treadle woes, and a fix!

I have been happily sewing away on my treadle since returning from the TOGA last month.

 I finished piecing my strawberry coins quilt and then loaded it onto my quilter. After finishing the quilting I was ready to sew on the binding... but my treadle had other ideas   :(

For some reason the thread was not being picked up to form a proper stitch and I kept getting "birdnests" on the back of my quilt.

The thread on the right is the first loop that is supposed to pull up to form a stitch.  The middle thread is the bobbin thread.  The thread on the right is the next loop coming to form the next stitch.

I did some investigating and found that periodically a loop would not be picked up to form a stitch... then the second loop would come by and grab that loop, form a stitch and form the "birdsnest" with the first loop.  I figured out what was wrong, but had no idea why it was happening.

I logged onto the internet and the facebook  TreadleQuilters group and posted about my problem asking for help.   I had many suggestions.... 

Rethread the machine properly... I unthreaded and rethreaded being extra careful to make sure I didn't miss a step

Change the needle.... I first had to search and find all the different needles I had in stock and then needed a lesson on needle types and sizes before finding the correct one.

Clean the tension disks...I folded and ran a dollar bill between the disks to clear out any potential lint or stray threads.

Adjust the tension...  I turned the knob left, I turned the knob right... but nothing worked.  The stitches would not form propperly!

I was getting totally frustrated!   

Then the group moderator logged on and suggested that I clean the feed-dog area.

So I took off the needle plate, brushed out the little bit of lint that was in there.  And for good measure I loosened the belt, tipped the head back and brushed out a few specs of lint from the the underside also.  And while I was there, I oiled all the moving parts too!  I put everything back together and...

HALLELUJIA!  she was sewing properly again!  It is amazing that a little speck of lint... no bigger than a pin head, could cause so much trouble!

So now my binding is sewed on and I will finish the handstitching on it while watching tv this weekend.

Thank goodness for the internet!  I don't know how we survived without it!

Celtic Solstice Link-up

For the past several weeks Bonnie Hunter has hosted a link-up where everyone who is working on her most recent mystery, Celtic Solstice, can link their own blogpost  to Bonnie's and we can all share our progress.     I am amazed at the number of quilters who have been able to keep up with the mystery steps and have finished their quilts!  

I, for one, am way behind.... and I know there are others who may or may not link up.  This holiday season has just been to busy for me to barely begin working on this king size quilt, much less finish it. But, I am happy with the progress I have accomplished  thus far.  Progress is progress... no matter how much or little you have made.

I quit cutting those blue triangle pairs when I lost count, somewhere after 300.  I began stitching the 3.5 inch blocks together, but added a little twist to the challenge for myself...   

I am using my 1921 Singer Red-Eye treadle to sew this project!  I've had her for a while, sitting and looking beautiful in my quilting room; but I have never sewn on her.  I've watched Bonnie treadle away on Quiltcam and decided it was time to put her to work.

I used Bonnie's seam guide and a hotel key card to mark my quarter inch and got started.  I've had a few problems lining up the triangles properly to make the blocks end up the correct size.   I discovered that the flannel shirts I used are fraying a bit on the edges and that little nick on the blue triangle that is to be used to line up the fabrics is a bit fuzzy and difficult to line up with some of the fabrics.  I also discovered that some of these flannels are a bit stretchy and don't sew as nicely as I would like.  

I'm glad I didn't jump in and just sew through the whole stack, sewing all 300 on one side then the next.  I did a few at a time and checked them for size.  I had to do a lot of frogging  and restitching at first, but now I believe I have figured out how to line these things up and am making some progress. 

I've completed 100 of them so far... half white and half orange.  Now that the quilt has been revealed and I know the white ones are for the block and the orange are for the border, I've decided to sew just the white ones for now so that I can move on to the next step and work toward getting some blocks made.  I'll finish the orange ones later when I am ready to add the border on the quilt.  

I am really enjoying sewing on my treadle.  There's a rhythm to working on her and I love the sound of her beat.   I've got the added bonus of a bit of exercise as a treadle along.... maybe I will treadle away a few extra pounds this year as I complete my projects!

Be sure to check out the other bloggers and their progess here on Bonnie's blog:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/01/mystery-monday-link-up-part-6.html

Treadle

 I'm getting ready for the new mystery and since Bonnie loves antique machines I have decided to do some practice stitching on my treadle.
 

According to the serial number she was made in 1921! The stitches are beautifully even for such an old girl! 

I can't wait to get my camera back from the shop so I can get some better pictures to show you.   

Now I need to develop some coordination skills if I am going to use this for the mystery.  Going to practice this week with some mindless stitching of strips.  We'll see what I end up doing with them later.


 

Treadling

 
Last night I was watching Bonnie treadling away on Quiltcam and she was talking about her "Red Eye".  I have recently re-organized/arranged my sewing room (again!) and un-burried my treadle.

I was yard sale shopping a few years ago and picked up this gorgeous Singer "Redeye".  The grandmother I bought it from had sewn on it "for ages" but age and health problems left her unable to continue to do so.  Sadly, none of her children or grandchildren were interested in acquiring it or learning to sew.... That has worked out just fine for me!

The serial number G8546689 indicates that it was made in 1921.... a A Singer 66.

Looking on the internet I have found the decal pattern may originally have been called "Scroll (red)".  But the common names for it are "Red Head" or "Red Eye" due to the red eye-shaped design in the decal decoration.



It is in excellent shape for a 92 year old!  They sure don't build them like this anymore!

Some other general information I was able to copy off the internet:

The Singer 66 sewing machine produces a near perfect stitch. When sewing well the 66 will out-sew nearly any modern machine through a huge variety of fabrics from linen to lace, horse blankets to buckram. It is simply near perfect engineering but this came at a price. A Singer 66 was one of the most expensive sewing machines on the market costing several months wages.  Most sewers would opt for the smaller twin, the Singer 99, but for those professional sewers who wanted more foot clearance and space the Singer 66 was the queen. Expensive but simply the best.

The 66 arrived after nearly half a century of improvements and developments.The mass produced machine was introduced around 1900 and used the smooth oscillating hook. The hook mounted horizontally allowed the bobbin to be simply dropped into the machine. The simplicity of threading and perfection of stitch made the 66 an instant best seller. The high-arm clearance and sewing ability was second to none.

It ran from the 1900 right up until the model was superseded by the amazing Singer 201 in 1939. The Singer 201 was possibly the finest Singer ever produced. The smaller stable-mate to the Singer 66 was the Singer 99 identical except for size.

The British Singer 66's were adorned with three different decals. Firstly the Lotus petal; then came the Sphinx which was also used on the Singer 15k and a few other shuttle models. In America the red-eye pattern stayed with the machine whereas in Britain the Singer 66 had three decal changes.

The Singer "Red Eye" gets its name from the beautiful lenticular design used throughout its decoration. Several other machines earn names from their embellishments such as the Sphinx, Lotus, Memphis, Egyptian, etc.

Bonnie suggested starting with string blocks when learning to treadle... no need for perfect 1/4 inch seams....that is exactly what I plan to do.  I have a bag of gifted strings that need to be sewn!  

I'll need to research how to oil and clean her up a bit first; but hope to be ready to sew on her by the time Bonnie returns for the next Quiltcam.