Made in Japan

 When I learned that some Singer machines were made in Japan after WWII, I started my hunt for a Singer from Japan. I didn't want a cloned Singer. Why? Because I spent four years living in Tokyo in the early 1990s, and I have such wonderful memories of the time spent there.  And I love vintage Singer sewing machines!  Well to my surprise, this week a Singer 224 was posted on CL.  They posted it as a Singer 401, but I knew that it wasn't a 401. At first, I couldn't identify the machine since the Singer 224 machines are rare in the States.

The Singer 224 are designed to be treadled, takes 15x1 needles, and takes the flat cams for the decorative stitching.  No need to bypass a motor to treadle this machine like I have done with my Singer 328 or my Necchi Supernova Ultra.  This machine treadles so smoothly!  Cabinet has the look of duct tape attack, but that should clean up.

Go'in Fishing

I recently participated in a group quilt project on the Quilting Board.  I have been a follower of the Vintage Machine thread on QB for about two years now.  Some of us are regular chatters and enablers. There is a member, Glenn, who is very knowledgeable on restoring antique furniture. He is retired now and likes to collects vintage sewing machines which he uses to make quilts. Oh, and he  loves to fish!  He has helped many of us in cleaning and restoring our dilapidated vintage sewing cabinets by posting tutorials on the QB site.  Well, a couple of gals decided that we should surprise him with a quilt with the theme of fishing since he is always going on fishing trips.  Those that had the time could submit a square with a fishing theme. 

Well, of course I jumped right in on this project! I made kissing fish after reading the post from one gal, Charlee, thanking Glenn with hugs and kisses for helping her out on cleaning up a badly damaged cabinet.  I used my Eldredge Two Spools for the piecing and the Necchi Supernova for the fish hook, eyes, and stitching on the tail. I signed it with my signature name on QB, VintageMotif.
 

Here is a photo of the finished quilt.  Nancy, who I have met numerous times at the Gold Country TOGA, did the piecing of all the squares and the quilting.  She did a beautiful job with her selection of fabrics and the quilting.  The contributors are from three countries, England, Canada, and USA.  Oh, and I have also met three of the contributors in person at the GCTOGA.  It is nice to see their works since I have only gotten to see some of their vintage machines, but no sewing projects.

And here is surprised and happy Glenn with quilt.

This was my first group quilt project. It is so rewarding to bring such happiness to someone!

Summertime

Summertime is here! School has official ended! And I'm giving up on making my on clothes! That Jalie 3131 bra looks nice and was easy to sew following the tutorial, but I don't like the fit of that bra either. I wish it were the 60's so that I could just burn the dang things...but it isn't.

So, my  next focus will be on the quilt for the hammock and gardening projects.
Here are the fabrics and blocks for the front of the quilt.

And here are fabrics and blocks for the back of the quilt.

Summertime Pants

Finished my comfy pants in time for summer!!

A peek inside the pocket.  I love lining the pockets of my pants with different fabrics.  This time, I selected a lining fabric close to the weight and colors of the pants.

 Now, back to bra making; the pattern came in.

Design

Odd things happen when the weather turns hot.  I swore that I wouldn't be making any clothes for a very long time. The focus would be on designing and sewing a summertime quilt for my hammock. I would relax on the hammock and do some reading this summer.

Well,  I got sidetrack looking through the photos on Pattern Review.  I started reading about bra making, and then I found myself purchasing materials to make a bra. Curiosity just got to me; could I construct a bra. I even purchased the Kwik Sew 3594 pattern and made a comfy bra that I didn't like since it has those nasty seams runner through center and that show through clothing. Sorry, you will just have to trust me on this since no bras will be posted on my blog. So what did I do next,  I ordered the Jalie 3131 bra pattern.  That's right, I'm going to make another bra, but without those nasty seams. Why? Because I'm nuts, and the weather has fried my brain...nope, I just want a comfy bra the fits correctly and isn't padded. 

So while waiting for the pattern to arrive in the mail, am I making the quilt for the hammock? Nope! I'm sewing more clothes.  I decided to make a wide leg pair of pants out of light weight fabric.  I have noticed numerous folks making wide leg pants for summer. Years ago, I made the McCall's 5592 wide leg jeans which were funky and comfy.  I no longer have those pants, but I still do own the pattern.  Today, I took my coupons to JoAnn's Fabrics, purchased fabric and notions, and spent the rest of the evening designing the back pockets.  I had fun testing out different decorative stitches from the Necchi. This is what I came up with for my design.

The white tailor chalk lines remaining will be the thick, white, decorative lines like the long black line, and a thin, straight stitch line in black will be close to the edge.  Those lines are added while stitching back pocket to back of pants.

Moving On

I went looking for a pretty white purse to go with my two dresses that I made for summer wear.
I found the purse, and I also discovered hundreds of dresses on sale.  I didn't purchase any.  I just had fun looking at designs and fabrics. With the price of patterns and fabrics and the time to make all the alterations, it's just not worth all that hassle- at least not for me. Yes, I can still sew my own clothes; I had my fun!  BUT, I prefer making quilts. So, I'm taking a break to enjoy my garden for a bit.  Happy Mother's Day! 

I Love Lucy...

This dress reminds me of one of the dresses that Lucy would wear.  It's comfy! I just got finished making the buttonholes with my vintage buttonholer and sewing on the buttons tonight. The dress was made using the National Two Spools for the seams and the Singer 201 for top stitching, buttonholes, and hem.  There was once a time that I would cringe at the thought of lining up and making more than one buttonhole.  Those days are long gone since discovering how easily all of that can be done by using a vintage buttonholer.  Following the well written directions on using the buttonholer gadget has lots to do with my success!

Top stitching with the Singer 201 is fun to do also!  The Singer 201 makes some of the prettiest stitches.

I had fun using a different lace than the hem lacing that I normally use.

This dress is McCall's 5636, and directions to pattern were easy to follow.  First time for me using seersucker material. Would I make this pattern again? YES! Would I use seersucker again? YES!

It's PINK!

When I first saw the fabric in the store, my thoughts were a splash of Spring.  Well of course I purchased the fabric even though I'm not a huge fan of pink. I just wanted that Spring garden look, and I needed a pattern that would work with the large flowery pattern.  So, I found McCalls 6554 that looks comfy and airy. The size chart calls for me to use size 16 since my breast measurement is 38. But wait... I'm not a size 16 nor do I have big breast.  Even though I have very broad shoulders and bodice area, my breasts are small. This is the frustrating part of using patterns for me, finding the correct measurements and making the alterations to the pattern. Well it was trial and error in the beginning getting the correct fitting. I made my muslin trial of the bodice, and called it close enough to go with my silky rayon fabric.  After many alternations to the bodice, I was able to sew the skirt part of dress on, add bodice lining, and hem.  Best part of dress is the pockets!  It's comfy! Looks huge here in photo, but it's comfy and pink!

Egg Noodles

It was a cloudy day with occasional light rain.  I made my yummy chicken noodle soup and homemade egg noodles to warm me up.

The 1 Hour Dress

...more like the two day dress.  Reading the small hint on pattern package would have clued me into the fact that it takes more than an hour.

I decided to make myself a couple of dresses for summer.  This is McCall's 9172, which states the "1 Hour Dress*".  I just get a kick out of McCall's use of the *.  Their way of sneaking in the important footnote at bottom that reads," sewing machine time only".   Well, this might be true once alternations have been made on muslin, but this dress from start to finish took me two days.  It took me a day for laying out the pattern, cutting, sewing, and altering; and a second day for the hemming, making thread loop for button, and sewing on button. Heck, just to get the thread loop for button correct took over an hour.  The dress is easy to make and comfy to wear.  It looks great on the mannequin since the mannequin's waste is smaller than mine and bust is larger than mine. Well, I'm no spring chick anymore, and I don't notch my belt like seen in picture, but this dress works for me.