Any sewists?

[norgeway]

My Mother

Made some of the most beautiful clothes you could imagine on a Singer 301 , No zig zag, just straight stitch and my Aunt did the same with a Free Westinghouse, if you can sew you can do basically anything with a basic machine.Mother wore some of those clothes to New York and Chicago for business meetings and always someone wanted to know where she got the dress or suit..LOL My Mother was the Adertising Director for Broyhill Furniture Industries.

 

[jkbff]

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.

 

[askolover]

Now that it's cool weather and the time is about to change I'm gonna be working on my treadle embroidery projects again. 

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">Anyone that can do that is an artist first and a sewist second...amazing and very beautiful.</span>

 

[launderess]

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-...=item3faec47323:g:qhEAAOSwWB5byUTJ:rk:11:pf:0

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.

 

[jkbff]

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.

 

[cuffs054]

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?

 

[mattl]

I would buy a solid old machine.  Circa 1950's if you can.  These are solid all metal workhorses.  All the new machines are plastic and will not hold up.  When the Singer my mom had from the 60's died, (half plastic gears...) I bought a modern Singer.  it works, has lots of built in stitches but it feels and is cheap.  I bought a Singer "Rocketeer" from the 50's  - one owner and well cared for- had it tuned up and it will last decades.

 

 

[maytagbear]

Tom-

Really good sewing machine stores (the only places worth patronizing) have reconditioned secondhand sewing machines, and one can get good value in the $150-300 range. Furthermore, they will willingly show you how to run the thing ON your machine, which is way better than balancing your phone and talking to Singapore.

Not Yet, but this year. I am starting to quilt!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[kate1]

Don’t bother with a ‘toy’ sewing machine. I actually don’t have very favorable things to say even about $100ish machines sold nowadays but if you’re just trying it out and planning to upgrade later it’s probably fine. You could also try to find a used machine. I got very lucky and found an older Kenmore machine at Goodwill for $20. That’s what I teach my kids on and what they use when they want to sew something. It was what I used for everything until I upgraded to my Bernina and Juki serger.

 

[luxflairguy]

I've just recently gotten back  into sewing and after using a friends new $150.00 Brother machine and having nothing but trouble and having had a great Bernina before, I  went on line looking and talking with at least 10 on line sellers, the under $200.00 machine all recommended as the right choice-- something fairly basic, I chose a Bernette B33.  $200.00 and I'm enjoying it greatly.  Not too fancy, and fair more substantial that the borrowed Brother.   I'd highly recommend it!  Greg

 

[askolover]

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: 2/20/2019-06:35]

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">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.</span>

 

[jkbff]

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.

 

[cuffs054]

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!

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">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. </span>

 

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">And who would doubt the late wonderful Polly Bergen and those 100 million people?</span>

 

[cfz2882]

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...

 

[cuffs054]

To wash or not that is the question...

There seems to be two schools of thought about prewashing fabric before cutting and sewing. I'm going to be using a cotton print to make some curtains. One side says ALWAYS prewash the other says no unless it's for clothing. Can anyone share some wisdom? Oh yeah, I bought a low end Singer at Wally World just to see if I'm going to like this project.

 

[ea56]

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

 

[luxflairguy]

For home dec projects I never preshrink fabrics, even cotton!