tension headache.

Miss Burton and I were getting along pretty well there for awhile. The tension assembly circus was a distant memory. I'd been hard at work drafting and fitting the 1920s apron pattern, sewing up many muslin versions of it, and Miss Burton was humming along nicely. This is the latest pieced-together apron muslin which I'm using as a pattern to sew up a "final" product. I think from now on it's best that I put " " around the word final.



The fabric is 2 1/2 yards of cotton leftover from the dirndl skirt. The whole apron needs to be trimmed with bias tape. That's a lot of bias tape. I finally understand the continuous strip of bias tape instructions and I think the key is to use smaller pieces of fabric. Your line drawing tends to be more accurate if you don't have far to go from top to bottom or left to right. It's important that the lines are accurate because if they're off even a little bit, the intersections won't match up when you roll the fabric into a tube and sew it together and let's just say the whole thing goes to hell in a handbasket after that.

I was pretty sick of doing bias tape, so I decided to switch things up by starting a 1960s sleeveless dress, chosen from the stack of vintage patterns Anjie sent me from Oregon.

That's when the problems started. As soon as I started sewing the first of the dress seams, Miss Burton started acting up. I'm midway down the first long seam when the spool of Gutermann thread goes flying off the spool holder, wrapping the thread around it and tangling up in the 2 thread guides on top.

Not a problem. I'd read on a sewing machine forum somewhere that this is fairly common. Sometimes the spool label gets caught or you might need to switch the direction of the spool. Check and check. Back to sewing. A few stitches forward and the Gutermann goes flying again. Still not a problem, because I also remember someone saying that you can rig a straw over your spindle to extend it. Since the Gutermann spools are thinner & taller than other threads (ex: Dual Duty), I was sure this would fix the issue once and for all.



It didn't and now I'm getting this--



This is birdnesting and you know what causes birdnesting?

Tension issues.

Really?

I just knew the tension assembly thing would come back to haunt me, although why Miss Burton wasn't throwing the thread off the machine or birdnesting when I was sewing up all that muslin is a mystery.

1 screwdriver, sewing machine oil, lint brush. A massive search effort to find the tiny washer that flew out of the tension assembly and landed either behind the cabinets, in one of the orchid pots, the shopping bag or under the chair over by the window (ding). Numerous tension assembly disassembles & reassembles. Fiddling with the tension dial & test sewing scrap fabric. Cleaned the feed dogs, the bobbin case & the shuttle race. Re-oiled all key areas. Changed the needle.

& we now have a situation that is a little improved. That means my stitch tension looks just fine and for the most part I can sew a long continuous seam, but Miss Burton is still occasionally throwing the Gutermann off the spindle & threatening to birdnest in the middle of a seam.

Whatever.

Day 1.

Miss Burton & I struggled right out of the gate.  I sustained a small injury & everything stopped while I went to Walgreen's for band-aids & neosporin.

Once the wound was tended to, I set to work sewing some scrap fabric, checking all the stitch lengths & tension settings. Sewing Machine Steve sent along a stitch sample and all of his stitches-- straight, zig-zag & at all varying lengths were perfect.  I, on the other hand, could not get a straight stitch because Miss Burton likes to go fast & throw the fabric around.

At one point, I thought i was having a tension issue so I decided to try stitching at both ends of the tension dial to compare. Except that I turned the tension dial too far in one direction and unleashed the whole tension assembly.



5 pieces in all, including a spring which shot the pieces out onto the floor so that there was no hope of knowing what the right order was supposed to be for proper reassembly.

I gave it the old college try anyway (no time like the present to learn how my new mechanical machine works) but failed miserably. once again, the www saved me with a diagram of a tension assembly (phew).  See especially: Fig. 22.

That was enough drama for one day. Today was a little better. I achieved some even stitches.



(That Miss Burton sure is touchy.)

at long last

Welcome home, Miss Burton.

vintage Greist low shank attachments.

while the bodice sloper is still in time out,  i've been having some fun with the vintage Greist attachments i bought on ebay for Miss Burton.

Mail Order pattern #2254 is a 1940s bib apron that needs 35 inches of 1 1/4" ruffling. the ruffle attachment is on the left, the 1/8" hemmer attachment is on the right--

the general rule of thumb for total length of fabric needed to ruffle is 2 1/2x the length you need.  i wasn't sure if it mattered whether i cut my strips with or against the grainline, but i found a reference that said cutting with the grain gives you a more ordered ruffle, while cutting against the grain gives you a more bouncy ruffle.  i didn't really want to live on the edge, so i cut the strips with the grain, about 100" total, & i cut the strips 2" wide to accommodate a 1/8" hem along one edge & a 1/2" seam allowance on the other edge. 

before sewing the strips together, i hemmed one long edge of each using the 1/8" hemmer.  it took some practice to figure out how to feed the fabric into the attachment correctly so that it curled under the swirl thing correctly, but once i figured it out, it worked great. here's a test on some scrap fabric--

next i fidgeted around with the ruffler attachment. there are a lot of parts to this thing & i read about each one, but all anyone really needs to know about it is that it is awesome.

it's noisy, because it hitches when the little saw tooth blade catches the fabric up to make the pleat & it clicks according to what you set the 2 numbered pieces at. the top piece determines how many stitches go by before the attachment gathers & stitches the pleat (1-12). the other dial determines the fullness of the ruffles or width of the pleat - 1 is no pleat, 8 is deep pleat. you really just have to play around with it until you get the level of fullness you want in your ruffle.

here's the finished ruffle. i love the tiny, even pleating. once the ruffles are complete, you can sew them together into 1 long strip. i tried sewing them together before hemming & ruffling, but the seams kept getting caught in the attachments, so it's best to sew them together afterwards.



i also made some bias tape for finishing the underside of the apron. sadly, there is no Greist attachment for making bias tape but there should be, because making your own bias tapes sucks even if the finished product is a lot more stylish than the plain stuff you get in plastic packages at the fabric store.



here are my supplies--



the green & white geo print fabric is a vintage feedsack i found on ebay. i had to use tiny scissors to remove the stitching on the sides and bottom of the bag. i should've measured it before i cut out the pattern pieces. if i had to guess, i'd say it was probably a 37x44" feedsack, which is just barely enough to complete this apron. i checked my layout thrice before i cut.

now i'm ready to sew it all up.

Miss Burton arrives in Virginia.

Sewing Machine Steve says "she's a beauty", runs strong & is in excellent condition. today he sent me a whole series of photos of her guts. i have no idea what i'm looking at, but i plan to start looking around for old mechanical sewing machine repair manuals so i can get at least a basic idea of how it all works. he says this is a Japanese "needle left" machine, which means that for straight stitching the needle is in the left slot of the needle plate & for zig-zag it moves to the right slot and then back to the left.





he's cleaned the motor & tomorrow will reassemble. he also says the foot pedal needs some work.

it's like magic.

As we speak, Miss Burton aka Mrs. Grace Burton's sewing machine, is on her way to see Sewing Machine Steve in Virginia. Meanwhile, at some point on Monday, I realized that Miss Burton didn't have a zipper foot. Or anything else for that matter. I'm sure Mrs. Burton had the attachments somewhere, but it didn't occur to me to ask Dennis to check for them when he picked the machine up.

Here are the basic attachments that were included with the machine- button sewing foot, buttonhole foot, presser foot & needle plate for straight sewing & a narrow hemmer:



& here's a list of some other attachments. I was especially excited about the hemmers & the ruffler--



Not that I plan on putting a lot of ruffles on things, but i bought this 1940s bib apron pattern & it's got some ruffles



Nothing came up in ebay for Domestic 711 attachments & to make a long story short, between ebay and the internet at large, i discovered that:

1) there are high/low/slant shank machines
2) it's important to know what kind of shank your machine has so you can get the appropriate attachments.
3) i have a low shank zig zag machine
4) the Greist company made attachments for Domestic sewing machines.

So I went back to ebay & found voila--



a set of Greist attachments for low shank machines for $12.99. i also grabbed this set--



because it has the attachment foot (top piece in photo above) which looks to be missing from the first set. the attachment foot gets clamped onto the shank & then all the other feet are attached to that.

i now have a nice basic set of attachments for Miss Burton. on my future wish list is a separate needle plate, a button sewing foot & possibly a buttonholer attachment that does fancy buttonholes.

RIP bernina watch.

not totally, but the Berninas i want are going for upwards of $700 which is too much for me. even if i had that kind of money, i couldn't justify spending it on a used machine on ebay. i'd rather save my money for a new one. the mechanicals are running a little over a grand, so i'll continue to keep my eyes open for a good deal on a used machine, while i save for a new one.

in the meantime, dennis the menace & i pulled out Miss Burton's 1971 Domestic sewing machine. it took awhile to figure out how to thread it, particularly step #10 where i discovered that the eye of the needle is situated right to left, not front to back. my brain had a hard time accepting that this was as it should be for this machine:



we had a bit of a struggle getting it to run. we could hear the motor trying to go & the needle was moving verrrrryyyy slllooowwwlly. at first we thought it was the foot pedal, but then i had this theory that the grease on the gears was hardened with age & dust. so i operated the foot pedal while dennis turned the wheel & after a couple of fitful starts, the thing started running fast & solid like a champ.

this machine is heavy duty (it weighs a ton) & will do the basics: straight stitch, zigzag & there are modest overlock & darning features. i sent a picture of the machine to Sewing Machine Steve before I left for Vegas, & with his further instructions, Dennis & I packed the crap out of it yesterday so it can be shipped to Steve for refurbishment. Steve concurs that this machine is a tank & will sew well for a very long time.



on the sewing front, i gave some thought to my current zipper problems. i've decided to stop futzing with machine topstitching around the zipper & try my hand at a hand-picked zipper instead.

Sewing Machine Steve.

I was looking for more information on Miss Burton's Domestic sewing machine and that's how I found Sewing Machine Steve in Virginia. Externally, the machine is in mint condition but I want to have it serviced before I start using it & I've been unable to find any repair shop in the bay area with consistently positive reviews or even more importantly, experience working on vintage machines.

Sewing Machine Steve, on the other hand, knows what he's doing. Check out some of the rad machines he's refurbished:


Visetti Super Deluxe - made by Toyota. Can you imagine the motor on this thing?


Fleetwood Deluxe



Steve explains exactly how to pack the machine for shipping and it doesn't look like shipping will be as expensive as I thought so I just might have Dennis the Menace ship it to Steve early next year.

Miss Burton's sewing machine.

Dennis the Menace got a call to fix some things in a house that sold in Vegas. He said the house was like walking into the 1960s. Totally furnished, all items vintage and in mint condition.



The previous owner was a school teacher (first grade) & dennis knows this because her teaching awards & trophies were displayed in one of the rooms. A nightstand in her bedroom & on it, next to her glasses, a tray with some prescription bottles. Throughout the house, scattered post-it notes reminding her to turn this switch off or twist that knob to the right. In the kitchen, a box of oatmeal on the counter next to a bowl and a spoon. An old school hair dryer in the bathroom.



The story is that the lady, who was in her 80s, went to the hospital and never came back. Her kids put the house on the market to sell "as is", because they didn't want to (or couldn't) deal with going through her things.

Her name was Miss Burton. Her house, with all of the things she took very good care of, sold for $25,000.

Dennis the Menace fixed the things in the house. The new owner told him if he wanted any of the items in the house, he could have them.

& that is how I ended up with Miss Burton's sewing machine.

_____________________

Dear Miss Burton,

I promise to take very good care of your sewing machine, just like you did.

May you rest in peace.