Nine Patch Quilt Finished!

I picked up the quilt from my long arm quilter, Lori, and it looks great! I chose a slightly variegated cream/ivory thread so it would show up. It's different, but I like the texture and definition it gives.

Picking the binding was a little tough...went through all my "scraps" big enough to give me the straight of grain 2.5" strips that I needed from the fabrics I used in the quilt. I chose a little floral...it's kind of "pinky/purple". To be honest. it was a tough decision to make colorwise. But I can think of worse things to decide on!

Of course, Eva had to come out and play for this. The whole quilt top was sewn with her so it's fitting she come out and sew the binding together and on the quilt. Love working on her with the Sewing Machine Mat and the cute Dresden Plate Spool Pin Doily. 

Sewing the binding was easy: 2.5" on grain strips folded in half and pressed. Seam width is 3/8", sewn right side to right side with raw edges even. I set up the machine with the Seam Cloth Guide set at 3/8".

Each side is sewn up to the next corner, stopping 3/8" from the end and backstitched. Then the binding is folded back at a 45 degree angle....

Then fold the binding down over that 45 degree angle so that the fold is aligned with the quilt edge....

Pin that fold 3/8" down from the quilt edge (and fold) and begin stitching again at that pin, again backstitching. It's so easy to do!  Then comes the hard part of folding the binding over to the back of the quilt and hand stitching it down.

I slugged through hand stitching the binding onto the back of the quilt after machine stitching it to the front. I usually work one side a day. I pretty much finished it in the four days allotted. Yeah!!

Here it is folded up on the table after completing it.

Here's the finished quilt on the old bed. It adds some needed color to this attic room. 

While working on this Nine Patch Quilt I was able to design, sew and write the instructions for another Classic Sewing Magazine article for the Fall 2022 issue. It's safely turned in to them, so now it's time to choose another project. Hmmmmm.....have to go through the UFO box again!

Happy Stitching and Sewing to you!

2022 Sewing & Stitching so far....

 It's now March 2022 and haven't written anything here on the blog....but I HAVE been sewing, stitching, and, designing another quilt. Seems like I get into a mood to make a quilt in January. So here's a run down of the projects I've completed (or almost completed) since the beginning of the year.

"Le Jardin" needle book, a kit and class I took from Wendy Schoen, in 2005. It features goldwork and fine embroidery on silk. It's lovely and another Unfinished Object out of the box!!

A large crochet edge baby blanket made from cute pastel dotted flannel, prepared by machine first with a hemstitch, then crocheted in a shell stitch, was another completed project.

I fell for some flannel at a Joann's for Wee Care preemie blankets, then some Aunt Lydia's #10 yellow cotton crochet from Michael's. One and an eighth yard gave me four squares, prepared again by machine hemstitch for crochet. I'm doing the shell stitch on them....really the only crochet edging I can do. But who cares? It makes a nice edging and a pretty little blanket. Love that I can pick it up and stitch on it anywhere, anytime.

Next up, two Angel Wing Wee Care gowns made from leftover fabric from a long finished UFO... now ready for smocking with some of my Valdani variegated #12 pearl cotton, along with a finished Grady style one.. I like to stitch up the whole gown, with lace trim and pleat it so only the smocking is left to do.

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Another project from my Royal School of Needlework classes a few years ago in Williamsburg, VA, taught by the renowned Jenny Adin-Christie, is a heart sachet. I've been very slowly working on it (as you can see in the photo below). It's very involved and tedious with eyelets, needlelace, entredeux, satin stitches, etc., but I do enjoy whitework!

Eva, my 1947 Featherweight, needed a quilted carrying tote to protect her hard case. I had everything in my stash, except for the straps. I stitched the tote case (and machine quilted it), a sleeve for the folding bed (protects the bed from the screw on the machine face), a velcro cord wrap from scraps and the sewing machine mat from my pattern but with square corners. Whew!! I love the coordinating fabric from Joann's printed with fashionable ladies of the era (about Eva's timeframe). All I left to make is a matching spool pin cover....yeah, I know, it's overkill.

Now the quilt. I have a book, purchased from a thrift store, that is all about scrap quilts ("Quilting with Bits and Pieces". I chose a nine-patch one and cut out a bunch of 2.5" squares, a few each day, from my stash. I changed the design to have a pieced border from all the colors. Each nine-patch block is a different fabric from the stash, as you can see with it hanging over the hand rail. 

The entire quilt top was stitched on Eva: I love it!!  The quilt  is now out for long arm quilting. I can't wait to see it when it's completed and bound. So that's it for now....a little stitching or sewing everyday (even as little as 20 minutes) can accomplish a lot of completed fun projects!

P.S.: I couldn't resist making the spool pin doily. It's another pattern from the Featherweight Shop: so cute!

Singer Folding Table: Finished!

It was easy to put the table back together. I only had to watch out for the left and right brackets that hold the machine in place. They are ever-so-slightly different. Luckily I had taken photos of it all prior to taking the table apart

Painting the legs was interesting. I used a box and wooden dowels to hang the legs on to make it easy to paint.

I did have to stabilize the dowels with painter's tape so they wouldn't tip. I roughed up the paint with steel wool and sanding paper. Then had to wait to let the wind die down so I could spray paint outside using a Rustoleum Black Gloss spray paint with several quick, light coats, then let dry overnight. Then I repeated the procedure. It wasn't the best of jobs, but the legs look good.

After drying for at least a day I reinserted the legs into the hinges. The hinge pins, cleaned and ready to  go along with the painted washers, are long and require two steps to get them back into the hinge.

First tapping the hinge pin with a hammier.....

Then screwing it the rest of the way with a short screwdriver. 

Next on the list of restoration was waxing the legs to give them an extra layer of protection. I used the wax I had from The Featherweight Shop for my 1935 Featherweight. They have a new type for sale now. 

 Look at how beautiful the underside of the table looks!

 But after all of this work I ended up with a problem: one leg flops when supposedly closed.....it looks exactly the same as the others that stay closed when the table is folded up.
Hmmmmm........  I screwed the hinge pin in, no luck. 

I removed the pin and put it back in again. 

I checked the curved washer to make sure it was facing the right way: check. 

But the darned leg still flopped. 

There is a spring on the hinge....The Featherweight Shop suggested the problem might be the spring.
So I compared working springs with the floppy one: no luck so far but I ordered four new springs along with some vintage machine feet the machine did not have. 

I love The Featherweight Shop! Their products are great, they respond to email questions quickly, they're a wealth of knowledge easily tapped - free of course - and they ship quickly. Putting the new spring in was a little difficult because the curled end has to fit under a very tight screw in the hinge. But I was keeping my fingers crossed that this would solve the floppy problem. Soaking the screw with 3-in-1 oil and WD-40 overnight losened it enough to take the screw out, then insert the new spring.

After I installed the hinge pin and put it back together.....the leg still flopped. Darn!

Okay, so I re-examined the 'good' legs, and they did not wiggle back and forth when folded down. The floppy leg did, so that was the problem! Too much room between the leg and the hinge frame. Off to the hardware store to buy some washers same size as the original one (the washer laying on the table bottom below). I inserted the new washer between the leg and the frame closest to the hinge pin top (where the red arrow is pointing)

and YEAH! it worked!!!!

The table is finished...thank goodness!! Here's a photo of it all set up with the 221 Featherweight "Eva" and the feet, some old Singer grease (came with the machine...only for show, not to use), her case and the instructions that came with the machine. She's beautiful!

Incidentally, the instructions that came with her are for a tan Featherweight....wonder what the owner did with the original instructions that came with the machine??

It doesn't really matter to me. The machine sews beautifully, purrs like a kitten, so I'm very happy with both the machine and table. Now on to other projects after finishing the Singer Featherweight Folding Table. Happy stitching to everyone!

Singer Folding Sewing Table: Take 3

The painted black edges and underside of this wonderful vintage Singer Folding Sewing Table, circa 1947, are roughed up and need repair. So I began sanding it all with a fine sanding sponge: love those things! They "squish" to get into corners, and the diagonal edges get into the corners easily. So much easier to get the job done. Next I vacuumed it all down to remove the dust, then wiped it with a damp rag and let it dry. I originally thought I'd have to fill some nicks or deep scratches but found the surface okay after sanding. Glad one job was eliminated! The blog I'm using to do my restoration, "Refinishing a Vintage Featherweight Table" has been invaluable. I purchased the correct paint (Valspar Furniture Latex Paint in black satin) available at big box stores and a really good paint brush.

I painted the underside of the table top and insert first. It didn't take long. The paint goes on looking like flat, deep charcoal paint, but it dries very black and glossy. I let it dry for 24 hours. A couple of drips ran over the already sanded sides, so I had to re-sand those prior to painting them.

Then I flipped the top right side up. Some boxes helped to elevate it to make it easier to paint the edges. I thought I would use some blue painters tape to mask off the veneer edge from the black edges, but no luck: the tape pulled off some of the varnish on the veneer. (Maybe I should have refinished the veneered top??? But our son, Chris, said it had character and to leave it! That was my excuse to leave it.) So I had to very carefully run the paint brush down the rounded edge next to the veneer first, then paint the flat edge, one side at a time.

The table top looks great after drying over night. So today I'm going to install the painted brackets that hold the machine. The center bracket is easy, but the left and right ones are slightly different so I must make sure they are in their correct places. But before I do install them I have to put the Sticky black Velcro onto the flanges that come in contact with the machine since I had to remove the old leather strips.

There are two small brackets and screws that install on the left side of the insert opening that hold the insert in place, but after looking at them I decided they needed to be sanded and painted. I laid the brackets on the plastic container I painted washers on (hence the white rings) inside a box and punched the screws into the box flap. The Rustoleum spray paint is easy to use!

The leg brackets have to be put in next....a whole lot easier than taking the hinges out! Five screws for each one...See how nice the underside looks now?

Singer always identified the various parts with identification numbers and that included the table

and the insert.

Next up on the restoration are the table legs.I can't wait to show you my finished project!!

Singer Folding Sewing Table: Take 2

 I've been working a little every day on the restoration of my 1947 Singer Folding Sewing Table that goes with "Eva", the matching 1947 Featherweight. I have to keep working on it since it's taking up my husband's garage parking spot :) He needs to see progress to know he can park his car in the garage soon....

After removing the clamps from gluing the veneer I added some of the recommended Howard's Feed-N-Wax on the veneer to nourish and rehydrate. Then it was on to taking the table apart piece by piece.

First off was taking the legs off. Not an easy task because there is one screw (of the five) that is behind the folding mechanism and is REALLY hard to get to. I got two of the legs disassembled but had to call in my husband to get the other two off.

I used 3-in-1 oil and WD-40 to loosen up the screws. We succeeded in getting them all off and disassembled. Each group of parts were put into labeled zip bags for easy assembly down the road.

The leg hinges have hinge pins and washers, which I removed and cleaned. The washers were cleaned, de-rusted with some rust removing goop from a big box store, then painted.

Then I cleaned and polished the hinges using really fine steel wool and Nevr-Dull, a metal cleaning polish. The hinges cleaned up nicely. 

Next was removing the 3 metal brackets that actually hold the machine in place. Okay, two came out easily after a little oil soaked in. But the third bracket was a royal pain....it took 3 days of repeated oil and WD-40 applications to finally get one darned screw to budge. Never underestimate the use of lubricants, and a lot of patience, on a very stubborn screw!

Then the dry rotted leather pieces (that the machine rests on) had to be removed and will be replaced with velcro later on.

I steel wooled the brackets down, and used a very fine sanding sponge to prepare them for spray painting. The brackets were washed to remove any sanding debris and then dried in a low oven...yes, you read that right, a very low (140F) oven on a tray lined with a monogramed dish towel. I wanted to make sure no rust  appeared.

 I also prepared the roughed up, stubborn screw: it had to be filed down on the top to get rid of some rough edges, so painting it is necessary. It was also washed and dried with the brackets.

Rustolem Gloss Black spray paint was perfect for these parts, and will be used on the table legs as well. I used a cardboard box with a cardboard packing crate on top to set the brackets on and spray painted them (and the screw).

Two coats on each side and they look like new!

So far, so good. I like working on small parts first, a little every day. Next I'll tackle the black edges of the table top and the underside. Maybe by the weekend I'll have the table finished!

Drunkard's Path Quilt Finish!

It's done. Another UFO is completed. And I can't believe I designed the whole quilt around the vintage purple and white Drunkard's Path squares.

This is my third quilt made and completed in a year and a half thanks to the pandemic. Many, many thanks to wonderful Lori M. who long arm quilted two of the quilts including this last one. She did an outstanding job on the Drunkard's Path Quilt using all different designs to fit the various squares and relate the designs back to the original Drunkard's Path squares.

After getting it back from Lori I brought Eva, my new Featherweight, downstairs to the dining room table (for more room) to sew the French bias I had ready to the quilt edges. Notice the little acrylic square on the needle right: it's an ingenious gadget from The Featherweight Shop, their Adjustable Seam Guide. It's very easy to use and comes with instructions and the screw and washer to set it up to the correct width. I'm using my 6" ruler to measure from needle to the seam guide. 

A French bias is just a bias strip folded and pressed the long way so there is one raw edge and one that is a fold. The raw edge is lined up to the already trimmed and ready (again by Lori) quilt right side raw edge.

Corners are folded up and back down to get the diagonal fold with stitching stopped before the corner and started again after the corner. After it's all sewn on the bias is pressed away from the quilt in readiness for hand stitching it down. 

The bias is folded over the quilt to the quilt back and stitched down, and the corner folds are also stitched both front and back. I sewed one side a day...Love having a goal and knowing when it would be completed!

I'm so happy to have designed this quilt! Another UFO completed, so what next?? Besides working on an embroidery project I could start to tackle the Featherweight Folding Sewing Table....

Happy Stitching!