Interesting Older Sewing Machine Attachments

A request and photo has come up on the Singer Attachment Yahoo group about some unnamed attachments.  One of the members named the ruffler, two tuckers and a bow corder.  I went through my old manuals to see what was on the attachment instruction pages, and I've added the pertinent pages I found below.  Interesting stuff there.  Picture too small??  You should be able to click on the picture and then click again to enlarge to read the text and see the pictures up close. If that does not enlarge for you, then Right click, choose and click open in new tab, click picture when it shows magnifier with + sign and the picture will enlarge.

First a tucker from the (Jones) Cylinder Shuttle Sewing Machine manual...

Next the cording instructions and picture from the New American Sewing Machine manual.  I added a picture of what the sewing machine looked like.  Nothing like today's machines.

And here are the instructions and picture of the tucker from the New American Sewing Machine manual.

Now the question is: do you have the attachments in a box somewhere?  And...do you have the machine they go on???   I'd love to see a picture of the original machine, so direct me to your blog or photo gallery. 

Recycled Denim and Crazy Quilting 

To add to my search and interest in recycled denim, I've been on Pinterest and finding all kinds of wonderful pictures and I've added a link on the right for Magpie's Mumblings recycled denim.  However, I've also discovered that she does crazy quilting and it shows up on denim vests and other things.  She has wonderful examples of normal fabric crazy quilting aside from the denim and I am so envious as now I have to go learn more than my four embroidery stitches to make mine look nicer.  Machine stitching is OK, but the fancy stuff done with hand embroidery is outstanding.  If you click on her pictures they enlarge and you can see the detail.  She has tags listed on the left of her blog so you can find the CQ stuff.  Wonderful.

 Chicken Scratch

Got some links to try for Chicken Scratch stitches and a tutorial or two.
Also, Pinterest has some interesting pictures when you use the search box.


http://kerrimade.blogspot.com/2008/04/chicken-scratch-bookmarks-tutorial.html
http://home.comcast.net/~mike-mortensen/site/?/page/Chicken_Scratch/
at the left column of Mike's blog is a tutorial of the bookmark from the first link above that might be better to understand.
http://www.nordicneedle.net/tag/chicken-scratch/  this is more about stitches

Folding Your Fabric Stash

Well, I just added another blog, and this one is on folding fabric for neat visual storage.  Comic book boards are used to help them stand up and a tutorial shows how to fold several sizes of fabric, yardage, fat quarters and smaller bits.  Very interesting and clears up a lot of clutter.  Check out the list to the right and look for cuttopieces.  Click on it to get to her blog.

Australian Blog Review of the Singer 160

Check out the blog links at the right side (Blogs That I Like) and see the review by Textile Diva on the new Singer Anniversary 160 sewing machine.  I watched the hype and sell on HSN which was fun as I had not seen a selling show since our cable company decided to take it off my basic cable programming. 

The machine is not a quilting machine, no needle up/down function, no auto thread cutting function, no walking foot and apparently one of the ladies on one of my Singer lists says it is just like an Athena model, the new white plastic one.  I checked out the manual from Singer and read up on the stitches.  It has 6 less stitches than the Athena which has 30 stitches.  It does have a blanket stitch and a stitch that looks like hand stitching.  Interesting read.

Bloggers Letters that I Love

Someone on one of my fix lists posted that their kitchen mixer needed help and the list members posted some URLs that might help including service manuals and a place to get parts. I immediately started a file in my computer for household appliance fixes and a page for KitchenAid URLs -- because I have the 5 qt. mixer. Well, following the various links got me to the following blog with a letter to KitchenAid. I just love folks who can write about complaints and still make me laugh. All about getting their point across, possibly asking for assistance, and taking the humorous approach. Below her letter are a couple of photos that link and she has a follow up on repairing her mixer. Check this out: http://www.foodonthefood.com/food_on_the_food/2009/02/a-letter-to-kitchenaid.html
and now I will try a link -- http://www.foodonthefood.com/food_on_the_food/2009/02/a-letter-to-kitchenaid.html 

Just in case, it might be found at http://www.foodonthefood.com/ and her letter is dated February 23, 2009.

Featherweight Table Refinishing Blog Found

Just goes to show that if you look hard enough or read through the email groups messages long enough you can find most anything -- and in this instance about Featherweight table refinishing. I've linked the blog from MalePatternBoldness (see Sewing Machine blog list way below on right). Peter Lappin shows the one he refinished and one from a guy who sent him pics. Both are nicely done. Theirs have what looks like wood edges and mine has metal.

After reading on Peter's blog and on one of the the Singer groups at Yahoo I see I have to get the proper sandpaper grit. The stuff I bought is too coarse for the final in-between coats sanding that seems to be necessary. Good thing I waited and did not just jump right in. I did buy black spray paint for the metal legs, but since closer inspection shows that it really looks like very dark brown I'm sure I'll go with as close to original as possible. Back to the paint store. Since I bought a clear acrylic spray and not polyurethane, I think I will get the poly -- after I find out which is a harder finish.