after we returned was spent trying to convince our cat to return home. She is an indoor cat but, the evening we returned a heavy wind blew open a window and she was able to get out. It took a few days to convince her, but she is back now asking what all the fuss was about,

A few of the girls I knew in High School (I know they are no longer girls, but they always will be girls in my memories) wanted to see my quilt at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum Men's Show. It was the last week of the show, so I didn’t have much time and did what we did a few weeks ago. We met at Wrigley’s Chicago Bar and Grill for lunch (our usual luncheons are NOT at a Bar and Grill but as you know Wrigley’s is actually a pretty nice place.) We then went to the museum and looked at the Men’s quilt show. The girls are very polite, and I got lots of compliments on my quilt and I think they enjoyed the other quilts too. It was a great day, and everything turned out well. The next day we had a bit of snow.

I am often asked what I do with my quilts and I usually answer they are packed away down in the basement, so I decided to hang a couple in a bedroom as you can see in the picture.

In a couple of weeks, I have History Fest down at Centennial Village. This year I am taking my Civil War Willcox and Gibbs treadle for the 4th graders to see. It seems to be working very nicely.

Thanks,
Courtney







In Closing

It looks like we well get together in person on Saturday, so will follow-up next week.