Petticoats and possibilities - my quest for a capsule wardrobe continues

 Layers!

Hens are great layers.  But even better are clothes layered on top of each other.  It transforms a seasonal outfit into a multi-season extravaganza!  

Winters on the farm are muddy, mucky, bloody, and occasionally snowy.  I do a lot of laundry.  

Come lambing season, I can do two or three loads of laundry a day.  

So I want farm clothes that wash well, like cotton.  Only the problem with cotton is that it's not very warm.  It actually, what's the opposite of warm?  A single layer of cotton is terrible for working outside in the winter because if the cotton gets wet, it chills the human and can cause health issues.  So we could be forgiven for thinking that if a single layer does harm, a lot would do more.  

Layering the clothes creates air gaps that allow the skin to breathe and provide insulation so I can stay outside longer to get things done.  And since I often wear skirts or dresses when working on the farm, I can take my fall and spring cotton skirts and transform them into winter skirts by adding a petticoat or two underneath.  

This matches well with my capsule wardrobe goals. 

My Treasure - Can I repair this waterlogged Singer Featherweight sewing machine?

The amount of water coming out of the box as it was handed to me, reminded me of scenes from a movie where they pull a treasure chest up from the bottom of the ocean.

I admit, I was worried.

As the history of this blog shows, I'm not a stranger to repairing these old machines - be it sewing, typewriter, or other long lost treasure.  'Though, I've never tackled something this decayed before.

Is it repairable?  And am I the person to do it?  

I hope you join me on this journey.    

Some thoughts on vintage sewing machine repair - coming back to it after 10 years

It's been 10 years since I've last worked on a vintage or antique sewing machine.  I actually sold most of my parts (keeping only a few prized machines for myself and some parts machines if they break) and moved on to repairing other things.  I love working with sewing machines, but the truth is, there was very little interest in these beauties and almost no good resources online on how to fix them.

The few sewing machine posts I have on this blog, are some of my best-performing pages.  The interest goes up every year and thanks to the ads on my site, I'm earning between 1 and 5 cents per week from them (not much, but every little bit counts).  It's amazing how much more interest there is now than 10+ years ago when most of them were written.  

A thing happened the other day and I brought home a sewing machine that would, to any sane brain, be considered well and truly beyond repair.  

Guess what?  oh, you guessed.

That's right, I'm going to see if I can repair it.  

I know the worst thing to try to fix is a bad repair, so I'm taking this slow and doing my due diligence.  I'm spending a lot of time with my friends duckduckgo and google to see what new information is out there and WOW!  The interweb is flooded with advice on how to repair and restore vintage sewing machines.  

Most of that advice is horrible!  I know this because I've spent many hours repairing the kind of damage following that advice causes.  

About 5 to 10% of what's on the internet in this area is good advice.  About 50% of what is left is okay, but not going to give the long term life that one wants or cause unnecessary work (most common seems to be removing the shellac or "clear coat" because they mistake it for caked-on oil and grime).  The rest of the advice, I'm not sure if it's well-meaning or written by people who want the value of their machine to go up by destroying the existing machines.... evil laughter. 

So the ratio is about the same but the quantity to shift through is so much more.  

Although I am loving how much of this is on youtube now.  But restoration videos are one of my favourites.  I wish I had a sound safe studio space where I could make some ASMR repair videos for you all, but alas, something to dream about in the future - living in the country is NOISY (tractors, cars, planes, roosters, geese, sheep... )

Anyway, I really like this guy, as he doesn't recommend things I know will damage the machine.  

Some of you have probably already guessed what my new treasure is from the photos.  For the rest of you, all will be revealed as I'm going to document this project on my youtube channel.  

But evaluating the machine, I also notice that I'll need to spend quite a bit more money on this restoration than usual.  It needs new paint, and paint stripper and... I don't even want to think about it yet.  Some of this I can improvise.  Some I cannot.  On the whole, I would be very very lucky if the cost of materials to restore this were less than the final value of the machine.  Also, I might keep it as a forever machine.  I haven't decided yet.  

It's important to me that every hobby be self-funding, so part of this project is looking for creative funding ideas.  Youtube now gives me money for ads (at just under a dollar a day for all my videos, so you can guess how small that is per video).  But I also don't turn on all the advertising features like commercials that show up in the middle of the video.  I can see clicking all the boxes for these sewing machine videos to see if I can the machine to fund its own repair.  

In the photos, some of this is rust, most of it is old grease and oil.  It will be interesting to find out how much of each.

Happy sewing everyone!  

Sewing - the narrow hemmer foot

This last year I've been learning a lot about sewing.

It turns out it takes less time and money to sew my own clothes than it does to try to find something that fits both my style and body.  But sewing means I can make what I want to wear and make it fit.

I do my sewing on my Antique Singer 127 (which is now about 105 years old!).  It's such a kind machine and forgiving.  

One of my favourite feet is the narrow hemmer foot.  It's a bit tricky to use until you figure out that the fabric edge lines up with the edge of the foot before folding over.  Hard to explain, so I made a video:

If you like this sort of thing and want to see more of it, here are some things you can do to support me on my youtube journey.

- go to youtube and give me a thumbs up!  Or even a subscribe!  That would be awesome
- or pop over to my Etsy shop and support me that way.

How to clean a Vintage Singer Sewing Machine, Singer 127

December is a month of holiday celebration   It is also the month I like to give myself a treat and clean, clean, clean.  The goal is to have a tidy living space in time for the beginning of the new year.  I'm not all that fond of the process of cleaning, but I do like a tidy house, even if it never seems to last long.

I'm starting this month off by cleaning my main sewing machine, my Singer 127 treadle.  If I have a chance I might take apart the treadle base later, but for now I'm just giving the machine a check up and tidy.

Please keep in mind, the process to clean an active vintage sewing machine is a little bit different (and a lot easier) than cleaning one that has been in an attic for most of the century.

I'll walk you through my process for cleaning.  Different people do things differently and there is slight variation between machines, but generally any pre 1948 machine follows the same basic process.  Actually, it will work with most pre 1990 machines, but it's always good to check the manual before tampering with the newer machines.

Things you need to clean your vintage sewing machine

• cotton swabs
• good sewing machine oil
• flat head screwdriver
• a used sewing machine needle
• paper towel
• sewing machine

Start at the top and gently wipe any dust off the outside of the machine with a paper towel or tissue and a tiny bit of oil.

From here on in, at each step, check for any signs of wear or metal scraping on metal.  This will appear shinier than the surrounding metal.  Stop!  I said STOP!  A this point and find out why.  Fix it!  then keep going.  If you don't fix it, your machine will break, and then you can't sew on it until you undergo major repair.  

Also, please see the manual specific for your machine for the oil points.

Next, take off the face plate at the front end of the machine.  Remove any lint or excess oil that has gathered inside during the year (or longer).  Generously oil the needle post (the thing that goes up and down with the needle on the end) and any moving parts you can see.

Also oil at the top of the needle post thingy.

At the front of the machine there is a trapezoid plate.  Some machines have an opening at the back instead.  Some have both.

Open it up, remove any lint or visible puddles of oil.  Lubricate any moving parts and inside the grove (it's kind of hard to see, but if you turn the crank wheel slowly the same direction you would normally sew in, you can see it.

While we are at the front of the machine, clean any lint and oil your bobbin winder.

At the back of the machine is a circular plate, like everything else, clean any visible puddles of oil (there really shouldn't be any here as they only tend to form in the first two.  Oil where it says to oil in your manual (or anywhere things move).

Place a drop of oil in each of the holes at the top of the machine.

Now it's time to clean the bobbin area and the feed dogs.  This place tends to get linty fast.  I find that the used sewing machine needle tends to be excellent for fishing lint out of those hard to reach places.  Check your manual if your machine differs from mine.

Remove the plates, bobbin and if applicable bobbin casing  clean out any visible lint.  Make sure the feed dogs are happy and don't have any obvious damage.  Check to see if there are any needle marks in teh feed dog plate - this is a sign that you are doing something wrong (either using bent needles or tugging at the fabric) or that your machine is royally F-ed up.  Preferably the former.  

Do not oil or put this part back together yet.  Instead, disengage the treadle band and turn your machine on it's back so you can see underneath.

Clean all the lint you can find. Oil according to the manual (or one drop on each moving spot).

Put machine right way up and check again for lint (there is bound to be more that didn't show up the first time).

Oil the racier track and anywhere else that it tells you to in the manual.

Remove the bobbin from the shuttle and take the shuttle apart   Check for burs or anywhere that might snag the thread.  Clean and wipe down with a paper towel that has sewing machine oil on it.  Use a cotton swab to clean the inside of the shuttle, especially the bottom.  Place one very, very small drop of oil in the bottom of the shuttle and reassemble.  

Check for signs of wear on the outside of the shuttle - for example where the needle might be hitting it or it might be rubbing on the racer track too much.  This is a sign that things need adjusting.

Get some scrap fabric and thread.  Sew a whole bunch of stitches.  It will get the fabric oily, so make sure you use scrap.  Adjust the tension as necessary.

This takes me about 20 min if I don't keep stopping to snap photos for my blog ;) however, on a machine that isn't used very often or properly maintained, this task can take hours or even weeks to acomplish.

"IT WORKS!" Dances about the farm, in an over enthusiastic manner humming a little song about, "IT WORKS"

I've been tinkering away at my latest slightly steampunk mystery project where I convert an old (non-restoreable) vintage sewing machine into an Other-machine.  Well, last night - rather late last night - finally finished modifying a piece of perspex and put it into place.  I now have a fully functioning other-machine.  Photos to come later, once I've finished decorating it.

Now, how to decorate it?  I still have to install the cooling system.  I'm also thinking of installing a clock (clocks are pretty standard for steampunk) - but I'm tempted to install a radio instead.  I have this gaping hole to fill you see, and adding leavers, nobs, or other decorations that don't do anything doesn't really strike my fancy.

Yes, I know I've been remiss with my blog, my zine, my etsy shop, my online presence in general.  But I figured you didn't want to hear me moping about deaths of Cockylocky and Chicken little, the epic battle of the rose that went on in the household - and still isn't over I think - Talk about projection and deflected anger (some of it mine I'm sure, but from my point of view I care for the roses daily, it wasn't the first bloom or the only blossom on the bush, I just wanted on little flower for my room, there was no need to yell at me... never mind).  And then there is today's battle: trying to teach a professional cleaner how to clean efficiently without chemicals.  A box of borax lasts 8 to 14 months, not 2 hours!  This week, since reading instructions is obviously not working, I've tried repackaging the materials to look more like store bought chemicals and hidden the ingredients for making more.  See how that goes.

For those of you waiting for the next Crowing Hen Guide.  Inspire me!  What do you want to hear about?  Over view of natural cleaning materials and a few recipes for your house?  A treatise on composting?  How to rid your roses of aphids and black spot in under a week WITHOUT using those nasty chemicals?  How to clean and oil a vintage sewing machine?  An in-depth discussion (okay, monologue) on how to clean floors using natural products - many of which are already in your pantry?  

I'm overwhelmed with things I want to write about that I'm having trouble just sitting down and getting started.  I really don't know if anyone's interested in these things.  Am I just writing them to stop bending the ear of every poor chap that chooses our driveway to turn their car around in?

The steampunk vintages Singer sewing machine mystery project

Take a couple of broken sewing machines, some stuff found in the back of the workshop and a bit of creativity, and you get something that looks suspiciously like a science fiction ray gun.

I assure you, it's really not.  It's completely designed for function, the fact that it looks awesome is just a side effect.

Think cutting rather than shooting.  This is for the nether regions of my currant mystery project where I transform a damaged vintage Singer sewing machine into something a little bit different, yet highly functional.

Yet another sewing machine, steampunk mystery project.

I spent a good chunk of the day - when I wasn't wrestling llamas or tending first aid to llama related injuries -  dismantling a Singer 15 sewing machine for yet another steampunk mystery project.

The project involves this machine, or what's left of it, plus a table, saw blade, and some decoration.  

I'll tell you what, this machine is a thousand times easier to deal with than that 1970s Brother I was dealing with last month.  I have yet another box overflowing with spare parts for future steampunk projects.  How many parts boxes does a girl need I wonder.

Changing the function of this from sewing machine to other-machine (that's the mystery part of the project) is going to be relatively easy.  What's going to be difficult for me is the decoration aspect.  It's not steampunk unless it has copper pipes, some gizmo's, dials, maybe a touch of leather.  I don't know if I'm lucky that I'm starting with something already reminiscent of the Victorian age, or if that just makes it more difficult to decorate.  

I don't think this is going to be the ultra-decorative Steampunk object of the upper class adventurer.  Rather, I suspect this is going to be more Frontier Steampunk.  I am in Canada after all - the New World.  Something utilitarian made from cast off and recycled parts, with a little bit of whimsical flare to it.  Sounds about right.

For inspiration sake: if you were to decorate a machine head in a steampunk fashion, what would you do?

Steampunk sewing machine - in search of ideas

I've been wondering how to steampunk (yes, apparently it is a verb now) an old sewing machine.

Although this machine could be made to work, it has too much damage to the outside to be worth anything even if it did work.  It's a Singer 15 built in 1948, and is just about perfect for this project.

These old Singer machines already have the look of cutting edge Victorian technology (oh wait, that's exactly what they are) but I'm wondering if there is something more that could be done to expand on that.

The technology aspect of Steampunk, to me, is about taking disused items (junk) and repurposeing into something creative and useful.

There are basically three things I could do to make this more Steampunk.

1. I could just glue some gears on it and call it steampunk. (click the link to see why that's not acceptable -  wonder where I can buy the album?) 
2. I could change what drives the machine.  I've read once about a fictional steam powered home sewing machine.  Or I could make it solar/battery powered (not very retro-futuristic) perhaps a Stirling engine hooked up to an old sewing machine motor turned generator connected to a hidden battery.  Boy that would be heavy.  Foot treadle, hand crank, and electric have already been done.
3. or I could transform it's use from sewing machine to something else, then decorate it.

But what to do, what to do?

How to transform this machine into something that is creative, beautiful and teaches me something new about mechanical devices?

What would you do if you wanted turn a sewing machine into something Steampunk?  What creative ideas spring to mind?