PetiteSewSop

I am a self-described introvert, homebody and someone who loves staying busy and creating things. I am also a social being who loves getting together with friends, sharing the process and experience of learning about new subjects, methods, expressing and creating.

Thankfully, most of our population still has technological means of communicating with society at large. I think this ability to remain connected, albeit primarily cyber-based at this point, will prove a saving grace for the world during this time. This said, living through the reality of the last few weeks of sobering pandemic statistics and country-wide mandated social-distancing has proven challenging on many levels. While it’s true the majority of us (save our sainted healthcare workers, law enforcement, military personnel and those working in the farming, grocery and trucking industries) have a lot more time on our hands these days, many individuals I’ve communicated with have also struggled with achieving a healthy sense of balance; between staying informed about the latest “breaking news”, fear-inducing, sometimes addictive saturation of press conferences and news briefings in connection with our present Coronavirus situation, and remaining mentally, emotionally and physically healthy; continuing to be productive and maintaining a sense of purpose.

One thing that has helped me feel like I’m making some sort of difference is making face masks. I’m using a pattern that pattern-maker, Peggy Sagers of Silhouette Patterns, designed. She consulted with physicians and Department of Health professionals to determine optimal features and provided shipping addresses and distribution portals where to send them. For links to the pattern and construction guide see the “features” section at http://www.silhouettepatterns.com

Here are photos of some of the face masks I made and that were shipped out last week.

It turns out many people in our country, including theater costume shops, are making face masks using a variety of patterns, materials and construction methods.

Some people who haven’t sewn anything for years are pulling out their sewing machines from storage, dusting them off and sewing masks to contribute to the effort.

It is rewarding to be making something useful during this present health crisis to be sure.

This said, it is discouraging to read negative, alarmist posts by nay-sayers on social media, criticizing everything from materials used, mask designs, practical application and potential threat of spreading disease. I’m guessing many of these same individuals are not making masks themselves, choosing instead, to criticize and complain about all of the above. Perhaps a better use of their time might be to brainstorm about practical solutions to the issues they raise.

I was telling my husband the other day that our current global struggles will (and already the case) surely bring out the best in people but also the worst. We will all need to heal, in several ways, when this current health crisis has run its course. Fear of what we know, the unknown and loss of control often breeds irrational behavior at times like these.

I also believe we will learn a lot about many things when we look back on this time in history.

Back to balance. Last week I was in mask-making “factory assembly” mode.

Over the weekend I decided to take a break from making masks and set my sites on finishing quilting the Queen-size quilt I had to put on hold just before Christmas last year. Happy to say I’m almost done.

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Best wishes to all for optimal health-physical, emotional and mental well-being. We will get through this.

It’s a beautiful day here on the Central Coast of California. Bright sun, not much wind and relatively mild temps. I do not take our move here for granted, not for a second.

Although I try to live with a sense of balance from week to week throughout each year, the month of January always seems to inspire an added feeling of renewal, hope and resolve to improve all areas of my life.

Now on to the subject of today’s blog entry.

Among certain sewing circles it has been said in jest that one of the dangers of acquiring an embroidery machine is that using it becomes so addictive that the owner will want to embroider everything in their house. I will go one step further to say that one might feel compelled to embroider a gift for every member of their family.

I indeed have my fair share of embroidered, seasonal tea and bath hand towels in my home linen storage at the moment. (Oh yes, and a couple of pair of embroidered jeans in my closet as well) But the extent of my enthusiasm for all things machine embroidery really came to the fore when, with some amusement on my part, I looked around the room during our family’s recent gift exchange gathering and realized that I had embroidered gifts (tee-shirts, tea towels, pillow cases, shirts) for everyone in attendance!

Here are both a video and photo from a design I embroidered onto a shirt pocket of a brand of sport shirt our “passionate for all things fishing”, brother-in-law really likes.

This second image is the back of the shirt pocket before I tore away the stabilizer from the design and top-stitched the pocket back in place.

He was thrilled. Hooray!

Which brings me to my last topic, sourcing “canvases” for machine embroidery.

Since I’m still learning about best practice, methods and the variety of stabilization needed for embroidering various fabrics, I have no guilt in sourcing used clothing, blank canvas tote bags, aprons, shirts, old jeans, etc. to experiment with. My general rule is that the items I use must be clean and gently worn to fit the bill. It also feels great to give a piece a second life and often the price for such an item is more than reasonable.

All the above said, the purist in me still enjoys the challenge of making something completely from scratch. In addition to my new-found love of up-cycling, I intend to continue creating pieces anew, well into the foreseeable future.

And look out, the woman has an embroidery machine!

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve approached a stranger to either compliment them on their beautiful item of clothing or, even more bold on my part, ask if I could take a photo of the garment they are wearing. One day I may receive a less-than receptive response to the above social interactions, but so far the subjects of my inspiration have been friendly and seemingly flattered by my interest in their wardrobe choices especially when I share the fact that I make my own clothes.

Here are some of my favorite inspiration photos:

1. A “Moto Jacket” with a combination of leather pared with knit center panels and sleeves.

2. A herringbone tweed sport coat with unique piecing detail in back:

3. Fixed, looped lacing detail on a woven v-neck top.

I’ve also been inspired by architectural elements for potential quilt design themes. Here are some floor tiles from Sainte-Chapelle in Paris that caught my eye the last time I visited this beautiful landmark:

Lastly, I’ve found that museums provide wonderful design inspiration as well. I love Sashiko embroidery and plan to incorporate this Asian style of embellishment on a garment or perhaps a quilt sometime soon. Here is a sample of the “real deal” I saw at the textile portion of the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco:

I look forward to what inspiration may present itself in the future.

A couple of years ago I jumped onto the Pinterest train in earnest and suffice to say it’s been an education! Although I’d previously experimented with Pinterest when it was first introduced several years ago, I didn’t spend much time adding things or cultivating any real collections other than a pinning a few photos here and there.

When I started educating myself about how to use my new embroidery machine, I noticed someone’s Pinterest “pin” about an embroidery design they liked and where they found it. This prompted my subsequent Pinterest search for the design source and suffice to say, Pandora’s box was opened.

I loved seeing what other people were pinning for embroidery design inspiration and relished exploring options beyond the stock designs that came pre-loaded with my machine, I frankly didn’t have a clue where to begin sourcing quality embroidery designs up to that point. What a wonderful resource for sparking additional design ideas the Pinterest site proved to be.

On a whim, I decided to enter a search for “Antique Singer Sewing Machines” and was astounded when the Pinterest floodgates opened wide. In addition to Singer sewing machines, there were hundreds of additional varieties, brands and manufacturers to behold, so much so that I was inspired to create my own board on Pinterest entitled “Antique and Vintage Sewing Machines”. This, along with my “Sewing Inspiration” and “Extraordinary Recipes” boards have proven a very time-addictive research pastime. The whole activity now feels akin to being an electronic stamp collector, especially when learning about international brands of machines, such as my most recent discovery the “Tula” model from Russia.

I knew from my previous sewing machine restoration research that Singer sewing machines were widely popular throughout the late 19th and the majority of the 20th centuries. What I didn’t fully realize was how many hundreds of different brands and manufacturers of sewing machines existed early on. I knew about Pfaffs, Berninas, Vikings, Brothers, Whites, Elnas, and Necchis to name a few, but the Pinterest search engine quickly educated me that those machines were only the tip of the iceberg.Photo credit: New York Sewing Center

So far, I’ve created more than 185 different sections of sewing machine manufacturers within my Antique and Vintage Sewing Machines Pinterest board. Some of my favorites include the old anchor-shaped British-made machines, the earliest Singers and Pfaffs of course, but what also delights me is seeing the Art Deco-inspired Morse Machines, space-age/Flash Gordon-influenced Singer “Rocketeer” models, the mod colors of machines from the 60s and 70s.

Photo credit: Stephanie Moore

Photo credit: Possumjimandelizabeth.com

Some machines made in the 30s-50s seem to mimic the look of vintage radios complete with tuner dials and frequency-gauge details.

Photo credit: quiltingboard.com

Many sewing machines seem to reflect the decor and characteristics of their specific time and era. If you enjoy exploring Pinterest, I hope you will check out several of my boards there. I’m sure I’ll be adding more pins sometime soon.

“E&W Automatic” American History Textile Museum

Here is a link to my Antique and Vintage Sewing Machines Pinterest board:

https://pin.it/jn6mbvv343krsl

In my previous blog entry entitled “The Singer and the Singer”, I wrote about my earliest sewing experiences using my mother’s Singer 221 “Featherweight” sewing machine.

What I didn’t mention was that after my mother and I acquired newer sewing machines in the early 1970s, the trusty 1953 Featherweight was loaned to one of my aunts with a loosely-specified, long-term use arrangement. As it happened, many years elapsed during which time both my mother and aunt subsequently passed away. I never knew what happened to this special little machine. I do remember my mother telling me she thought my aunt had loaned the Featherweight to a friend in the late 1980s or perhaps eventually donated it.

Fast forward to a recent visit to my uncle’s home, where a major move was imminent including the packing up of decades-worth of accumulated possessions. Upon entering each room, it was apparent that a major attempt at “down-sizing” had begun in earnest. Near the end of our visit, my uncle asked me if I wanted what he thought to be my grandma’s old sewing machine. I told him I would. At that point my uncle pulled out a familiar-looking little black case and low and behold, it wasn’t my grandmother’s sewing machine after all, (hers was a circa 1935 Singer machine with a bentwood case). The sewing machine my uncle presented to me was actually my mother’s original 1953 221- Featherweight! What a delightful and unexpected surprise!

Upon returning home later that afternoon, I unpacked the little 11 pound wonder and took an initial inventory, noting that though the original presser foot was still on the machine, none of the extra feet, tools or attachments were there. I rotated the flywheel by hand and the needle/hook mechanism still seemed operational. There didn’t appear to be any rust and the machine decals seemed to have favorably stood the test of time.

The electric power supply and foot pedal were still connected to the machine and both cords were cracked in several places, revealing exposed wires. I elected not to plug anything in to any electrical outlets and resisted trying the machine’s on/off switch until taking everything to my trusted local repair tech who faithfully services my other machines.

As for the manual, I already knew I wouldn’t find it within the case. Thinking my Mother’s Singer 221 Featherweight machine was long gone, I sold the original manual on EBay four years ago!

And so began the process of bringing my Mother’s Singer 221 Featherweight back to her previous glory.

After dropping off the Featherweight at the repair shop, my second order of business was to source out a replacement manual which, after a comprehensive search on EBay, I’m happy to report proved ultimately successful. It’s a reprint and larger in scale than the original, but I like the larger photos and print. The next step was to look for a box of Featherweight accessories. Thankfully a couple of options were available on that front as well. I also found a source for bobbins.

This most recent search activity felt a bit like a scavenger hunt and fondly reminiscent of my previous Singer 66 part replacement quest undertaken during that machine’s restoration process described in my earlier post, “The Singer and the Singer”.

If all the accessory gathering activity described above wasn’t fun enough, I discovered a favorite vendor of mine was running an extraordinary special on “Sew Steady” tables. As luck would have it, there was an option for a Singer Featherweight cutout. Since I’m planning to be using my little vintage machine for quilt piecing and top-stitching after she returns from her restoration adventure, I decided to add a “Sew-Steady” table to my new setup with the idea that it will be great to have an extended sewing surface option to work with.

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Update!

After over four weeks in the shop, she’s back in her new home at last! Thanks to Paul Howell of Howell’s Sewing Machine Repair in Paso Robles, CA. Lots of TLC and patience later, here is my Mom’s little Featherweight, all polished and ready to fly into action.

Not only did she get all new rubber feet but also an updated power cord.

An unexpected bonus was thrown into the mix, a vintage button-hole maker with templates!

Lastly, here she is with her custom “Sew Steady” table, ready for some serious quilt-piecing in the near future.

This old favorite, an over-sized tunic top of mine, was really close to being moved into the donation bag until it’s transformation earlier today.

I believe I’ve held on to it for so long because I loved the loose weave fabric and the color. Even though it’s technically a size “small”, my 5’3 frame was and always has been “swimming” in it.

As I pondered the fate of this particular article of clothing, I remembered something I saw Peggy Sagers of Silhouette Patterns demonstrate not long ago, treating an over-sized garment as “yardage”. She shared an effective method of how to create a new top into a smaller size. Brilliant.

Using Peggy’s inspiration as a guide, here’s how I did mine:

First, I bravely got out my super sharp Kai scissors and cut the side seams open up to the shoulders, also cutting off the sleeves in the process and leaving both the shoulder and sleeve side seams in tact. Oddly liberating…..

Next, I opened out the front and back sections and folded them in half at center front and back. I laid down corresponding front and back pieces from a pattern I like directly on top of the folded sections, extending each pattern a bit beyond the shoulder seams to allow for the already sewn seam allowances. I then cut out my front and back pattern pieces as usual.

As you can see, since I wanted to preserve the length, circumference and knitted hem of my original garment, I used my French Curve ruler to blend the side seams of the pattern to those on my tunic. I then folded my sleeves in half the same way as I did with the tunic body sections and cut these following the lines of the pattern sleeve. Since my tunic sleeve side seams were already sewn, I first stitched the side seams of tunic body and then set in the sleeves following with a serged finish for both.

Without really planning it, my new sleeves ended up being exactly 3/4 in length whereas previously I had to triple-roll them up to be above my wrists.

All in all, this remake took me less than an hour to accomplish. I was able to preserve the woven neckline treatment, shoulder seams, knitted sleeve and tunic hems and now have a much more flattering “go-to” piece that I dare say will be worn much more often than the original.

This entire process was ultimately satisfying on many levels. Whatever one might want to call the process, “upcycling”, “repurposing” or simply a “remake”, it feels great to know I’ll continue to get use out of this newly-fashioned piece for some time to come.

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at machine embroidering on jeans for some time now. Katrina Walker’s Craftsy class, “Machine embroidery on denim” had been sitting on my wish list queue for quite a while. I finally took the plunge and invested in the online class, watching each of the sessions all the way through. Ms. Walker’s teaching style is clear, practical and inspiring. She demonstrated how to achieve the best results with machine embroidery on both woven and stretch denim, using specific designs, choosing stabilizers and planning out design layouts using grain lines and position reference points. A recent addition to my machine embroidery practice includes printing out a design chart which is a useful visual aid when planning sizing and layout of my designs on clothing, dish towels etc., as many possibilities as one’s imagination may allow.

Earlier today I pulled out a pair of stretch denim jeans, measured where I wanted my design path to start and set about picking out the inseam of one of the legs. Fortunately this pair didn’t have top stitching on the inseam so the reassembly should be pretty simple.

My next step was to draw my chalk grain lines and cross hair markings, lay out my design and plan out my placement on the jean leg.Thread choice was a bit tricky since this was a spontaneous effort. I decided to “audition” some poly thread spools I had on hand.

Once my thread colors were chosen, I positioned my stabilizer in place (I used one layer of Pellon water-soluble sticky stabilizer then laid in a layer of sturdy cut-away) and into the hoop everything went. I also changed my needle to a size 16 denim needle.

After fine-tuning my precise-positioning tool it was time for stitch-out at long last.

As you can see from the videos, everything was going well with the first step of the design. The only real issue I had was with the dusty pink-colored thread which was of a lesser quality and from some of the older (20+ years) thread I had on hand. But I took a risk because I liked the color. The dusty pink thread broke more often than I care to admit, reminding me that you get what you pay for when it comes to all things related to machine embroidery. There was also a brief bit of bobbin drama during the dusty pink thread stage of the stitch out….okay already, no more cheap old thread!

Once the first design was completed, I reversed it to a mirror image on my machine screen then re-hooped, drew a new chalk cross hair, then stitched out the second design, connecting it with the first. ***What I will do differently next time= cut an extra long piece of stabilizer so I won’t have to double up on layers of stabilizer when re-hooping.***

Here is my finished first attempt, all ready for the inseam to be re-sewn and the hem top-stitched (I will change the color of the hem thread so as not to clash with the new embroidery design though).

All in all, I’m happy with my first attempt and will actually wear these jeans sometime soon.

I was watching Peggy Sagers’ most recent webcast earlier in the week and realized from something she said, that lately I’ve been somewhat in a state of paralysis when it comes to deciding what I want to tackle next in my sewing room.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I’ve been away from home working for a month, followed by a trip to the Seattle area after that, for the sum total of nearly six weeks in all. During my time away I’ve dreamt of diving into all sorts of sewing projects when I returned home, but the odd thing is, once I faced my fabric stash again I found myself overwhelmed in deciding where to begin and determining what was at the top of my priority list. Before I left, I made muslins, fitted them, traced patterns and invested in beautiful fabric. Now I find I’m hesitant to spend time making something only to find it doesn’t turn out the way I hoped it would. What is this about? Do I sew only out of necessity? No. Creative expression? Yes. A blend of all of the above? Yes.

All of this said, when Peggy said “just do it” during her webcast last Monday, I realized I just needed to start moving forward again, embracing the trial and error process anew. So today, that’s what I did. I cut out a pair of yoga pants from the newly-fitted pattern I created after my last muslin experiment and a cardi from a new pattern I bought last Spring. I chose a basic, neutral-colored knit fabric from my stash which will be useful if the new items turn out well, but not hugely disappointing if they don’t. I’m considering this effort “wearable muslins” stage two.

So, now I will take Peggy’s and actually my own advice too, something I’ve told my voice students for years, simply that there comes a time when we must stop planning and just do it. Thanks for the reminder Peggy!