SteveH

all right, that's it... I've been kinda wanting to try this anyway, I'm going to buy one of these and will figure it out...

Rodney

[QUOTE=Cari-in-Oly;7156573]Don't shoot me Cari. She hasn't even tried it out yet (kids). I'll put it through it's paces after dinner tonight. Elayne just gave Olivia a different free arm (a newer Singer) so I'll give yours back next time I see you.

I was going to mention the 401A too but then I remembered that whole free arm criteria and that kind of shot that idea down.

I just gave it away but my daughter's Monkey Wards machine from the early 70s to one of her friends. It was all metal with a built in blind hem stitch. Sorry I don't remember the model number. If they made a free arm version that might be an option too.

Joe, you're probably not doing anything wrong with the blind hemmer. From what I've seen on the yahoo group for Singer attachments they're finicky to set up and apparently there's a rubber part for moving the cloth that hardens up or wears out and doesn't grip right. I'm working from memory here and don't actually own one so I might be wrong about the rubber part.

I see commercial blind hemmers come up around here fairly often and in a wide range of prices. If your wife is doing a lot of mending for others it might be a good investment both money and space wise. That, and they're pretty cool looking.
Rodney

Tink's Mom

Joe, your Bernina 930 has that stitch built in. She can adjust the "bite" by adjusting her width. It does a great blind hem.

J Miller

Rodney,

I don't remember a rubber part on those things so I'll dig out my examples and see.

There is one thing I have learned about the Singer ZZ and BS attachments. If you use them on a machine with a needle bar stroke shorter than the Singers, you won't get as wide a stitch.

Joe

Irishrose2

Elna 62C from 1973 has a blindstitch built in and will sew through anything. It is a free arm, but I haven't use as such since I stopped making very little girl's dresses. Those little puffed sleeves needed the free arm. Adult pants don't, IMO.

CMARAS1234

i just found a montgomery ward uht j 1954. that has a free arm and a blind hem stitch. but i need a manual and i cant find any info on the web. serial number 37817560 b. any help would be appreciated.cmaras1234

Yooper32

My old free-arm Elna from 1964 did it by a cam. That machine was a revelation to me in her day and still, if I have a really heavy-duty job, I haul her out and rev her up. I will never part with that machine. It has never been in a shop or needed any repairs and she sewed all the kids clothes that formerly were done by treadle until they were in high school and some beyond.

Caroline94535

I don't think this will help with knit slacks, but it might come in handy if she's hemming jeans.

If you're hemming denim jeans, here's a couple You Tube videos that I've found very helpful.

This is about 7 minutes long, and worth every second.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XJaTBqc2Kc

Combination of Euro-Hem techniques...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaoE5JuuZeM

J Miller

Caroline,

Thanks for the links, but we're still on dial up and can't watch those videos.

Joe

Caroline94535

I'm sorry, Joe. After I get my daily painting chores finished, I'll try to find a text-only version.