1941 Apron Pattern

I've noticed from blog hopping that there are a lot of apron makers out there. Apparently they are hooked on making aprons the same way I'm always knitting hats. So here's a 1941 Necktie Apron pattern from McCalls--in a sort of "my hat's off to you" salute. The apron folds up accordion style to be put away nicely and without taking up much space. Very neat.
I have a couple of vintage aprons, but I don't wear them very much. Of course, my husband has cooked five times out of the last six days, so that might be part of the reason.

The Love Sewing Machine Ad

This card reads "The Love! The latest and most attractive Sewing Machine for all purposes. Makes Button Holes on any kind of goods." In faint print at the bottom it says "Zigzag stitching with one or two needles. Over seaming and all kinds of sewing possible on any other machine, without extra attachments or complicated machinery."

The wording is odd, but could this machine do other stitching without attachments? Curious.

Nothing

No blog today--I'm busy sewing. The baby is due any minute and I'm not done (not mine, of course,--that factory is laying off and prepping for shut down.)

1930's Simplicity

Not the best of photos, but you can see these two patterns are classic 1930's outfits. I have pictures of my grandmother wearing similar ones. I like the long lean silhouette, but really--aren't their legs impossibly long? And there's a girdle under those slim outfits--or a foundation garment as some would say.

Gummy Needle

I've been trying new sewing things this week. I decided to applique a baby quilt using a fusible applique webbing. I've never done this. I hate raw edges on appliques so I'll fuse it down and satin stitch the edges. At first it went well--the appliques held with no pinning or basting needed.
The fusible webbing package said if I followed the directions it wouldn't gum up my needle. Look about 3/4's up that needle--at the gummy fuzzy blob. I followed those directions and it made a mess of my needle. Twice I stopped to try and clean the needle. The blob in the picture is half the size of some I picked off between appliques. The machine started skipping stitches and I had to get another needle. Two needles ruined for one small project! And if it's doing that with the needle what's going on below with the bobbin hook? I cleaned everthing when I was done.

This new stuff isn't working out so good, so far. The appliques do look nice though.

Box o' Sewing Machine

If you have a vintage sewing machine that needs motor repair and people you know insist they know how to repair motors, take your sewing machine and run--preferably to a sewing machine repair person. If you don't, you might get a box back with your sewing machine and its assorted parts like the one above. All is not lost, but this is going to take some time.

50's Dress

Sewing machine problems have me in a mood right now, but here is a rather nice dress from 1952 for you to see. These ladies are so stylish--and they know it.

New Home Sewing Machine Ad

My great grandmother had a New Home sewing machine. It's sitting in my dad's house with the ubiquitous plant on it. I wonder how many thousands of treadle cabinets have water rings on them. I made sure there is a piece of glass under said plant since of course I one day hope to make the New Home a new home in my house--where no plant will sit on it.

School and Learning

The kids went back to school today--teacher husband too. I sat delirious in the quiet for a few minutes. But since they're off learning new things I thought maybe it's about time I did too. I've been too lazy this summer.

Last week when I was looking through my Elna sewing machine's box I found the above darning foot. I forgot I had it. I also realized it's low shank--it'll fit the 15-91. Now I've never done any free hand work but I thought I might give it a try--it looks fun.

The above is my very first attempt at free hand embroidery. Yes, I know its not that good, but I'm happy with the results. The red bit is from the Elna which didn't take to free hand so well. I'm not sure what went wrong but it jammed and the needle broke. I didn't really like the feed dog cover plate either, so I switched to the Singer 15-91 which has feed dogs I can drop. Much better results.
I even free hand quilted. I liked it even better than the embroidery plus it seems more useful--think of all the quilts, placemats, tablerunners and stuff I could make. Back when I quilted, most books talking about machine quilting only mentioned a walking foot and straight lines--boring!

This is stippling. I really liked this. For a first time I impressed myself. That's good because I'm impatient. If I can't be an expert or see amazing progress after a day or two I tend to lose interest. I just don't have the time to be an apprentice for years anymore. This looks like it'll hold my interest.

The Thing About Feet

It really amuses my husband when he says I have a foot fetish. We are talking about sewing machine feet--make no mistake. And no--the situation is not that bad, but these things are fun.

Above is a photo of the quilter. I think I've seen it called a patchwork foot these days. It's simple. You use the flat piece on the side of the metal bar to guide your stitches evenly parallel to the previous row. The bar slides back and forth to adjust. It's not a walking foot but since I had this sample piece layered up to sew on, I ran the quilter over it. It helps if you sew the first line straight!

I put some of my attachments in this clear plastic sewing box. I removed the top tray so you're looking at the second tray, and there's more room underneath for bigger attachments. I put paper in the little compartments because I found that the see-through aspect was annoying. It's not the greatest box but it was free and it works.

Vintage pencil skirt and walking

I need a couple of new fall skirts so when I was digging through my patterns and saw this one I pulled it out. Perfect size and everything.

If you are going to make vintage straight skirts be aware that some don't have slits--a few have box pleats--many are simply straight. Pay attention if it's longer than knee length and this is the case. At a young nineteen years of age I made a similar skirt to the one above except it was a few inches longer. I remember I made it out of navy wool and it had a box pleat in the back.

The first time I wore it was to my college classes. UTC has a hill in the middle of campus. It was as I was walking up the hill I noticed a problem. I was wearing a Hobble skirt. I couldn't get my normal stride because the skirt was too narrow. I spent the day walking in small steps. I was supposed to meet someone downtown--an easy walk for me most days. I decided to catch public transportation. Well, that first step onto a bus is a big one. After the first failed attempt I quickly hoisted that skirt up a few inches and managed to get on. I remember being both slightly embarrassed and amused. I learned my lesson.

Wasn't there an episode of "I Love Lucy" where she had this same problem?

Green Beanie

I'm breathing better today after the asthma attack. Here is a hat I knitted this week using one of my favorite patterns. It's the Cecily Beanie from Knitting Daily. I looked for the pattern to link to it but didn't find it; I don't know if it's still there. I used Hobby Lobby's house brand yarn called "I Love This Yarn-Cotton." It knit up ok, but I really hate that name.

Funny how I can't remember things half the time but this hat pattern with a few others are in my head. I don't look them up at all--I just grab my yarn and needles and go.

It's modeled as usual on my yogurt maker along with one of son #2's cats.

Mold on the Sewing Stuff

I like vintage sewing things, but I do not like vintage mold. I know mold has its place in the world, but I prefer it not to be on my things. You can see it in the photo. It's the yellowy orange spots on these patterns. I didn't even get the one out of its ziploc bag for the photo.
All of this stuff came from my mother's older sewing room things--it's not my mold--it was hers--now it's mine. I grew up in an old house that didn't have air conditioning. For the most part it didn't need it, but times and the weather have changed and my parents finally had air conditioning put in. Too late. This mold grows because of too much warmth and humidity. That is one humid house let me tell you.

The older things such as books and patterns have mold. I had to clean my mother's sewing room out and split everything with my sister. She has a headache and nose bleed after looking through the patterns. I can't breathe good and had to see a doctor this week it became so bad. I now have an asthma inhaler.

Needless to say, we shifted everthing out of the living areas of our houses. Now we are seeing what is truly worth keeping and what we can live without. Anything we want will have to be sealed up in ziploc bags and plastic storage bins. The Workbasket embroidery transfers in the photo above I might make photo copies of and keep the original sealed up. A lot of it will have to go though. It's not worth keeping when it's become such a health issue. But now I'm like the little rag doll on the bottom right of this pattern--so sad.

(And I'll probably be getting rid of the pattern).

The Ruffler Attachment

Open a box of sewing machine attachments and the ruffler always draws attention. It's an intriguing looking device. I've been playing with one and it's amazing. If you want more information on how to use one, look in your sewing machine manual or get one from ISMACS.
The first thing to do is make sure your ruffler is oiled. Yes, not only do vintage machines need oil but any vintage attachment that has moving parts. I have five rufflers and while two move great the others don't. One is stuck and needs a little work.

Now to ruffling. Hook the ruffler to the machine with the fork arm (B in the top photo) straddling the needle clamp. Check to make sure the needle goes through the hole. Push the adjusting finger (F) forward or away from the needle--it's not needed now. Lift the adjusting lever (E) and put the projection through the slot marked 1. It's for gathering the other two are for plaiting and the star is for regular sewing if you don't want to remove the ruffler.

Push the fabric through the back part of the seperator guide (the wavy front piece) and through the blue steel pieces. Make sure the fabric goes under the needle. And don't forget at this point to lower the presser foot (yep, I forgot). As the book says, "commence sewing."

There you go--ruffles--with oil all over the first two inches because I over oiled. You can twist the top adjusting screw (C) to adjust the fullness of the gathers.

Not bad, but tricky to manage at first. I had to feed the fabric through evenly while letting the ruffler do its stuff. I think this would take a little practice if I were to use it seriously. I really don't have anything I need ruffling though. If it were for a skirt I prefer pulling gathering threads. Remember in old movies those curtains with ruffles all down them and with ruffled tie-backs? This attachment would have been great for that sort of thing. I can't even imagine making them without it. But I've never been a ruffley sort of person--I prefer more tailored subdued things, and I have an affinity for pleats--which the ruffler does.

Move the adjusting lever to the number 6 and the ruffling blade will move forward and back once every six stitches. The adjusting finger (F) that wasn't neede before is needed now. Put it back into position under the adjusting screw (C) which needs to be turned down as far as it will go. The length of the plaits can be changed by lengthening or shortening the stitch length. The fabric goes in the same way as for ruffling. (The numbers in the top photo show where to put the fabric for varioius things the ruffler can do, such as facing the ruffle or applying piping at the same time).

Pleats!

The next photo shows pleats with the adjusting lever set at 12. The ruffler seemed to stick a couple of times and I had to tug gently from the back to feed it through. It hasn't been used in probably forty years so it might be a bit sluggish--the oil will help.

I like the pleats. I don't have anything to use them on right now, but I like them. I have an old slip from the 40's somewhere that had a plaited band around the bottom. I used to wonder how that was done--now I know.

Vintage McCalls 8552

I like this pattern. I made the skirt years ago and remember wearing it quite a bit. I meant to make the shirt but never did. The shorts aren't the greatest though--no woman wants pockets like that on her hips.

A lot of patterns from this time period have the woman wearing the buttoned skirt over her shorts as in the lower left picture on the envelope. I wonder how many people actually did this. Wear your skirt out and suddenly whisk it off to run around in shorts.