Combined Boye Needle Charts

Kevin Pinkerton of Treadle On has just finished a wonderful resource for antique sewing machine collectors. With the help of Boye Needle Case owners, he has made a data base of the information on the the ingenious needle display. The pdf version of his charts are available for download in the right side bar of this blog and at Kevin's online album sites:

http://community.webshots.com/user/kpinkert
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kpinkert/sets/

Many thanks to Kevin and contributing Treadle On members for a wonderful resource.

Pincushions for the Sew Green Fleet

Last year, at our Sew Green activity at Walla Walla's farmers' market, I only had one pincushion among three machines. This year, each machine will have a pincushion plus one for the filling station.

The brightly colored pincushion at the top of the photo was made for me by Alyce Suzanne on the treadle owners list. She very graciously made me one when my exchange partner failed to come through. Her pincushion is bright and cheery. The pincushion is weighted nicely as it is filled with poly pellets.

The pincushion on the left is made from a Birthday Bash block. I made too many for the exchange so I have to figure out where to use them up. It's a little wimpy. I didn't stuff it enough.

The remaining two are from upholstery samples. In March, my 4-H Super Saturday class was in the home ec. room at the middle school at the end of the block. The teacher had tons of boxes of fabric swatch books. She let me and the other volunteers in my class take as many sample books as we wanted. What fun and a great reward for our busy 2 hour session.

More Coming Attractions

I have been busy making some thank you gifts. Three special people who have blessed me in the last year deserve a little gift. All three will be a TOGA so I made the gifts all alike. ;

If you need a seasonal grocery tote like the ones pictured, you can download a tutorial at the line below:

Grocery Tote Tutorial

Portland TOGA: Sneak Peeks

The Treadle On treadle owners are having a gathering in Portland, OR, on October 10th. I am working on some quick projects to share and samples of what vintage attachments can do. My first project is a thread snips basket. This is a handy little scrap catcher for thread trimmings. The shape is reminiscent of a style of ash tray from the 60's and 70's. The tutorial for the project was up at another blog but it appears to have been taken down.

The basket is made from 2 squares of fabric and Pellon Fleece or Warm and Natural Cotton Batting. I used a 12 inch squares as a foundation for my strip piecing, then I trimmed up to 11 inches.

If you want to know how to make this handy little basket, you are going to have to come to TOGA in Portland.

Note: I finally found my bookmark for the tutorial. The freebie had to come down. There was a copyright infringement. The project has another name: Fabric Catch All from Liberty Weaver by Diane Bachman in Leola, PA.

If you want to try a slightly different version of the basket that is free, check out this one:

http://www.free-quilting.com/list.html?criteria=FQ00129&cat_id=434

It is a free download, made from a 12 inch quilt block featuring small blocks in each corner instead of tacking the corner down with a button, and the dart on the side is angled differently to form a straight corner instead.

Pre-wash or Not?

I generally pre-wash all my fabrics before I use them in a project. Above you see a pillowcase made from a Connecting Threads kit last fall and the one I completed recently. I pre-washed the fabrics in the rose and green version. Since they shifted some in the process, I had to square up and trim off the serged edges. As you can see, there was a considerable amount lost to the prep process.

I will take measurements and see what happens to the more recent pillowcase made from a Connecting Threads kit. Stay tuned.

Note: Test results are in. I washed and dried the pillowcase with a load of laundry. There was no shrinkage. The pillowcase was and is 30 inches long and 21.75 inches wide.

Nostalgia

I splurged last week and bought kits from Fabric Depot and Connecting Threads. The kits from Connecting Threads arrived on Tuesday. I should have been cleaning house but the lovely fabric was too tempting. I made up one of the pillowcases. The fabric is just wonderful!! It is going to be hard to be satisfied with fabric from the local chain store!

The pillowcase is from the Backyard Friends kit and it is pictured with some pins that I wore in the '60's and a mug a friend gave me in college.

http://www.connectingthreads.com/images/regular/1598_large.jpg

Connecting Threads sent enough that I could interchange the brown with the lime green. The green is now the narrow trim for both versions and I have a pillowcase reminiscent of my favorite colors in high school along with my favorite flower. I think this is going to be mine. I am always giving away the pillowcases that I make but not this one.

Midori, the Japanese New Home head in my Singer cabinet, did the honors. She has to earn her keep if she lives on the main floor. I wanted to enter her in the Sustainable Living recycling contest on Saturday but DH won't be home to help me take her down to the farmers' market to display her. :(

If you are looking for instructions for the pillowcase, you will find a great tutorial for the same method in the Connecting Threads kit at With Heart and Hands. It is known as the magic or burrito style/technique. The seam for the band and accent strip are encased inside the band and then French seams are use to finish the rest. If you don't have a serger or just like professional looking construction methods, this is for you.

The band is cut 1/4 yard wide, the narrow trim is 1.5 inches wide, and the main body of the pillow case is 3/4 yard. I used 1/8 seams inside the French seams and 1/4 inch to encase them. Also, the seam allowance inside the band is 1/4 inch. I like to attach my narrow trim to the front side of the main body with a 1/8 inch seam first, then I fold the band to quarter mark it. I use the quarter marks to match the band when I attach it to the body with the attached narrow trim. Matching the quarter folds and pinning carefully prevents ripples and shifting.

Instructions for a pillowcase with serger finished seams can be found in the Tutorial Links in the right side bar of this blog. Have fun sewing and remember, pillowcases don't have to match your sheets. Make them for holidays, in honor of personal special occasions, and change them to suit your whims.

More Lessons from the New Home 443

The 5 dollar lesson machine, a Janome 443 straight stitch machine with drop feed, a cool bobbin winder, and a cord and plug to the light was a pesky little beast. I thought after I got the machine cleaned up and lubricated, it would treadle nicely. Well, it did, silently and smoothly. BUT, it would not pick up the bobbin thread easily and if it did, it made birds' nests with the needle thread as if there were no tension on it. The tension worked perfectly, though.

Well, I went over to Yahoo on the Vintage Japanese list and asked what was the problem. Bill Holman suspected a bent cushion spring. Well, he was right but I never succeeded in getting both screws loose to change the cushion spring. Even after Bill suggested swiveling the cushion spring to help turn the screw. But, after swiveling the cushion spring out twice, I made two attempts to reshape it. On the second try, it was a good fit and the machine is now back together and sewing beautifully!! Considering the time I have in on this machine, it has become very pricey. ;)

I will treadle it for awhile in the Singer cabinet with a borrowed bobbin case. I might even make a quilt top on it. Since the machine is short shank side clamper, it will use common feet and accessories, then I will bring it down to the Portland TOGA where it goes to Emily if she can supply the correct bobbin case and a Singer cabinet.

Now, a name for this pleasant stitching machine. Since the machine is a Japanese New Home, two tone green in color, and now a "green" environmentally friendly treadler, she is Midori (Japanese in origin and meaning green).

Hmm, Midori Ito was a figure skater. Maybe this machine will become a graceful free motion quilter. But probably not in my house. But just to show you I can free motion, I free handed my name on a test strip of fabric I used for testing the stitch quality. I must admit, Midori is a charmer and she will be hard to give up.