help. not a quilting question per se.
 

Ok. So I have been sewing away on my 15-91. I have made a baby quilt for my niece arriving in December. Now I would like to start on some of these upcycled leggings for her. But the instructions call for a zig zag stitch. What tricks can I use for the same effect with the straight stitch? I am sure skirts were made with this type of elastic back when. I've just never used elastic before..... thoughts?
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2012/10...-leggings.html

Zig zag stitches for knit material, elastic etc. that will stretch when worn are necessary. Using a straight stitch will cause the seam line to break over time. A straight stitch doesn't have the give that a zig zag stitch has.

Right. I only have the one machine. Is this something I should hand stitch the elastic for?

I don't know if the zigzag attachment would work for stretch fabrics but I do know that it works for overcasting seams. Do you have the attachment and could experiment?

Nope..I tried to buy a zigzag attachments at our local sewing machine shop that deals with vintage machines and they told me there wasn't one for the 15-91. Maybe they were wrong? I thought I read on here that all I need is low shank attachments? If so, we're have you gotten yours?

The 15-91 is a low shank machine. Any zigzag adapter that fits a low shank would work.
Here's one on Ebay right now. No affiliation with seller, just one of the first ones I saw. Singer also made a version with removable cams for different stitches.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Sing...item3ceaf326a8

I've seen various reports of success and non-success using them. I have a Greist made one but haven't played with it much.
Rodney

if you use a zz attachments be sure to use the button hole plate - the zz thing has grips on it to pull your fabric through - learned that the hard way. I see no reason it wouldn't work.

My gran did all her sewing on an old Singer that didn't have zigzag....when she passed away my aunts gave me 30 of her homemade dresses to turn into quilts and I when I started taking them apart I was really surprised to see how she did zigzags.....she just zigged and zagged the fabric herself! It's too irregular to be done with a zigzag attachment, I think that she must have just sewed an angle, stopped and turned the fabric, and sewed the next, and so on. Nice sharp points so I'm pretty sure she stopped at each point; I'd think they'd be blunted if she hadn't stopped at each point.

Seems pretty labor-intensive but it worked! Some of those dresses were worn thin in spots but all her sewing held up marvelously.

What does the buttonhole plate do?

I don't think any of my zigzaggers work with the cover plate - they all rely on the feed dogs to move the fabric forward, they only do the side to side.

I've got at least 5 different zigzaggers that work with a 15-91 though all of them are at least 60 years old. I'm surprised there is not a "new" one out there to fit a low shank machine. Though I suppose if the seller looked up a List, the 15-91 is probably not on there.

Also, New is usually very expensive. I'm always shocked to see the "new" ruffler sell for $35 when you can pick up the almost exact thing (vintage) for under $10 on eBay, and it will come with several other attachments too. Shipping should not be more than $10 so you are saving quite a bit.

From what I can tell with rufflers, once they went to the five slot variation, they've stayed about the same since.