What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Hello everyone today we are going to be talking about the hook systems most commonly used in conjunction with round bobbin lock stitch residential sewing machines. Regardless of the vintage or the manufacturer of your sewing machine, if they use a round bobbin then they will use a rotary or oscillating type of hook system. We will be discussing the differences, the performance, and the versatility of the two systems.

Several years ago I purchased a sewing machine for $5 at a yard sale and put it away in Studio B. My plan had been that it could possibly work for one of my granddaughters, that is until I went looking for it earlier this week and can't find it. There are only a few places in the studio where I could have put it and it's not there. I think it must have ended up in the donation pile when I did a major studio cleanup a few years ago. Oh well, it was a good idea ...

Hello everyone today we are going to be addressing how to clean the gunk and old oil residue from our wrinkle finished vintage sewing machines. We have acquired several different machines from different manufacturer’s that have this super tough finish covering the outside surface of the machines. Although the wrinkle finish does a great job of protecting the machine from surface damage the trade-off to it is it does like to attract and disperse oil across the surface making it a great microscopic dirt and grime catcher. I am going to explain how I clean this surface when we ...

The one of the lamps on my favorite Pfaff has been flickering, again. I had taken it in to the shop to have this fixed a year or so ago and the tech said it wasn't the bulb but the fixture. The tech note also stated it had been tightened up.

As vintage sewing machine fans, we probably have more than one style of sewing machine. Most of us have multiple short shank sewing machines or multiple class 15 machines. Usually, we can swap between machines. My short shank feet fit my short shank machine no matter who made it or when it was made. I use the feet that came with my modern Brother machine on any of my short shank machines. The exception to this rule, that I have found, is the Singer slant shank machines. Just because it is marked Singer Slant Shank Feet doesn't mean that ...

Hello everyone, today we are going to be talking about broken and stuck screws that we sometimes encounter while we are working on our vintage and older sewing machines. Actually, it really doesn’t just apply to old machines at all, any machine old or new can have problems like this so our topic can be applied to a vast variety of machines. We will start with screws that are stuck and discuss some of the diverse ways we can address the situation. From there we naturally going to discuss the inevitable. We will discuss broken screws and worn screw ...

I have wanted a Singer 301 since I got to sew on my sister in law's machine. I have looked and looked for one with no luck. I was goofing around on Facebook one evening and found some vintage sewing machines. I thought they were in one town but they ended up being located somewhere else. I knew a VSM collector in that area so I put them in contact with each other. I hadn't seen anything in the photos on Facebook that I wanted so it wasn't like I was giving up a dream machine. Then ...

Hello everyone today we are going to finish our discussion about our favorite treadle machine.  The final part of this mini-series is going to be covering the newer sewing machines. Some of these will be machines that were never intended to sit upon a treadle base. Some of the others will be machines that were shipped to the United States without motors only to have motors installed upon them and then sold as motorized units. In their country of origin, they were still being produced with treadle bases. Although the machines are quite comfortable being treadled when placed upon a ...

Hello everyone today we are going to add some more information to a recent post. We are going to be talking more about treadle sewing machines. I will be going more in depth as we discuss the pros and cons of different models of treadles. Last time we crossed this bridge we discussed the first two machines to find their way into the Quilting Room with Mel. I will be discussing more of the particular machines that we keep in rotation. I will finish up with the natural born treadles and then we will explore some of the benefits of ...

It took a year to turn a portion of our unfinished basement into a quilt studio.  When it was just the two of us we didn't need a lot of living space.  Then we got the grandkids and they like to run around so we had to start doing something to open up the living space for people.  This quilt studio won't just allow that to happen but with some of the bells and whistles that we've added to it, it will allow us to create more content for all of you.  That was really the most ...

Hello, everyone, we have talked about treadle machines some in the past and today I am going to outline some of the reasons that I do not have a favorite treadle machine. I am going to point out features that I personally like and dislike about the ones I have experience with.  There are a few that I will leave out of the conversation because I don’t have any personal hands on experience to draw from. I am going to start with the original equipment heads and bases. From that discussion, I will move into the quote Franken treadles ...

So you have gathered all the things you need to make your quilt, you've carefully cut all of your pieces, and sewn as carefully as possible.  Then you measure your block and it's not even close to what the pattern said.  What on earth could have possibly gone wrong?  I would bet money it was your seam allowance.  So how do you check your sewing machine for accuracy when quilting?  It's much easier than you think.

Hello everyone, today we are going to discuss threading the needle on a vintage sewing machine. We are going to delve into the dynamics of the needle design just a little and in doing so we will be able to understand how the thread must go through the needle in order for the hook to be able to catch the loop and form the stitch. And since the needle doesn’t care if it is feeding thread to a vertical hook or a horizontal hook the basic concept will be the same. As long as the timing of the needle ...

If you’re a quilter who goes to sew ins and classes, every so often you’ll see someone with a little black sewing machine that looks like it’s from the 40s. Well, you’re right! It is from the forties. Actually, the first ones were made in 1926. Singer machines are legendary sewing machines that people are still using because they just are that good.

Here’s some information on Singer 4411 that was on Patchwork Planet.

The Singer 4411 portable sewing machine is a model made by that company between 1933 and 1964. The machine (model 221 ...

Hello everyone, one of my favorite questions to answer is also one of the most frequently asked questions as well. Why do you like the vintage sewing machines? So today am going to voice my opinion and share some of the things that I like about the older sewing machines. This means we will also discuss some of the things that I don’t like about some of the newer sewing machines.