Sewing on and Serging forward

Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, we all make errors of judgement. With hindsight, I now realise that I made an error when I fitted a new motor to my Singer 99K. The motor should have gone onto my Singer 201K. Here is my reasoning, with the benefit of hindsight. Although my 99K was motor driven when I received it, the motor wiring was very dodgy so I removed it from the machine and replaced it with a hand crank. By the time the crank arrived the machine was working quietly following a thorough cleaning and oiling regime. With the crank installed their was a real improvement in the machine. But we can all do daft things. This was what I did. I fitted a new 0.45 watt YDK motor and pedal. What? That was just a replacement for the original motor that had seen better days. Whats wrong   with that, you may ask. Well, nothing really but it was not MY best option. Here's why. I had a hand cranked 99K, a hand cranked 201K and a new YDK motor and foot-pedal. My thoughts were to keep t...

I seemed to be constantly busy during the last two weeks of April. I just seem to have been trying out new sewing projects, one after another. It began with making a tailor's ham, which then progressed to making a sleeve roll, then 10 rice filled pyramid pattern weights and a drawstring bag to keep the weights in. The ham was made on my Singer 99K, the sleeve roll. pattern weights and bag on my Singer 201K. Diane wanted me to make her a tool roll for some of her jewellery making tools. As I had recently taken apart an old leather skirt to re-used the leather, this seemed like a fitting project to make on my Singer 99K (using a leather needle). The roll was lined with felt that we got at the Gloucester Resource Centre. The most tricky project over the past couple of weeks was without a doubt the Office Party Bag from Debbie Shore. I chose to make this from some vinyl which I obtained through the Gloucester Resource Centre some weeks ago. As my first bag proje...

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...

This is my Super Jeans 34. The big daddy of Toyota's Super Jeans machines with 34 stitch options. It's black, well actually it's more like a dark brown to my eyes. Like almost every domestic sewing machines today, it has a plastic exterior with a rigid metal frame inside. This makes for a lightweight machine, but one which can still punch its way through multiple layers of denim fabric with ease. So what drew me to this machine and what is it like to use? Well, first let me say that my partner has been using a Toyota Quiltmaster 226 for close to 5 years and swears by it as a real, un-fussy workhorse. She is a quilter and has made a multitude of quilts on her machine since we bought it, and it has been totally reliable. I have a Toyota 3304 over locker that I use for garment construction too. It took me a weekend to get to grips with a machine that uses 4 threads instead of two, but since then I loved using the 3304, it's a great over locker, quiet, easy to use, ...

The replacement needle plate with seam allowance markings that I mentioned in the last post has arrived, and it is much better, but there was one small issue. It's a really tight fit to sit it in place. Looking at it closely in situ I found that the needle also drops really close to the edge of the needle hole. I needed to make a few modifications to make it seat a little better in the bed of the machine..... out comes the Dremel and a conical grinding wheel. A few minutes of grinding and checking the fit and the plate fits just right. I suppose I should have sent it back, but it was a simple and easy fix to do. New Needle plate fitted. I use Coates "Moon" thread as my go-to thread. At less than £1 for a 1,000yd spool, it is inexpensive, comes in a wide range of colours and shades and is strong. But, as I found out yesterday the 99K has an issue with it. It's a cross wound thread, which, unlike the parallel wound spools of old, it needs to peel the thread off o...