ThayerRags

Agreed. I used a 5” diameter metal hoop when I tried the darning needle clamp attachment. And, I had my fingers inside of the hoop to help hold the fabric down too, but I think that the utility muslin was too flimsy to give a good go of it. I starched another piece of it heavily for another go, but I’ve been holding off trying it again while I try to locate a raised feed cover for the 27K2. I’ve got a 4” diameter hoop that I might try next time.

One of these days I’ll switch out my Singer 306w with my Singer 66-14 and give the little needle clamp attachment a try on that machine.

CD in Oklahoma

Cari-in-Oly

CD,
Starching your fabric is good, but if your fabric is thin putting a piece of stabilizer under it will help, or use two layers of fabric.

Cari

ThayerRags

Thanks Cari.

I don’t want to use stabilizer since our fore-mothers didn’t have the stabilizers that we have today. I’m trying to stay a little bit authentic to the period when fooling with these gadgets.....

I know that I’m not going to be “period perfect”, but I’d like to try to do it like folks did “back in the day”.

CD in Oklahoma

Rodney

CD laughs in the face of modern technology.
I think it's a neat experiment too and I do actually agree. What's the point if you have to cheat?

The only problem I see with the buttonholer attachment is the screw tends to stick up on those. It might interfere with the hoop. I think I would try some cardboard that is the same height as the cover plate. Not all the grandmothers out there would have had the correct cover plate so I think that would be allowed.
Rodney

Cari-in-Oly

It's not cheating. As a child in the late 60s and early 70's, my babysitter was then in her 60s and sewed on a treadle machine. She's who taught me to use a piece of fabric on the back of whatever was being mended or decorated for strength and stability. I was never allowed to sew with her machine but I would go home and use my moms Brother to try and do the things she showed me. I'll never be as good as she was but the things she taught me I still do today.

Cari

KLO

Fascinating topic! Gonna follow this through to the end with hopes of learning a good deal about machine embroidery. Stopped today to pick up my Pfaff 7550 that had to have some work done and the owner of the shop was sitting at a large embroidery machine. I said "Look Ma, no hands!" because he wasn't using any! Times have certainly changed and I am glad to see people experimenting with the old techniques.

juneayerza

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVPe19SlWjs Here is a link to watch

manicmike

Hi CD. Is this book of any use? Specifically mentions the 27-4 as a contender (page 3) and gives very specific instructions. Seems like what the doctor ordered to me.

ThayerRags

Yes Mike, that helps a lot!

At least it gives me a number of 8335 for the Singer 27 darning cover plate, even though I haven’t yet found a photo of one. I did find mention that it attaches to the bed with a screw.

CD in Oklahoma

ETA: The problem with some of the older Singer parts is that they didn't all have numbers on them in the early days. I may have a couple of them in my junk box, but without numbers on them, I may not ever identify them correctly.

manicmike

CD, I use a 1930s buttonholer cover plate on my 1891 VS2. I've also tried the cover plate from various 1960s Singer BH as well as the Swiss ZZ and they all work (they were generic and therefore work on as many Singer models as possible).
Don't worry about getting the listed one, just use any of them.