Sewing

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.

Mask Maker, Mask Maker, Make Me a Mask!

And sincere apologies to “Fiddler on the Roof”!

I have been trying different cloth mask patterns out. Some are good, some are ridiculous. Some tie behind the head, some have elastics to go behind the ears. I finally made a good cloth mask with ear loops and a slit to insert a filter (Hepa vacuum cleaner bag cutout or even a paper towel works) – that is why yesterday’s post was so funny to me. I have some shoulder issues that make tying things onto the top of my head difficult. I bought some hair elastics and gave them a go since elastic cannot be found. They work pretty good. Depending on the size of the elastic, to loop over the ear, the mask needs to be wider at times. Handing out masks to my neighbors and family is fun and rewarding.

I have given masks to Josh’s parents and to my husband (and me, too), and my friend Mary and her family thus far. Other family members are in line next, and then I have ones to make for some of the neighbors, too. And while sewing, I have also been cycling through my different old sewing machines, and it’s made what could become a tedious task more fun. So far, my Kenmore 90 and my Bernina Sport 801 in red have been enlisted. It’s enjoyable because I haven’t sat down to do a lot of sewing of late – not anything substantial, anyway.

Later this week, I’ll post my favorite patterns and hopefully it will help others out. Meanwhile, stay well!

For Warmer Weather

Sewing projects – summer blouses of 100% cotton are nearly impossible to find these days. Everything has spandex. I hate buying clothes these days because of it – all it does is make me sweaty. I guess it’s time to learn how to make pants, too, because of all that crappy spandex. Or start wearing dresses.

This is another metered image from the Pentax 6×7 on Lomo 100.

I’ve had this stuff lying around. More UFOs. When will I learn?

Hotter Than Hell, So I’m Gonna Sew!

I think it must be about 100F (38C) where I live, so the air conditioning is on and not going out until it is dark. My dogs aren’t mad, nor am I a Brit, so I am staying indoors, drinking water, and prepping the Maggie Shirt . . . and I am sewing it on my vintage Singer 403a,

I think these machines (the Singer 400 series) date from the mid to late 1950s and into the early 60s. Mine is like it was never used. When I bought her, she needed some TLC, heat and oiling, as well as a bit of gear grease, before she was off and sewing. Unused machines freeze up, but once they have been given the right attention, I think they are the best! I’ve had my 403a for awhile, and as I cycle through my machines, she hasn’t been out for a spin in quite some time. Time to put her to work!

There is something to be said for the old Singer sewing machines. They are well made and pretty straightforward. The ingenious attachments are fun to play with and many collectors are nutso for them. I have some, but usually rely on my more modern machines for things like fancy stitches and buttonholes. Nonetheless, this machine is a blast. It has cams for stitch patterns – the #0 cam is required to do a zig zag stitch – as well as straight stitch.

The 403a is a member of the “slant-o-matic” series of machines Singer made. I like the slanted needle – it pushes the needle more into your line of sight. Many newer computerized machines have the needle tucked back under rather fat upper portions, so they are harder to see. Still, that doesn’t act as a deterrent. For the 403a, as it is a slant needle machine, it is important to have the slant-o-matic attachments. The one I have is the professional buttonholer, but I also have numerous feet that came when I got the machine.

Slant needle buttonholer for the 403a.

Cover plate for feed dogs for 403a buttonholer.

Feet, cams, and manual for the 403a.

Click on one of the images to open up the slide show . . .

The first two images are of the buttonholer – just a quick picture, really. The first shows you the box with directions, the second is the feed dog cover plate. The 403a has a rather interesting system to remove the throat plate – it is lifted up by a lever and slid out. The buttonholer cover slides in to its place – kind of complicated until you get the feel for it. The last picture shows you the box of feet and cams that came with the machine. The manual shows you just how unused the whole machine was when I got it.

When I buy an old machine, I want one that I know will work. I like them to look good and to run well. Some people get off on restoring machines, and while I can work on most of my machines for general maintenance, I really don’t find it a lot of fun to try to fix an ugly, rusted, beat up machine that is covered with rust and has electricals of suspect quality. Prima donna, yes!

Finally, here is how I spent a few hours this afternoon. The gauze for the Maggie Shirt is soft and stretchy, as is the characteristic of the critter. It is also very ravelly. Perhaps it is a bit of overkill, but I decided to stay stitch (the straight stitch) all around each piece, and zigzag to finish the edges. I may need to cut out another collar stand as it seems to have gotten a bit warped by all this attention, but I have an extra yard. Never having sewn with gauze, I bought a bit more to play with and to be sure that I didn’t lose so much to shrinkage that I would not be happy.

To be continued!