Ongoing Quilt Projects, Continued from the "No Appreciation...." Thread

[speckledhen]

I just pulled out my grandmothers 1952 era Elna Supermatic that hadn't been used in probably 15 or more years. I was fortunate enough to receive it after she passed in 2008. I oiled her, threaded her and she runs like a dream. I am determined to learn to use her properly to piece a quilt on.

Awesome! I had to sell my old Kenmore because it did not have any ability to lower the feed dogs. Weird. I had gotten it out, thinking I would try to use it, but no way I could quilt on it very well. Piece, yes, but not quilt. And I already had the two Brother machines, plus a lesser one my son left here that he had years ago to make costumes or something like that, some venture he wanted to try that didn't take off. So, I sold mine.

My father used to work for Singer many, many, many years ago and I have all sorts of machine parts I got from his basement after he passed away. Not sure what the heck to do with them. If anyone has a need for any of this, let me know. Some of this belonged to my mother, I guess. She was into handwork that I don't do.

 

[jeria]

I just pulled out my grandmothers 1952 era Elna Supermatic that hadn't been used in probably 15 or more years. I was fortunate enough to receive it after she passed in 2008. I oiled her, threaded her and she runs like a dream. I am determined to learn to use her properly to piece a quilt on.

View attachment 1248902

Beautiful machine!!!

 

[jeria]

Speckledhen, I have a box in my quilt room similar the those. No clue what to do with most of the attachments even though I've sewn for 60+ years. Anymore a regular straight stitch foot for doing things like half square triangles and a 1/4 inch foot is all I use. Love my 1/4 inch feet. I keep one machine with a regular foot and the other with a 1/4 inch foot so I don't have to switch feet. I have 2 machines set up on each floor of my house. Just me so I can take over all the spaces anyway I want to.

 

[DuckLady]

Speckledhen, I have a box in my quilt room similar the those. No clue what to do with most of the attachments even though I've sewn for 60+ years. Anymore a regular straight stitch foot for doing things like half square triangles and a 1/4 inch foot is all I use. Love my 1/4 inch feet. I keep one machine with a regular foot and the other with a 1/4 inch foot so I don't have to switch feet. I have 2 machines set up on each floor of my house. Just me so I can take over all the spaces anyway I want to.

I have 3 plus my longarm set up in my sewing room. If I thought my husband wouldn't notice, I would have a machine in the room where our woodstove is.

 

[jeria]

I have 3 plus my longarm set up in my sewing room. If I thought my husband wouldn't notice, I would have a machine in the room where our woodstove is.

LOL What longarm do you have? I have no DH to notice so I have machines everywhere. I have one in my living room pretty 1948 Singer, one in my dining room a 1934 Montgomery Wards made by JUKI, a 1930's Anker (German made and a dream ) and a 1960's New Home in the studio. My youngest kid has my Janome at the moment, the only one that isn't strictly straight stitch. I have a Singer treadle in the spare bedroom and 4 more old singers that each need a part stashed away in various locations.

I'm working on a Paddle Star but it's not scrappy, this is a photo off a google search. I will have some borders on it to be determined once the body of the quilt is together. It's actually one block that results in the secondary pattern. Basically a variation on a Friendship Star.

 

[speckledhen]

I've been working on the pillow tuck for the Buttercup quilt. Forgive the crappy lighting-the combination of a dark, dreary day plus the wraparound porch roof makes my house pretty gray on days like this. The ginger color in the stars is the exact same fabric used throughout the center star, though it may appear darker in the photo. It's not attached to the quilt yet.
Weirdly, the main part of the quilt looks a ton lighter than the pillow tuck and it really is not. Lighting is everything. No natural lighting today.

 

[jeria]

love your pieced borders!!

You have inspired me to get my design walls up. I have the materials and they have been waiting for awhile to be put up. They will be foam insulation board covered in white flannel so I can also use pins if I need to. One for a full quilt and another behind my 2 sewing machines for a few blocks.

 

[User395221]

Not sure what the heck to do with them.

There is still a demand for "ancient" singer equipment. I have a treadle machine which is about 90 years old now. I used to browse the classifieds and there is a lot of stuff still being bought and sold. Singer (or whoever took them over) has a lot of information and records online. I found out the age of my machine from the artwork on it, and also remember looking up what the attachments were for and I downloaded a copy of the manual.

It's amazing what they supplied with the machine. Those do-dads can do ruffles and tucks and all sorts. My friend's mum (unfortunately no longer with us) used to use hers a lot. They'd probably be good at quilting, they are built like tanks and with a heavy gauge needle probably wouldn't have any trouble at all getting through multiple layers of fabric and filling. I have some vague recollection of Lizzie or one of the other older relatives using it for sewing canvas.

Maybe I could sew a quilt on it?

 

[jeria]

There is still a demand for "ancient" singer equipment. I have a treadle machine which is about 90 years old now. I used to browse the classifieds and there is a lot of stuff still being bought and sold. Singer (or whoever took them over) has a lot of information and records online. I found out the age of my machine from the artwork on it, and also remember looking up what the attachments were for and I downloaded a copy of the manual.

My friend's mum (unfortunately no longer with us) used to use hers a lot. They'd probably be good at quilting, they are built like tanks and with a heavy gauge needle probably wouldn't have any trouble at all getting through multiple layers of fabric and filling.

Maybe I could sew a quilt on it?

The oldies are built like tanks. I learned to sew on a treadle sitting on my Great Aunt lap with her using the treadle: I was too little (4-7) to reach it. My Mom hated to sew and she gave me the love of it. She taught me to make clothes, use patterns, etc. She didn't quilt.

I LOVE my oldies, they go through most anything. Just use the right Singer needles on Singers and Schmetz or other needles on other machines as the scarfs are different. You can use a feed dog cover to do free motion quilting as they don't have an option to lower the feed dogs.

Someone I know here in MO used her Singer Featherweight to quilt quilts that have won incredible national and international awards. She has a couple quilt hanging in Paducah. Jane has amazing talent.

Potato Chip just use a 1/4 inch foot that fits your machine and makes sure it is oiled and the tension is adjusted properly. You can do it. good exercise for your legs.

 

[jeria]

Potato Chip, definitely a demand for old machines. Some of mine I could sell for more than $600 on the internet. I find them in thrift shops for less than $30.00 or garage sales. Just have to be aware of what you ae buying and the $$ if you have to repair them. My 1948 singer I was offered $450 for with the comment that he could turn around and sell it for $650. He is a repair person I trust and had timed it. Investment in the machine less than $50.00 including the timing. He knew I wasn''t interested in selling it.