Sewing – Fabric, Patterns, Vintage – Page 3

The Leather Queen & No. 5

Where to begin? The best laid plans of mice and women can tumble away into oblivion. What once was planned is now unplanned. Chaos moves in and takes the reins. So be it.

Let us begin with yesterday. It started well enough. The Factory Dress is complete with only the need for a bit of top stitching along the front and a dab of fray check on a spot. That never happened because I set it aside for a quieter moment when I had the No. 5 open to sew a muslin (toile) for a shirt I am planning for Josh. I laid out the pattern and cut out the necessary pieces so the muslin could be basted together. But first, to be a good sewing machine owner, I determined I should oil my trusty and unrusty No. 5.

I popped open the machine to access the metal parts beneath the machine itself. And pop it did. The stretchy drive band I use on it snapped. Pure hell as these stretchy bands need to be melted together with a steady flame, a steady hand, and a lot of patience.

Let’s take a time out. I will not repeat what I said.

Okay. Moving on, the melting of and mending of the drive band for the No. 5 did not take place. Attempted and failed. Thus, I oiled the lovely girl and pondered my options whilst doing so. I finally decided to try, for the second or third time, to install the traditional leather drive band, of which I have several. Historically I have tried and failed each time. To succeed at last required thought. To YouTube for what to do in order for a successful installation. This was my fortunate and happy find – lengthy, wordy, informative.

From there, it was planning and thinking. I needed to cut the leather drive band to the correct length. I needed to make a hole it the other end. Should be easy enough, but past experience showed me that the leather is hard to cut with a pair of ordinary scissors. The hole is hell to make as the rounded band rolls to and fro, escaping as you make the hole. I don’t have a drill I can use without adult supervision. And, accessing the grooved wheel is a bitch to get to. I had to plot. The under carriage of the No. 5 is a tight fit, and I am no longer my svelte and agile younger self.

The under carriage of The Free No. 5 – here the leather drive band is installed. Behind it you can see the drawers that were in the way.

In the end, it was so simple to reach the wheel I was stunned. I pulled out all the drawers on the side of The Free No. 5 to access the drive wheel. Before doing that, I was reaching inside from the knee space. Moving the machine away from the wall helped a bit, but not a lot. Removing the drawers for easy access was amazing. Click on the pictures to read the little captions below each one.

Drive band wheel hidden behind the drawers.

No drawers! If you look at 3:00, you will see the little cut out in the wheel to allow the easy movement of the drive band through the system, from one side to the other.

Next, inserting the drive band to wind it around the wheel to get the correct length. There is a slot in the wheel to help you guide the band around, but I didn’t do that at first. I didn’t think about it, just thought, hmm, interesting. Of course, if the manual mentions it, I don’t know as I didn’t look. Moving on, the drive band got stuck quite tightly where it shouldn’t. I had to pull and tug on it while turning the wheel. In between, I cleaned up the dust behind the machine. At least I had stretched out the drive band as recommended in the above video.

Three choices of drive band – two stretchy ones of different diameters, and one traditional leather drive band, complete with staple for attaching to the other end.

Finally loose, stretched in the machine and across my shoulders as suggested in the video, I reinserted it for the 5th time, using that nifty little groove to guide it from top to bottom and back to the top. I measured, and cut. Then, make the hole needed to join one end of the drive band with the other. A jig of wood and tape to keep the band steady, a hammer, a fine nail. All ready to reinsert, top to bottom to top, and then splice. Again, click on the pictures below to read the nifty little captions below each one.

Tools to nail hole in drive band, with pliers and cutter to make a smooth end.

The jig is up and ready to go! The drive band was taped in place, the nail held steady in my dainty fingers, and slow tapa-tapas of the sledge hammer to nail the drive band to the jig.

My adventure was done. The belt was installed. My dirty floor was a bit cleaner. The splice was beautiful as I had a great pair of pliers to make a smooth cut as well as to press the wire flat into the drive band. All came together as if it were meant to be. It only took about three hours of my day, but I have emerged victorious and well educated on installing a leather drive band on a 110-year-old sewing machine.

Leather queen indeed.

An electric-powered sewing machine would have been easier, but not as much fun.

The Free No. 5 or the Singer 66-1? – Part I

Because The Factory Dress is based on 1920s dress designs, I plan to use either my treadle machine or my 1920 hand crank machine. Both would be appropriate for the time period. Even if electrified, they would be fine, unless you didn’t have electricity. I’ll hand sew when necessary.

I think it would be fun to give some background on both machines. The Free No. 5 is not famous, but the Singer 66 is. If you go to eBay and search “The Free Sewing Machine” you will find a lot of them for sale. Anyway, a treadle machine allows you to use both hands as you sew. With a hand crank machine, the right hand provides the power, not your feet. Today, we will explore a bit about the The Free No. 5 treadle machine.

The Free No. 5 Treadle Sewing Machine

The Free No. 5 is a knock-off of a Singer 127 vibrating shuttle machine. It is a full-sized machine, having an 8″ harp and a vibrating shuttle mechanism. ISMACS has a number of brief articles about the No. 5 and other models made by Free.

This video shows you most of the basic functions of The Free No. 5, even though the blurb under the YouTube video says it is NOT a No. 5, for all intents and purposes, it is. The model “No. 5” is not painted on the head, but the decal pattern is the same ans the No. 5, the sewing cabinet is the same, and so on. If you watch the video, listen to the sound of the machine as it sews – I love it!

I bought my No. 5 about 20 years ago from a gentleman in Billings, Montana. He shipped it freight and it arrived on my doorstep in pristine condition. It was beautiful, and still is. Being new to vintage machines, I did not realize it had a long bobbin. In fact, it was the only long bobbin machine I had ever seen. I thought all sewing machine bobbins were round!! Well, eventually they evolved into roundness, but here I was, perplexed and frustrated. Thanks to the internet, and especially YouTube, I finally learned how to use the vibrating shuttle successfully. Interestingly, one of my closest friends told me she had grown up sewing on this same machine, but the Singer 27 version!

The story behind my No. 5 is, to me, so interesting. This man buys and sells household goods as a living, and this household was a prize. The story itself seems rather incredible. He found a household for sale, upstairs, downstairs, and in the basement. The house was ca. 1920 or earlier, but had been seriously remodeled to the point that new flooring was put in, a trap door about 3’x3′ constructed over the former opening to the basement, and forgotten. Only a skinny person could manage the staircase. In he went to find not only my machine, vintage and pristine and barely used, but also antique Stickley furniture in the same condition. How do you get such items out of a 3’x3′ opening? You take it apart and carry it up the stairs. The story, he said, was this machine was bought for the former owner who hated sewing – into the basement it went. And there it stayed until the 1990s.

My machine has proprietary attachments, but it does take a 15×1 sewing needle – at least there I didn’t get a lemon. I have a bunch of attachments, too, and original long bobbins. The original bobbins are longer than the new ones being made and are quite nice to use. Despite the length differences, the new ones work fine with a few tricks.

To be continued . . . .

The Factory Dress

I thought I was going to hand sew a flapper-style drop-waist dress. The sewing gods are in disagreement, saying yes to the 1920s and no to the flappering.

Several years ago I bought a pattern called The Factory Dress by Merchant and Mills, a British enterprise with designs I really like. There is an elegance to them in their designs that is understated, yet practical, like good-sized pockets! The fabric I chose for this dress is a cotton weave from Japan in a darkish color with white woven rectangles. (I’ll photograph this later.) I cut the whole thing out this afternoon. The question is, should I hand sew it like I was planning, or should I sew it by machine? Something to brood about overnight, as well as whether I should line at least the skirt.

You can find this image on their website, along with some variations. Google “the factory dress” and you will fine even more!

Why a Ham?

Why not a ham?

This video shows you the reasons a tailor’s ham, aka a “pressing ham”, is a useful addition to your sewing (and ironing) wardrobe. I never used one until several years ago when I was on a super sewing binge. That’s when I really tried to improve my slap dash approach to something more sophisticated. While those attempts turned into annoyance, I have found my sewing and pressing aids really add to the pleasure of my sloppy sewing. Things are easier because of the shape of the ham.

And, I still sew, making shirts mostly, but now that I have more time than stress, I do want to make some more sophisticated clothes. Lately I have been wanting to sew a 1920s style dress, and am thinking of either hand stitching the whole thing. I think it would be perfect for summer. The ham will be perfect for anchoring my fabric so I can stitch on my project and put some tension on the fabric. I may also find my ham useful if I decide to master handsewn buttonholes.

But that is for another time, like when I get started on it. And I really should get started on that dress, come to think of it. The solstice is less than 3 weeks away!

Homemade Ham

My life seems to becoming messier and messier since I retired. I have stuff all over the place or put away neatly and unfindable. Over the last three days, I have had appointments taking up the mornings, and then the afternoons have been filled with other things. When my routines are too unsettled, I get unsettled, and it seems like I just disappear. That introvert just evaporates with too many external activities and a sense of identity vanishes with it. Of course, this makes my chaotic retired life even messier. So, today I am determined to go through the house and put things away. Yesterday, though, I needed to make a ham.

Pork ham? Turkey ham?

Nope.

Tailor’s Ham.

Mine is missing, along with my clapper and sleeve roll. Neatly put away in a bag or a box, or out in the 5th dimension, or being hovered over with exquisite care by the Goddess Annoia.

I did a bit of research on patterns. There are actually a lot out there. YouTube has videos and google has oogles of them. Professor Pincushion on YouTube has a pretty good video, as well as a free pattern on their website that I used.

You can find the paper pattern here, but be warned, you do need to sign up for their free account. If you like their stuff, it’s worth it; I have found many useful tips and bits of information in their videos over the years.

Well, let’s begin. For the pattern, I used the one mentioned above. From my stash I found a piece of tightly woven muslin and a piece of tightly woven cotton flannel. Both are 100% cotton. Each piece was about 1/4 yard – just a scrap. Okay, a list:

- 2 pieces of cotton material, one muslin, one flannel, but use what you want – just make sure the fabric can handle high temperatures
- sewing machine
- thread
- hand sewing needle and thread
- filling material for the ham, also capable of high heat. Some recommended fillings are old cotton rags, sand, sawdust, or hamster bedding. (I used sawdust – called “Wood Flour” – which I bought from Amazon)

Easy steps to success!

- Iron fabric.
- Lay out pattern with 1/2 inch margin around it. I traced around the pattern pieces, marking the fabric with pencil.
- Pin the pieces together, right sides together. Sew around, leaving a section about 3-4 inches open for a hole for filling the ham with stuffing. Back stitch by opening, and then run another bead of sewing around the critter. Trim and clip the curves.
- Turn right side out.
- Stuff.
  - I propped the opening to the inside of the ham up with a toilet paper tube, and using a table spoon began shoveling the sawdust into the ham. I felt like I was making goose liver fois gras, which did not feel especially good, but that is what went through my mind. As I filled up the ham, I pounded and shifted the sawdust into place. Toward the end, I used my fingers to push the sawdust in even more, changed to a smaller spoon, and continued. I started at the dining room table, but soon moved outside, donning a medical mask as it was really dusty, and continued the force feeding. Finally, 15 minutes later, nearly all 5 quarts of the “wood flour” was gone, and my ham was fat, happy, and very solid.
- Fold over the opening to the ham and hand stitch it closed.
- Admire your ham.

This was a really simple project. It took a couple of days to get my order in from Amazon, but that was okay. I was too busy to worry about it and figured an afternoon would produce a most satisfying result, which it did. If you look in the photo above, taken by me of course, you can admire my fine ham, toilet paper tube, and vintage Singer 403A sewing machine.