Sewing on and Serging forward

This is my newley acquired 1940, Singer 201K with hand crank which I collected on Saturday. It came complete with a bentwood case and two boxes of accessories (most of which are duplicated). The machine had been idle for almost 10 years, except for one sewing session in late 2016. It was surface clean other than old oil residue on the needle bar and presser foot bar, and in very good physical condition for a machine that is 77 years old! Inside was a little different. In parts, it was pretty mucky from old dried out and discoloured oil, a sure sign the machine had been idle for a long time. Everything was moving fairly freely but the stitches left a lot to be desired. Some investigation was needed, mainly as part of my normal clean down regime. Removing the faceplate revealed needle bar and presser foot mechanisms that were sorely in need of some TLC. Everything was working fine behind the faceplate, it was just covered in a fairly thick brown residue from old oil. An hour...

Adding lace, ribbon etc to a garment edge. To do this I centre the needle hole in the adjuster. Place the lace/ribbon into the first slot down on the right of the attachment, and the main fabric in the first slot down on the right. Ensure that the start of both fabrics is below or past the needle hole and lower the presser foot. I like to cross the fabrics, left over right, just a little when sewing. This helps to ensure that both the fabric and the lace/ribbon are sewn together. See the video below. More on the edge stitching attachment: Singer edge stitching attachment.

Looking like a weird set of ladders the Singer edge stitch attachment is one of the most versatile attachments I have, so I thought that I would share some of the ways it can be used. First, it is a very effective and almost faultless way to stitch at the edge of material. Remove the normal presser foot and attach the edge stitcher and you are good to go. I like to turn under 1/8-1/4" of fabric first, and either press or finger press a sharp edge in place. The video below details the full edge stitching process using the attachment. Singer edge stitching foot   More edge stitcher techniques: Singer 99: Adding lace, ribbon etc to a garment edge with the edge stitching attachment

This skill eluded me for a while. I could not find anything on Youtube or the internet, so I decided to make a short video myself once I mastered the technique, which is very simple. I was told that it not a good idea to hand crank my Singer 99 in the wrong direction and as mine has no reverse function locking the start and end of a seam was a bit of a puzzle. So for those of you mulling over a similar issue with your vintage straight stitch only, no reverse sewing machine, her is a short video on how I do it.