Just so you know, I read all of your posts and enjoy the pictures and conversations that have occurred also..........Keep 'em comin'!

Judy, thank you -- will " Keep 'em comin'!" :)


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

June 2, 2018 CO Get-Together
 

We met Saturday for our June meeting, ten o'clock at Perkins as usual. We have a core group of six or eight people, most of which attend every month. It really helps to make our get-together's work. As people come from various parts of Colorado, it makes it worthwhile for people to make the trip. Attendees were Dorothy, Diane, Cheryl and Chris, Janey and John. Courtney was unable to attend this time.

Dorothy brought samples of what she does in her job. The pieces were automotve accessories, sewn on an industrial machines that they use. The pieces were heavy fabric, specially treated to be waterproof. There were straps of a vinyl-like material, probably most of an eighth of an inch thick, that the industrial machine sewed right through. Very impressive. Dorothy is the only one of our group who has sewn professionally with the industrial machines and we welcome her experience. Unfortunately, Janey didn't get a good image of the samples by themselves but can be seen on the left side of a couple of later pictures.

Cheryl and Chris brought pictures of a treadle that they recently refinished and it turned out beautifully. We talked about shellac and the great results that can be obtained with several coats. It's easy to repair if ever needed. They were on their way to an event later in the day, where Cheryl plays accordion and Chris plays mandolin. They again brought the accordion inside, to get it out of the heat of the car. It has a case that looks like a sewing machine leaning to one side- but not a sewing machine at all. An unusual looking case that we joked about. Cheryl did not bring the "12" as they had already determined that they had the wrong bobbin winder for her machine.

Janey made embellished key fobs for all in the group. They were felted on a recently acquired embellishing machine, each with an initial. They were felted onto wool (that had been given by Courtney), as a protector for keys attached to machines with bentwood cases. It protects the case, so the keys don't cause scratches. Here is a picture of a few of them. Each has a sample key, with a string to attach it to a sewing machine. Also brought some handkerchiefs that she had hemmed for her brother. Most of the corners did NOT turn out as well as the one in the picture.

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Diane brought two interesting things for evaluating the weight and thread count of fabrics. The thread counter is from the early nineteen hundreds and made of brass. It has a magnifying eye piece and a screw adjustment, allowing a microscope-like view of the threads. The screw moves the eye piece and pointer across the scale marks, making it easy to count them. It has metric on one side and inches on the other. The other device allows cutting a small piece of fabric between two metal plates to assure proper size, then weighs it to allow a good estimate of what a yard of the material would weigh. Pictures of both devices are shown below.

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Some samples on left - thread weight scale - case for thread counter. The clasp was missing on the thread counter and a new one fashioned.

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Thread counter with teaspoon for scale.

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Just a little bit of samples on the left, thread weight scale with fabric hanging from hook.

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Scale in case.


Thanks to everyone who came. We look forward to our next meeting, which we will post here.

Some additional notes:

The scale had both metric and ounces measurements.

My apologies for the not up to par pictures. I'm at least getting better about taking some pictures.

About the key covers... A couple of them I felted the top hem, but the others I ironed on some interfacing or iron-on patch fabric at the top where the cord goes through. I had thought initially of pinking each side individually, but then found I could run it through my Singer hand crank pinker after it was stitched together (two layers).


For the handkerchiefs I stitched them on a 1949 15K90 with 35996 (5/64") hemmer foot. I have heard about the narrow hemmers being different even though they are for low shank machines. I realized that the recommended narrow hemmers for the different machines is based on the direction the flat of the needle is inserted. I did try another foot for 1/8" hem and didn't see much of a difference in width of the hem, but the stitches seemed to be a little closer to the outside edge.


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Janey I think that button hook might be cellulose, earlier than bakelite. I sold a whole bunch of cellulose vanity items out of the house I inherited that looked like that. At least that's what I was told it is.

Cari

Large size cutting mat
 

Something else that was talked about Saturday was cutting mats. Dorothy told us about the mats they use where she works. They are thick, but translucent. They use exacto knives daily and has held up well, She is unsure how rotary cutters, would work. According to the website, https://www.draftingsteals.com/20877.html I think they would hold up well and can be custom cut to size. Sizes available can be found at https://www.draftingsteals.com/catal...ting-mats.html

Since the grid is placed under the mat, should you eventually need to replace the mat, you could order the one without the grid.


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

P.S. Thank you Cari. I really don't care what it made of. I just don't want to damage it. I think button hooks are neat. I don't need one all the time, but they sure come in handy sometimes.

July 7, 2018 CO Get Together - Part 1
 

We had a well attended and busy meeting this month at our usual Perkins restaurant. It was the beginning to a warm and sunny day here in Denver.


Janey and John brought a sewing machine called a Miracle. It rode on a new luggage carrier from Harbor Freight, acquired for the purpose. Janey has been recently testing and making samples of some zig-zag cams that were purchased separately and work nicely with it. It was brought, in part, as an example showing the movement of the bobbin, back and forth when zig-zagging. We talked about the reason and need to do this with vertical end bobbins.

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Dorothy was there and brought a picture of an electrified VS2 machine. We got the best picture we could from her tablet. It is in an "alligator skin" covered case. Dorothy also brought a motor and light set, wired together, needing to get the light and motor apart for service. The motor is not as obvious as some in how it comes apart. The consensus was that it is held together with circular rings. She also brought a book entitled The New Dressmaker, by Butterick.

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To be continued in Part 2 ....

July 7, 2018 CO Get Together - Part 2
 

Courtney brought a less common kind of controller (from a National made Montgomery Wards sewing Machine), which needs rewiring. The issue is how to get it apart. It is very small and substantially built and seems to have two circular metal clips, one at each end, that holds it together. It has good ventilation from the perforated metal of the case. (More pictures can be found at https://www.quiltingboard.com/vintag...l-t298113.html ) Courtney also brought a thread guide, for insertion into one of the many Featherweight holed to guide the thread. It has an upper part made from coat hanger, with a bottom made from two sections of dowel, one small enough to fit in a hole. The wood avoids damage to the aluminum Featherweight if it was accidentally bumped. A nice little invention, typical of Courtney.

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Diane brought samples of her work with string quilt blocks. There were several of them, all nicely done for us to see. Unfortunately didn't get picture of just the string quilt blocks (part can be seen in lower right of paper pieced block). Diane also brought two pictures. The first is of her Royal Shakespear machine. Note no "e" at the end. The reason why can be found at http://www.sewalot.com/shakespear_se...ne_sewalot.htm While the machine would appear to be a chainstitch machine, it actually produces a lockstitch. She also brought a picture of an unfortunate machine that had been apparently used for target practice, something she and her husband found while doing geological searching in a area known as the Book Cliffs, in western Colorado. Funny and sad at the same time, Diane was able to get a few bits and pieces off of it, about all that was undamaged.

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Cheryl and Chris were there, too. Cheryl brought thread catchers for everyone. They are cleverly made, from triangular pieces, double folded, with a button on the three sides. They stand about two or three inches, serving as a collector for loose ends of thread, so they don't get on the floor and in the machine. Several were passed around the table and people picked the one they liked. It sure was nice that she made a purple and turquoise one that went well with the Miracle. Cheryl was wearing a top that she made which is very appropriate for our get together. She has the machines illustrated, but don't know which machine she used to make it.

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Before adjourning, we talked about possibly having a book session next time, featuring the many and varied sewing books that our members have.


We'll post here about it next month.

August 4, 2018 CO Get-together Part 1
 

We met, ten o'clock at Perkins on Saturday for our monthly meeting. We were glad to welcome a person who had not been there before, named April, a friend of Dorothy's. Dorothy was there too, along with Cheryl and Chris, Dianne, Janey and John.


April brought some samples of free motion quilting she is doing. Very nice work and we got some pictures. It was nice to meet her and we hope to see her again.


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Dorothy brought a VS2 machine that she wants to put a hand crank on and we looked at possibilities of doing so. It currently has a motor and is in an interesting snake skin case. It also has a smaller handwheel that was added. The motor is mounted with one screw through the kidney shaped rear inspection plate. It has a second screw under the motor into the pillar. But there is no motor boss, usually used for attaching handcranks. She also brought a sample of another hobby of hers - knitting - which was done with 00 needles.


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Cheryl wore a shirt that she made, a brilliant purple, with quilting across the yoke of the shirt. A picture of it is shown below.


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As we had planned, the rest of the meeting (after eating, of course) was devoted to the many books and magazines brought by everyone to pass around and browse through. We have snapshots of many of them, shown below. (Sorry, the different versions of "Singer Sewing Book" by Mary Brooks Pickens books didn't get pictures taken.)

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to be continued...

August 4, 2018 CO Get-together Part 2
 

continuation --

Lots of good books. Really needed more time to look at them all.



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We plan on meeting again next month on the first Saturday, same place, same time. We'll post more then.

Dorothy's wrap around motor mount is a rare beastie indeed. Some folks have tried to reproduce them.

Lucky her.. and Great books. (Whimper)

I don't know if I got a good picture or not. It is a straight bracket that is attached to the back of the pillar. The top screw for the bracket goes through the inspection plate and the bottom screw actually goes in the back of the pillar. If I didn't get a good picture of it, I will try to get one of mine. It is really a pain as one can't screw in the bottom screw as the motor is in the way, so even an offset screwdriver doesn't work.

Right, It would love to have a few weeks.... or maybe a few months to just browse through them.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Leon -[ATTACH=CONFIG]599134[/ATTACH] The yellow circle is surrounding the top of the motor mount. I thought I had gotten one of the lower screw, but evidently not. Hopefully you can see the top of it.

Sorry it is side ways

Janey

September 1, 2018 Colorado Get-together
 

We had our regular Saturday morning get together, ten o'clock at Perkins, on the first Saturday of September. We welcomed a new person to our group, named Carol. Also there were Dorothy, Dianne, Courtney, Cheryl and Chris and Janey and John.


Dianne brought another one of her collection of very small sewing machines, a SewMaster, shown below. It's a chain stitch machine that she is working on to make it sew.


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Dianne also brought an interesting sewing kit. The picture is a little blurry, but you can still see the clever idea.


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John and Janey brought one of their two sewing machine work stands. These rotatable work stands allow easy access to a sewing machine from all sides, for maintenance, oiling, cleaning or repair. The stand was set up on one of the tables after we ate, for a post-breakfast demonstration. Below, John and Courtney may be seen looking at the stand, with the machine in the upright position.


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The work stand allows a machine to be rotated to any one of sixteen positions. Below, John and Courtney are looking at one of the interesting mechanisms found on the White 11 sewing machine, showing the machine in its upside down position.


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The work stand also allows a machine to be turned on its end, allowing easy work on some tricky hand wheels, such as White 41 and 43, with ball bearings that can fall out.


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The workstands have interchangeable baseboards to accommodate various machines, including Singer standard, three-quarter size, Featherweight, Kenmore, White and others. A great number of non-Singer sewing machines adopted Singer sizes and also fit the Singer standard and three-quarter sized baseboards. A few of the baseboards were brought to show.


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A thread detailing the construction of a workstand may be found on QuiltingBoard at:
https://www.quiltingboard.com/vintag...d-t264914.html


We will post here again after next month's meeting.

Looking forward to it.

bkay

October 6, 2018 CO get-together, Part 1
 

A cold and cloudy overnight drizzle gave way to sunshine and a lot of blue sky by the time we met for the October meeting of the Colorado antique sewing machine enthusiasts group. Fall is in the air.


Our newest member Carol was there for a second time. Also there were Dorothy, Courtney, Cheryl & Chris and Janey & John. Seven of us in all.


Dorothy brought an interesting machine that she has, a Thompson Mini-Walker. Janey has found a classified ad for this machine in a 1980 "Popular Mechanics." It is based on a machine that is a Singer 15 clone, but with several modifications. It features a walking foot that is driven by an external bar added to the rear of the machine. It connects the additional presser bar and foot to the top of the pillar. The additional parts are covered with a metal case added to the outside. It also has two tension assemblies, one on top and one on the nose plate. It has a heavy duty motor that is connected through a two-step reduction. It uses two timing belts with ribs to match cogs in pulley even on the hand wheel, so it can't slip. She brought a sample of the leather she is able to sew with it. Quite a workhorse.

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Dorothy also brought the machine with a carrier made with webbing to wrap around the plastic case. Unfortunately didn't get picture of it around the case. The picture above that shows the "reveal" shows it under the base.

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..... to be continued in "October 6, 2018 CO get-together, Part 2"

October 6, 2018 CO get-together, Part 2
 

continuation of above post....

Courtney is working with a Raspberry-Pi micro-controller to do some sophisticated speed control for a sewing machine. Chris, being an engineer and John talked with him a bit, brainstorming a few ideas about how to interface to the machine.

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Janey brought an example for a controller cover made from a quilted place mat. Such controller covers help to avoid scratches to a machine when the controller is placed under the harp when put away. Janey likes to sew the cover on the machine it is intended for.


John and Dorothy talked a little bit about a work stand that she is putting together to do work on machines more easily, the Thompson Mini-Walker among them. It's an extra heavy machine.

Several interesting books were brought for people to look through. We have some pictures of them, shown below. The "Coats" book defines stitches and seams used in industrial settings. The 1935 "Student Manual" shows converting treadle to a motorized machine. The Sears catalog has the Franklin Sewing machine near the front, but the motor for sewing machine is near the back. I think the "Invention of the Sewing Machine" may be a compliment to the video. (Janey can't find the link)

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We intend to meet again next month. We look forward to posting again then.

When I saw the pics of the Mini-walker I wasn't all that impressed. Then I read about it.. wow. It is a mini Industrial machine. Never heard of it. Sounds great..

Indeed it is a neat machine. Dorothy's, I think, is the first model. I still haven't gotten the progression right as found some later models from the mid 1980s with the same "dealer." https://sailrite.wordpress.com/tag/s...ewing-machine/ Sailrite evidently badged the later models and then had their engineers develop the zig zag model after the Thompson. I did find a later patent that was assigned to Sailrite.


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Wow. Just found this thread and read the whole thing. Thoroughly enjoyed it. About the button hook - are you using it to clean/work on machines? It is celluloid and you mentioned not caring what it is made from but to keep it you will need to keep it out of the sun and away from any heat source. We are talking about not going to Arizona next year but travelling around more. Perhaps we will get to Colorado. Would love to come and learn.:wave:

Thank you so very much for your post.

No, I had just found the button hook with some sewing stuff. I actually found a metal JC Penney's one with a Touch & Sew machine. I was initially rather surprised. I thought about it and then needed it for one of my blouses. Decided then. that they come in handy for their intended purpose. Thank you for the information. I found a celluloid knitting needle but the tip of it was in pieces. I don't want that to happen to the button hook.

If you should come through Colorado, please let us know. We have an off board mailing list for our get-togethers. Should anyone be in the Front Range/Denver area we would love to call a special get-together. I know John and I sure enjoyed meeting with Leon & Iris. Hopefully, sometime they will make it back sometime we can all get-together.


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Janey and John: I shall follow this thread assiduously but my husband has just told me we can't come as we can't chance the weather. Perhaps in future years when we have downsized our motor home and will be taking shorter trips in the summer time. It seems each trip we meet snow at some point - gets pretty scary.

Iris and I loved our visit and will try again when we go West. Another new baby arrived out there about a month ago.

I just stumbled upon this thread! I live in the Denver area (Lakewood to be exact). A lot of interesting vintage sewing machines. :-) How fun to meet like this. I will be following, hope to get to join ya'll in the future!

As I mentioned before, we have an off board mailing list for our get-togethers. Some are not members on Quilting Board and/or don't check very often. We found that personal email is a better way for us to communicate. If you should like to join us, please PM us with your email. Currently, we are meeting the first Saturday of the month. Since it is in a restaurant we need to know ahead of time how many will be meeting so we can have room.

It really is a lot of fun to meet like this. I know we might miss some topics that were discussed in our get-togethers when we post here. As you can tell from what we have posted about, there are a lot of different things that we talk about, We get to see some fun machines, books and other things as well.


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

November 3, 2018 - Colorado Get-together
 

What began as a chilly and rainy morning, changed to blue sky and sunshine by the time we were meeting at Perkins. Our monthly sewing machine get together met at ten o'clock and had as many people attending as we have ever had.


We welcomed a new person named Dawn, joining us for the first time. She brought a Bel-Air 600, made in occupied Japan. It does need to be rewired. It had a bag of attachments, some of which were unfamiliar to her, as to their function. Janey and Dorothy went through them with her as to what they were. With only a little rust in a few places, the Bel-Air should restore nicely and work fine. We talked about rust removers, polishes and oils, among other things. A picture of her machine is shown below.

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Also at our get together were Courtney, Dianne, Cheryl & Chris, Dorothy, Carol, Paula, Janey & John. Ten of us in all.


As a surprise, Dorothy made some much appreciated and well received sewing machine carriers for everyone who attended. There was some talk about the plans for it at the last meeting, but Dorothy arrived with several of them already made.


Each carrier has a tough fabric bottom, with heavy duty straps to hold a machine safely, and providing a handle for carrying it easily. It's a great design. If anyone has ever had the handle of a case top come loose, this is the thing to prevent that. Just about any machine in a portable case can be carried safely and with ease. Thank you Dorothy.


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Dianne brought an interesting antique toy machine made of wood. She emailed us a few days ago that she would be bringing a wooden sewing machine and it had some of us looking up on the internet what it could possibly be.


It features a ring shaped wooden body with metal moving parts. It is a chain stitch machine and has a section of the ring which is removable to allow fabric to be more easily pulled through the very small machine. The name of the machine is a Practical. According to https://sewalot.com/foley%20&%20williams%20goodrich.htm and http://needlebar.org/nbwiki/index.php/Goodrich it is a Foley & Williams machine.


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Courtney brought an interesting metal sculpture of a man sitting at a sewing machine, the man being formed from a bent railroad spike with other metal pieces being used to form a table and sewing machine. Thread was made from wire.

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Courtney also brought a tote his wife had given him with a Willcox & Gibbs printed on it.


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There was an industrial bobbin winder that Carol brought which is shown above with Dorothy's carrier. Dorothy, our resident industrial guru, told us that bobbin winders were specific to the various machines. Carol's appears to be for such machines as 35-1, 78-1, 111W100 and 151W6.


Paula brought a picture of an interesting drop-at-a-time oiling pen. It was one her phone. Sorry, no picture.


John talked to Chris and Cheryl about the wiring of a Montgomery Wards machine that Janey got this month. It has a "Chicago" plug on the rear of the pillar, believed to be a power connection, but is a socket. This would mean that the power cord would have pins- posing a safety hazard. We will have to determine the wiring design with a meter, but may be looking for a plug for it. We talked about the possibility of making a plug, with two soldered metal pins and set in potting compound for an insulated plug body.


Courtney and John talked a little bit more about a computer sewing machine controller that Courtney is working on.


I'm sure there were things talked about that were missed here. But these, at least, were the highlights of the meeting.


We plan to meet again next month and will post the minutes of the next meeting here.

Correction to November 3, 2018 - Colorado Get-together
 

There is a correction to the machines that the bobbin winder is for. It should Not include 35-1. The 35-1 is a carpet sewing machine and uses two spools of thread, but no bobbin.


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Colorado Get-together December 1, 2018 part 1
 

A cold gray morning in Denver covered things in frost and a thin coating of ice. But by the time we met at 10 O'clock, there were blue skies, the sun was out and it all melted away. Those of us who travel some distance had been worried about a possible snow forecast, which didn't materialize.


At the meeting were Courtney, Dianne, April, Dorothy, Carol, Janey and John. At the end of the meeting Courtney's wife Connie, who had dropped Courtney off and was doing other things, joined us for a little more conversation.


Courtney brought a Wheeler & Wilson machine, thought to be from about 1871. He thinks it might be a model 4. It has interesting flat bobbins and several attachments, some of them unknown as to what they do. It uses a curved needle and Courtney explained a little of his experimentation making more of them from straight needles. It would use a wide drive belt (maybe inch or inch and a quarter wide). Courtney is trying to fashion one for it. Courtney keeps accessories for it in a carved Wheeler & Wilson wooden box. Pictures are below.


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Does any one know what the item is for that is between the bobbins on the right of the pictures?


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Dorothy brought a Thompson machine for April to use in some sewing projects using leather and denim. More of an industrial machine, the Thompson will sew what a domestic machine will not. She broke a size 26 needle and brought to show how large it is. No way would it work in a domestic machine.


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April told us a little about her sewing room and her plans. She showed us a very nice sample of her free-motion embroidery, a smart-phone case, pictured below.


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To Be Continued....

Colorado Get-together December 1, 2018 part 2
 

Dianne brought pictures of quilts she is working on with Half Square Triangles. They feature repeating designs in something of an optical illusion, appearing to vary with the background behind them, but they are actually the same.


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Carol brought a box of controllers, cords and other accessories including such things as White ZigZag attachment, Singer Blind Stitch attachment, a couple of darner, embroidery springs with hoops and some Greist attachments. Fortunately, the Greist attachments have the adapter needed to change the feet.


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Janey brought information about the story of Greist(Griest) and a print out of a chart found at http://xfossils.com/cintipam/boye/chart1.jpg from 1909 to identify various feet. She also had a print out of the first page of http://patentimages.storage.googleap...fs/US55869.pdf that was the patent that indicates that it is for a "pinking machine," however, the second page calls it a "puncturing-machine for making patterns." Later Thomas Edison was granted patent 180,857. Even later Griest was granted patent 208,905. There was another non-sewing machine attachment patent that was granted to Griest #290229 for "Art of Riveting Metals Together" which surely was used for manufacturing attachments.


John brought a large print of last year's sewing machine Christmas card for those who had not seen it. A large resolution image can be found at https://www.quiltingboard.com/member...914-585861.JPG



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We plan to meet again the first Saturday, after the first of the year. Until then, we wish everyone happy and festive holidays and a happy new year!

Beautiful work on that smart phone casel.


I have a W and W like Courtney's Very curious as to how the needles will work out. I haven't placyed with mine yet and don't know aoubt at accessory.

Thanks so much for sharing. I always enjoy reading this.

bkay

I have joined the board mainly for the vintage thread here. I won't be able to attend your meeting this month as I have work this Saturday but would like contact info for future meetings I may be able to attend!

I currently have 3 sewing machines which all qualify as vintage. The first one I got last year from my brother and it is a Japanese made Elgin 2468 from 1958. It has all the cams and accessories and currently in a more modern plastic travel case. It runs well and weighs a ton.

The second one I bought is a branded Reversew Rex machine in its own cabinet. It is called a Coronado and does need some rewiring work as the wires leading to the knee pedal are crumbling apart. Fortunately it is an early enough model that the Chicago connectors will unscrew although it took me a while to figure out how to unscrew it. Other than that it needs a new bobbin tire and a new friction wheel as it developed a flat spot over the years. Cosmetically it looks great and should be easy to restore.

My last purchase is a 1924 Singer 15-30 in an non Singer cabinet. i have already put it in running condition. It does have some features that don't quite match what the Singer 15-30 is supposed to have. It had been converted to electric at one point but the handwheel is a solid wheel not a spoked wheel so not quite sure if it was converted from treadle or handcrank. Also the bobbin winding system actually has the worm gear drive cam on the underside instead of the front as in all of the photos of the 15-30s I have seen. It is missing the decorative backplate as who ever converted it to electricity did not install it over the light fixture plate. The Tiffany decorations are in great shape and I should be able to restore it to near new looking.

Welcome Jim. Nice start on vintage machines. Tiffany decals are my favorite. I'm wondering if you may have a 15-62 as seen at http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollect...es/image63.htm

PM coming your way.


Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

It sure looks like a 15-62 which according to the link you provided is really a motorized 15-30 version that was sold by Singer with a solid wheel. The original motor is long gone and replaced with a newer one. Too bad the picture does not have enough detail on the bobbin winder assembly but it might look like mine.

January 5, 2019 - Colorado Get-together
 

The Colorado Antique and Vintage Sewing Machine Collectors Group met for the first time in 2019, on Saturday the 5th, ten o'clock at Perkins in Denver. With a recent arctic blast having left us, we were blessed with a sunny and crisp 30 degree morning which turned to a gorgeous, clear fifty degree day by the time our meeting was over. Dianne was there, along with Courtney, Carol, Dorothy, Janey and John.


Janey brought samples of some keys she is making for bentwood case tops that have lost their associated keys. She has several kinds she is experimenting with, some of which are shown below. One made from a fork, the one with purple plastic was actually made by locksmith, the other was a key blank that Janey's brother cut.


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Courtney brought sewing related Christmas gifts he had received. A 2019 calendar with vintage sewing machine ads , a miniature cast sewing machine (a little larger than the pencil sharpener type) and an old library book -"The International History of the Sewing Machine" to show the group.


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Dianne brought some ephemera envelopes from India -the envelope it came in and the envelope with a quote from Ghandi about Singer Sewing machines. She also brought each of us a printed picture of an antique sewing machine that she wanted called a Buckeye. It went for an outrageous amount of $$$$ (not to her) and was missing the bobbin winder.


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Carol brought an assortment of attachments that had been in the drawers of her grandmother's machine. Dorothy and Janey tried to identify as to their purpose and which machines they were for. Needless to say, a significant amount of time was spent going through them individually. The circled items - the small unknown item on top might be for ruffler?, the shirr plate and underbraider- should give some indication as to which machine they belong to.


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The numbered pieces belong to a tucker, the actual piece that attaches to the presser bar was there but not shown.


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And some actually for her grandmother's machine


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A good time was had by all and we plan to meet again the first Saturday of February, posting our meeting notes then.

February 2, 2019 Get-together
 

We were blessed with a beautiful Colorado day. Starting at about 30 degrees at sunrise, it was clear and comfortable by 10 o'clock as we met at Perkins.


We welcomed two new members to the group, James and Valerie. Also there were Dawn, Dorothy, Courtney, Paula, Carol, Janey and John.


James brought an Elna Supermatic that he recently acquired. The case turns into a platform that the free arm fits into, allowing a large work surface. This is the one that has the screw off knob for the cams. He's fashioning a handle for the case which had broken.


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Courtney brought a small Willcox & Gibbs chain stitch machine that has a stuck needle bar that normal solvents haven't gotten to. We puzzled over what to try and methods of applying gentle force. The machine fit nicely into in the tote that he had brought to the November 3, 2018 get-together.


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Courtney also brought a Singer 201-2, from which he removed the potted motor and replaced it with a hand wheel from a fifteen clone and a regular belted motor. It can now accept a hand crank or be used in a treadle. He did a very nice conversion.


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Carol brought the "Singer Needle Guide," which told about the die pressed method of manufacturing needles, as well as terminology of needles. Another book she brought was "Sewing Machine Attachments Handbook."


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Carol also brought a stack of log cabin quilt blocks that she had gotten at an estate sale. They were wool hand stitched onto a many different foundations and then basted. Perhaps it was basted so would hold in place so that wouldn't have to press after each seam.


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Janey brought the manual for an interesting machine called a Logica. It has a much different case and layout from most machines. A similar machine was also made for Kenmore, called a SensorSew. Only a picture can do the description justice. Some of the stitches were done on the felt were done with the circle stitcher.


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It was an energetic and interesting get together. Each new person that joins adds something of themselves to the group. We're getting more interesting and diverse.


We plan on meeting next month and we will post again then.

March 2, 2019 Colorado get-together
 

Saturday morning brought us a cold gray Colorado day, with temperatures starting in the high 20s, only expected to fall throughout the day, down into single digits, with several inches of snow expected. Fortunately the bad weather waited for us to have our get together here in Denver. A foot or more of snow had already fallen in the closeby mountains and it was already beginning on the other side of town.


We gathered at Perkins for our March meeting at ten o'clock. Cheryl and Chris were there along with James, Carol, Janey and John. The weather elsewhere and conflicting commitments prevented a few of our regulars from attending, who were missed.


One of our new members, James, brought a 3D printed Elna drive wheel that he got from a 3D printing company. Made of a white nylon material, it should be an excellent replacement. He fitted it with rubber O-rings to provide the friction surface needed. A picture of it is shown here.


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James also brought a Singer 15 with Tiffany/Gingerbread decals in very nice condition. He thinks it might be a 15-30. Janey thinks it might be a 15-62. Other opinions are welcome. Curiously, the decals showed the most sign of wear on the back of the pillar, underneath the space usually occupied by the motor.

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Janey brought a turfing implement, patented in 1891, that she recently acquired, a picture of which is shown below. She also brought a Wonder Hemstitcher, from the 1930s, and a fabric sample of the hem stitcher's use.


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We talked a little bit, particularly at one end of the table, about wood finishes, shellac in particular. Cheryl and Chris have quite a bit of experience with refinishing. There was also some discussion about the Revco reverse attachment and puzzle boxes.


We look forward to our next meeting in early April and will post here again then.

quote "

I think there are two 3D printing places that have these available, but wouldn't swear both do. I'll double check with John tonight. Otherwise I will check with James.

PM coming

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

I purchased them from the Shapeways dot com website, the other website that offers them is sculpteo dot com. Just do a search for Elna at the market in Shapeways. I have the part bookmarked for sculpteo but a search of the main sculpteo site requires membership and the market is hard to find and did not show any search results so let me know if you want the link to the sculpteo part. To order the part from Shapeways I just signed in as a guest, no membership required.

Doing a sewing search at shapeways shows some tophat cams and one bevel timing gear. Not many sewing machine parts out there yet as people have to design and then upload them to the market.