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Thread Number: 76460
/ Tag: Small Appliances
Any sewists? |
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| Post# 1003091 8/9/2018 at 11:56 (2,080 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND) | ||
So... a while ago..
I don't know what the hell I was thinking.. I mean.. in my mind, I wanted to make some curtains... No one wanted to service my old Singer Futura that I had... so.. this happened.... I have no freaking idea what I'm doing... ... I am not sure what I have gotten my self into. Last night, I finally set up both on my table that I am going to convert into a sewing table. I have these pants I've bought several colors of that just seem to last, but the stitching will give and unravel if I strain them just right. Well I finally went through my last pair yesterday and had 10 pairs I needed to stitch the inseam back in.. I figured I better get it done, I put the s25 in the cover stitch position and ran a narrow cover stitch to replace the chain stitch that gave way on the pants.. Oye do I need lessons... I did find out that I prefer a dining height chair with the machines sitting on a counter height table. Much better working area without straining my back. Pfaff Creative 1.5 and Husqvarna-Viking S25.
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Post# 1003096 , Reply# 1 8/9/2018 at 12:42 (2,080 days old) by ea56  (Cotati, Calif.) |
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If you are only planning on doing simple sewing projects, like mending inseams and making curtains you would be much better off with a simple, basic sewing machine. All you really need is a machine that can straight stitch and basic zig zag. I’ve had a sewing machine of some kind for over 46 years. I made a few shirts back in the early 70’s. I’ve sewn lots of curtains and valances, and done alterations and mending, and never needed all those extra features. Its just more to go wrong.
My favorite aunt was one of the very best seamstresses around, she could sew anything, and did. She used to make all my Mom’s evening and cocktail dresses, and everywhere Mom wore them people wanted to know where she bought them. For most of her life she just had a basic Singer straight stitch machine in a cabinet, with a button hole attachment, but no zig zag. Finally, in 1972 my uncle bought her a Singer Golden Touch and Sew, because it was top of the line and he thought she deserved it. She hated that machine! It made everything much more complicated. She was so sorry that she gave her trusty old Singer to my cousin and wished she had it back. If you are going to be sewing lots of heavy material, like denim, get yourself a reconditioned old time Singer with a metal body. They weigh a ton, but they will sew through several layers of heavy fabric and never skip a beat. Eddie | ||
| Post# 1003142 , Reply# 2 8/9/2018 at 20:29 (2,080 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND) | ||
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By the time I realized what I had done, it was too late to take the machines back.
I thought of trading one back in for the mechanical pfaff but I really do like how the pfaff sews.. I'm not too thrilled with the embroidery side of it, and it takes all sorts of hoops and jumps to make my Stitch Era software work with the thing but it sorta fits the bill I guess? That serger is neat though. | ||
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Post# 1003143 , Reply# 3 8/9/2018 at 20:44 (2,080 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.) |
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Joshua at least you have something you can sew with an if you enjoy learning how to use it thats all that matters. I’m just like you about where I do my machine sewing. I bring the machine downstairs to the dining room table. I have though sometimes used the ironing board, just lowered it to chair height so I can sit at it and thats very convenient too.
I looked on ebay after I made my last reply. Boy, those old Singers have really gone up in price. I bought an old, reconditioned Singer from a sewing machine shop many years ago and I know I didn’t pay more the $50.00. I now have a 4 year old BOL Singer that I use most of the time. Its just lighter and easier to schlep around, but the old Singer is a much better machine. I’ve never used a serger before, so you know more than we about that. Eddie This post was last edited 08/09/2018 at 22:47 | ||
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Post# 1003160 , Reply# 4 8/9/2018 at 22:47 (2,080 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Have A Bernia (Bernette) Five Thread Serger
Which when it works does wonders and is a treat for running up laundry bags and other things with straight or only slightly curved seams.
However threading the thing correctly is a royal pain. So much so spend far more time swearing at the machine than by it. *LOL* For normal sewing have an older Elna Supermatic "Plana" and sort of newer Pfaff 1209. Both will do a double straight seam (providing one uses proper needle holder and threads. This is good for inseams or others that need to be durable and strong. Don't fret too much about first attempts giving you fits. It sometimes takes awhile getting used to a machine and or in swing of things. When hauling out my mending basket and a sewing machine, always begin with something small and simple. Like perhaps repairing a seam on a bed sheet or table cloth. This clears my head and lets me get into the frame of mind since don't sew that often. | ||
| Post# 1003188 , Reply# 5 8/10/2018 at 11:08 (2,079 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs) | ||
Like people that can play the piano... ...I've always admired people that can sew. I have three machines, my late partner's Singer Golden Touch n' Sew, the Singer Touchtronic machine that came in the cabinet I bought and a Bernina electronic unit with a fun little touch screen and an attachment that embroiders. Many years ago I used the Touch n' Sew to embroider ducks on curtains that Dale made for my mom's kitchen. That pretty much sums up my sewing expertise.
I know that the Bernina has a built-in tutorial on how to use it. You start with screen number one and it takes you from there. I have an instruction video for using the embroidery attachment too. One day I'll sit down with a bag or two of Pepperidge Farm cookies and see if I can learn something. Being a natural-born klutz has it's obstacles.
I was so proud when I modified the Singer cabinet so that the Bernina would fit but there it sits perpetually closed up. Fortunately it has a small footprint.
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Post# 1003407 , Reply# 7 8/12/2018 at 08:55 (2,077 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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 I have a pretty basic Brother machine I bought when I was working at Walmart in 1997. I taught myself to make scrub tops, pillows, curtains, table cloths, and just a few little projects. I recently was given an old (about 100 yrs) National treadle machine that was falling apart. Well I salvaged the drawers, re-glued the veneers, re-shellacked them, and just made a simple non-folding top. I fixed the machine head that was seized and now it sews pretty stitches....but I also bought a 1950's Japanese DeLuxe sewing machine (Singer 15 clone) on eBay. That basic machine will sew through anything and it's all metal. I just got a ruffler foot attachment and I've been learning to do machine embroidery on this old treadle because I can control the speed with my foot. I guess sewing and craftiness is in my blood. I can tat, crochet, and sew. My grandmother could make anything. My sister learned to do smocking and has made several dresses for bridesmaids. Back in February I bought myself a new Brother serger. It was $35 less on Walmart.com than in the store, so I did the buy it online and pick it up in store today and got the cheaper price. | ||
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Post# 1003447 , Reply# 9 8/12/2018 at 21:02 (2,077 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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Yeah for a long time they shipped the machines from Japan without motors to save weight and mounted American motors on them when they arrived here. I love those Japanese machines, some of them have such pretty chrome and colors. They were made by Brother, Mitsubishi, Janome, and some other now famous machine makers. | ||
| Post# 1010795 , Reply# 11 10/14/2018 at 17:02 (2,014 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND) | ||
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So I already traded the Creative 1.5 in and got a Creative Vision 5.0 that was used. I like this machine, but it is heavy as heck.
I thought I would try making a king sized quilt as my first true project. I bought some fabric strips from walmart, but I really am not happy with the colors. I've hit a few road blocks trying to assemble it all but people have been encouraging me to keep going. That is when I decided to cut all of my blocks in half on the bias and assemble them like the big block I've shown. | ||
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Post# 1010818 , Reply# 12 10/14/2018 at 19:43 (2,014 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA) |
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What does a "serger" do? | ||
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Post# 1010909 , Reply# 14 10/15/2018 at 16:46 (2,013 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA) |
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Thanks Earthling, very interesting. | ||
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Post# 1010950 , Reply# 15 10/15/2018 at 23:11 (2,013 days old) by earthling177 (Boston, MA) |
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No problem, I'm glad you liked it! | ||
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Post# 1011048 , Reply# 16 10/16/2018 at 09:16 (2,012 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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| Post# 1011656 , Reply# 17 10/21/2018 at 10:56 (2,007 days old) by cfz2882 (Belle Fourche,SD) | ||
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patterns I use posterboard for patterns-just tack down to the workbench(3x 2x12 lumber)with thumbtacks over material and cut out along the edge :) | ||
| Post# 1011701 , Reply# 18 10/21/2018 at 18:57 (2,007 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs) | ||
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You can always try the Lucy Ricardo method and cut out your pattern with a razor blade on the floor...
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This post was last edited 10/21/2018 at 23:26 | ||
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Post# 1011744 , Reply# 19 10/22/2018 at 00:14 (2,007 days old) by tolivac (greenville nc) |
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Looks like Lucy just cut a pattern in her living room carpet!!Will have to drag out my Lucy DVDs and see this!!! | ||
| Post# 1011786 , Reply# 21 10/22/2018 at 10:10 (2,006 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND) | ||
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I wish I had people around me that could teach me how to make clothes etc. My parents never did, My Grandparents never did, but their parents did but they were mostly gone before I came around.
The more youtube videos I keep watching to learn techniques etc, the more I wish I could have just found an old singer ZigZag machine with a tall/wide harp. I would have been more than happy. But I do like the creative vision as well, because it is neat. But it is $%#$@%^ heavy. If I can get over this first quilt I think I'll be fine... Ugh.. LOL. | ||
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Post# 1012138 , Reply# 22 10/25/2018 at 23:56 (2,003 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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| Post# 1012140 , Reply# 23 10/26/2018 at 00:04 (2,003 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs) | ||
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Post# 1012146 , Reply# 24 10/26/2018 at 03:26 (2,003 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Actually Have That Vintage Book
By Singer (circa 1930's) that tells how to make lace, embroideries et al on a sewing machine.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1937-RARE-Singe... Have never bothered as don't have time to master patience and skills required, but for those that did and or still do are able to turn out wonderful things. This sort of sewing machine embroidery obviously pre-dated computer/electronic sewing machines, especially the modern commercial versions that turn out fine cutwork, laces, and embroideries of bed/table linens, garments and other textiles. Idea was back then was to harness the sewing machine (both domestic and industrial) to produce laces/embroidery faster (and cheaper) with much less eye strain than doing the work by hand. In parts of the world where female (usually) labor is plentiful and cheap you still find embroidery and or laces done by "hand" using sewing machines. This as opposed to the huge computer driven sewing machines. | ||
| Post# 1025064 , Reply# 25 2/18/2019 at 21:49 (1,887 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND) | ||
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Joe,
I wish I had that Singer 380 cabinet you have. Mom had one when I was a kid. I saw one on ebay by chance and as soon as I saw the pics, I could hear the looped handles banging from when I flap them and I could smell that cabinet. Machine oil, paper patterns and all of the notions Mom kept in that cabinet. There were a few times I nearly pulled the damn thing down on my head but thankfully never did. | ||
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Post# 1025114 , Reply# 26 2/19/2019 at 17:25 (1,886 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA) |
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I'm getting real itchy to buy a sewing machine. For someone who has zero experience would it make more sense to buy a $30.00 toy or go for $100.00 'beginner' to see if I would like to learn to sew? | ||
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Post# 1025171 , Reply# 31 2/20/2019 at 05:45 (1,885 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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I have a Brother I bought with my Walmart employee discount when I worked there in college back in 1997. It's been great for what I do. But I also have a 1950's Japanese Singer class 15 clone machine, bought it super cheap on ebay because the seller couldn't test it due to the cord being so deteriorated it was unsafe. Of course I know how to re-cord it and did so I could tinker with it, but my ultimate goal was to use it on a treadle cabinet I had restored. I made curtains just a few days ago for our bathroom and did so on that treadle machine. So much more enjoyable and relaxing. I left the motor attached to the back so I can hook it back up if I ever want to. It's all metal, bulletproof, and sews super straight and true, but it only has straight stitches. If I wanted zigzag I could easily get a later Japanese model and it would still fit the treadle. A lot of those Japanese machines were made by well-known companies like Juki, Brother, Janome, and Toyota, among others. Those old Japanese precision deluxe machines will sew through ANYTHING and multiple layers at that! MIL has one too but hers is still electrically powered and has several fancy stitches on it. Below is the actual machine I bought for cheap. Photo 2 is the same machine installed in the reworked treadle cabinet . I had to re-glue all the veneer to the fronts of all the drawers, re-shellac everything, and make a completely new top and stain to match. Eventually I'll put the articulating mechanism in that raises and lowers the machine when the top is opened, but for now it's just stationary. I love sewing and crocheting and tatting so much that if I could make my RN salary doing it, I'd do it and quit nursing! Those old machines are addictive though. If I had the room I'd have a washer collection along with a sewing machine collection. This post was last edited 02/20/2019 at 06:35 | ||
| Post# 1025196 , Reply# 32 2/20/2019 at 12:38 (1,885 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs) | ||
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I'd take the advice of these seasoned members. Don't be like me and buy a machine with dozens of lights, bells & whistles that just sits there. It says "Made in Switzerland" whatever that means. I have 3 machines, 2 free Singers and the other almost as cheap because the lady liked me. I'm seriously thinking of re-purposing them.
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| Post# 1025354 , Reply# 33 2/22/2019 at 14:04 (1,883 days old) by jkbff (Happy Rock, ND) | ||
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cuffs054,
What are you looking to accomplish? There are many things I wish I would change with how I went about getting my machines, but now I have 5 of the damn things. I will say, I love my Creative Vision 5.0, but I wish it was the 5.5 (improvements on a few things). The Creative 1.5 is an excellent piecing machine. It has no problems feeding small pieces of fabric. The Creative Vision has me spoiled though because it has an automatic presser foot, so that includes auto hover and pivot as well. (When I take my foot off the pedal, the foot lifts slightly with the needle down so I can turn my pieces.) Something I wish I understood better going into this is needles, needle size, thread and bobbin thread make all the difference in the world. What I wish I would have started with, after all the money I spent, was an old (vintage) straight stitch machine IN a cabinet, an old machine with a tall throat. Now I am having a dining table re-purposed to have a machine dropped in so I can have a flat bed for quilting. Oh, the other thing, if you are going to be interested in embroidery down the road, buy a used high end machine from a dealer that will let you trade that machine in for something different and give you everything you paid back into the new machine. Get a machine with a full touch screen that allows you to modify the embroidery ON the machine, adjusting placement, sizes etc. Embroidery software is ridiculously expensive. Most of the Pfaff/Viking/Singer machines come with access to basic tools that will let you take normal fonts from DaFont.com or various places and turn them into embroidery fonts. The machines that have the screens built in that allow you to adjust layout will typically weld the letters together better than what the intro software will allow you to do on the computer. | ||
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Post# 1025362 , Reply# 34 2/22/2019 at 15:30 (1,883 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA) |
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jkbff, thanks for the advice. I'm still at the stage of awe that you push a pedal and a thing goes up and down and makes a stitch! | ||
| Post# 1025412 , Reply# 35 2/23/2019 at 13:18 (1,882 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs) | ||
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For someone who can't even thread the most basic machine, I sure seem to have a lot to say. I guess I've always been attracted to sewing machines, mainly from a design standpoint. The early Singer computer machines with their exotic names like Touch-Tronic and Athena were more like small pieces of modern sculpture. Unfortunately I've heard as many negative things about these machines as I've heard about the Northstar engine in my little Cadillac. So I'm not recommending them unless you're simply interested in design aesthetics . I did try and use the Singer that came inside the cabinet I bought and it does seem to work.
And who would doubt the late wonderful Polly Bergen and those 100 million people? CLICK HERE TO GO TO twintubdexter's LINK
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| Post# 1025435 , Reply# 36 2/23/2019 at 19:14 (1,882 days old) by cfz2882 (Belle Fourche,SD) | ||
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late slant needles so far no trouble with my 1983 touch tronic,but I think I have heard of nylon gears in later slants shrinking and cracking from age... | ||
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Post# 1025837 , Reply# 38 2/27/2019 at 14:15 (1,878 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.) |
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Tom,
I’ve made curtains using new, unwashed cotton fabric with no problems, so I think you will be OK not washing the new fabric first before making the curtains. But for any clothing, I would recommend prewashing, drying and ironing the yardage first, before cutting out the pattern and sewing the garment.
This practice used to be very important years ago, as most cotton yardage wasn’t pre shrunk or sanfornized, and the finished garment could become misshapen and shrink the first time it was washed. This maybe isn’t so imortant now with modern cotton yardage, but as the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Eddie | ||
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Post# 1025838 , Reply# 39 2/27/2019 at 14:23 (1,878 days old) by luxflairguy (Wilmington NC) |
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For home dec projects I never preshrink fabrics, even cotton! | ||
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Post# 1025845 , Reply# 40 2/27/2019 at 15:37 (1,878 days old) by bendix5 (Central Point, Oregon) |
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My wife has been a life long sewer of clothing and now is mostly a quilter. She pre-washes all new material. If you put ten fat quarters in the machine and run rinse and spin cycle each one will come out a different size. If you don't pre wash your finished project, it will look great until it hits the machine the first time you have to wash it. Especially quilts will get twisted and never lay flat again.
What Eddie Said “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. | ||
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Post# 1026075 , Reply# 42 3/2/2019 at 16:39 (1,875 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA) |
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Think I'm hooked. Made curtain panels with a matching valance for the door. Kitchen may be next! | ||
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Post# 1026083 , Reply# 43 3/2/2019 at 19:03 (1,875 days old) by earthling177 (Boston, MA) |
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Tom: Now that you are hooked (yay!), please notify the guild of the person who hooked you, I believe we're still running the "every ten people you hook you get a toaster oven" thing! :-P ;-) | ||
| Post# 1026091 , Reply# 44 3/2/2019 at 19:39 (1,875 days old) by twintubdexter (Palm Springs) | ||
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