OurWorkbench

I was mentioning to Janey the other evening about how fortunate we've been in dodging bad weather for our get togethers. A week and a half ago Denver was barely moving due to snow. December seventh in Colorado gave us a nearly sixty degree day, great for traveling and gathering at Perkins in Denver.

We had a great meeting, with Paula, Carol, Dorothy, Courtney, Cheryl & Chris, Dianne, James, Janey & John all there.

Carol brought a variety of embroidered Christmas ornaments that she made for everyone. We passed them around, all taking one or two of them. She talked about using a wash away interfacing to stitch onto. The process was done with using a computer controlled sewing machine that she has. Very nicely done.

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Courtney brought a miniature sewing machine made by Genero. It is a workable chain stitch machine and is called the Stitch Mistress. It is made on a very solid casting. He has the original box that it came in, too.

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Courtney is continuing to work on inventive spool holders with thread guides as shown below. He had several, one made from butterfly clip and one of which is made of aluminum alloy welding rod. He has several good working models.

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Dorothy, who works with industrial machines, brought a flyer on the new Juki machine they just received where she works. It is a LU-2800 series machine. The machine is fully a yard wide and is capable of sewing up to about 3,000 stitches per minute. I did a little calculation and that turns out to be 50 stitches per second.

Dorothy brought some samples of the machine's stitching on some pieces of a tough mesh material that they use. Dorothy answered our many questions about the machine and it's use. Differences and similarities between industrial and domestic machines are interesting to look at and Dorothy brings this expertise to our group.

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OurWorkbench

James brought a very retro Penny's Swing and Sew (Penncrest) Model P-1. Compact when folded up, it has three drop down sides, the front and back of which are bed extensions and threading instructions are on one of the end flaps. We thought it may be from the fifties or early sixties. It isn't as light as one might expect because it is solidly made of steel. James removed the bottom to show it's underside. Janey was interested in the JA/JC casting numbers which she located there.

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James also brought a H. H. Jackson Rug Hooker. It's so easy to use that James actually started to put hook stitches into the box he had it in.

The rug hooker has some very worn instructions and other information. Both the hooker and a pattern were priced the same, both $2.00. It is noted that the address appears to precede the use of postal zones or zip codes. The rug hooker itself looks almost brand new.

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James also had several items, among them a puzzle box, a buttonholer, and three different rufflers ( an early, a 5-stitch & a 1-6-12 stitch).
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There was also a curious spear-headed spike. It has a large slot in the back end of it, like an eye. Help us identify it if you can.

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Also we couldn't identify a clip, or tweezer device, opposite a longer shaft with a small slightly spooned end. Any guesses?

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Finally, James brought a nice weaving sample book that he acquired, with woven samples of the various weaves described. The book was hand assembled by someone who had an obvious interest in weaving. There were news letters from the 1940's into the 1960's. Chris, being an active weaver with a large loom, wanted to borrow the book to scan it. Finally, Chris offered to buy the sample book, which James agreed to. Chris seemed very happy to have it for his weaving interest.

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Thanks to everyone who came to make such an interesting get-together. We plan to meet again next month and we will post it here.

Best holiday wishes to everyone.

OurWorkbench

The Colorado Antique and Vintage Sewing Machine Group met on the first Saturday of the new year. We met January 4th at 10 o'clock at Perkins in Denver, with Carol, Dorothy, Cheryl and Chris, Courtney, James, Janey and John attending. It was a sixty degree day.

Courtney brought a ceramic statue of a woman sewing a man's pants with the man in the pants. It's a very funny figurine. Courtney also brought a calendar with a very similar picture on it, as well as some documentation on old machines he is keeping in plastic sleeves. Incidentally, he said that he had gotten a New Home machine like the one in the calendar.





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OurWorkbench

Courtney also brought a quick quilt sample he had made with another of his WIllcox & Gibbs machines and was using it to protect the ceramic figurine. His machine did beautiful work on the quilt, producing very fine chain stitching.



Courtney also gifted Janey with a Willcox & Gibbs machine with a motor. He has several Willcox & Gibbs machines and it is much appreciated by Janey. It takes a size 90 needle (14) and can do 16 to 18 stitches per inch. Janey says, "Thank you Courtney." Janey made some sample stitches on felt of the longest and shortest stitches




Dorothy talked about the new Juki industrial machine they got where she works. We posted some things about it last meeting. She loves the machine and says it has many features, only some of which they use.

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Cheryl and Chris have been working on making a wooden cabinet that will fit sewing machine treadle drawers. They have been collecting such drawers for some time, but wanted to assure us that they were not scavenged. Chris said "No treadles have been harmed." It is turning out beautifully from the pictures they shared with us. The cabinet was made to accommodate thirty of the drawers they have acquired.



Carol shared a few stories about various jobs she's had, such as costume making, that have helped her learn to sew and the techniques she has learned.

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OurWorkbench

James brought an Elna model 62 machine that he acquired. It is a free arm machine and comes with a sturdy metal case. He has the paper work that indicate that it was originally purchased about 1975. The machine came with the manuals, stitch samples and two drive pulleys, as well. Included was a needle darning spring. Unfortunately, the picture is not the correct threading.



Happy new year to everyone. We plan to meet again in February and will post the notes from that meeting here.

OurWorkbench

Snow and near zero temperatures are forecast for our area this week, but for our get together we had what we call the "warm before the storm", with sunny skies and temperatures expected to be near seventy degrees. At the meeting were Courtney, James, Carol, Paula, Dorothy, Cheryl & Chris, Janey & John. Nine in all.

Cheryl and Chris showed us cell phone pictures of the finished custom cabinet they showed us last month, for a collection of spare treadle drawers. The cabinet was made by them to hold the drawers. We asked them to send us pictures to post and they did. Pictures of their beautiful creation is shown here, both colorful and actual with wood finished drawers.



Paula brought a decorative birdhouse in the shape of a sewing machine. One of the pictures was taken with flash and shows the hole better than the one without flash.



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OurWorkbench

Courtney brought some needles for Janey's recently acquired Willcox & Gibbs machine. Being a little difficult to find, Janey is glad to have them for the machine. Courtney talked about how Willcox started fixing mechanical things such as clocks. They didn't build their own machines, having them made by Brown & Sharpe. Willcox & Gibbs was the first manufacturer to produce fully interchangeable parts.

Janey showed a first project for the WIllcox & Gibbs machine, a pouch for the foot controller, which she usually does for foot controllers so that they don't scratch the finish of the machine during storage. It was made with landscape cloth and it still needs some work. It has a decorative W and G which she did on the newly acquired Willcox & Gibbs machine.



James brought a Davis vertical feed machine that he acquired from Shop Goodwill. One of the hinges was broken in transit, but the machine is alright otherwise from its journey. The motor needs some work, since it sparks when it runs and some of the wiring could be replaced due to age. It is believed that the motor was added later in its life, with holed being drilled in the back of the pillar.




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OurWorkbench

Courtney brought the New Home machine that he got this year for Christmas from his wife. It has the earlier leaf tension that doesn't have the side lever. It is in very nice condition, particularly the decals, which we were unable to get good sharp pictures of. He brought it in a base that he had made for something else and carried it all in a plastic all-purpose case that he got on sale at JoAnn's.



We plan to meet again in March and post those meeting notes here.

OurWorkbench

We met for the March 2020 Colorado Sewing Machine Enthusiasts get together on Saturday, March 7th, at Perkins at 10 AM as usual. The meeting was attended by James, Dianne, Dorothy, Courtney, Janey and John.

Dorothy brought an accessory kit for timing sewing machines. It will work for any lock-stitch machine, whether domestic or industrial. It came with a set of instructions and is contained in a small case, keeping all of the small parts together between uses.

She also brought a flexible tape measure in a little tin container. Both are shown below.



Dianne brought several spools of assorted darning thread, handing them out to everyone in the group. One of the skeins had some additional items stuffed in the center of it.



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