A New Project

My merry band of vintage machines has been growing, and we've reached a critical point -- I really need another treadle. I'd like to get the zig zag machine set up, and I have a mechanical serger (overlocker) that I'd like to try as a treadle too.

I've been searching around locally for something suitable (you do NOT want to pay shipping for a cast iron treadle!), but haven't been having much luck. These things seem to come up in cycles -- either there are many available, or there are none. Luckily for me, fiber pal Margaret has come to my rescue! She has generously given me a treadle stand from her mom's estate -- isn't that nice? It's been outside for a while, but is in pretty good shape for all that. A little online research leads me to believe it's from a Singer model 12 cabinet -- which would date it from some point in the late 1800s -- maybe the 1880s? At any rate, it's older than all of us, so wish me luck getting it all nicely cleaned up and running! I'll need to come up with a table top of some sort, which may be challenging for a gal with no woodworking skills, but we'll cross that bridge later.

There's been some knitting, and a little crocheting, but sadly no photos of that. So how about a little sewing photo?





McCall's 6122 sewn up in a silk dupioni. The fabric was machine washed and dried prior to cutting out, and it seems to have held up just fine. I'm not a big fan of having to dry clean blouses, so hopefully this will allow me to give it a gentle machine wash and hang to dry. The fit was pretty good right out of the envelope -- I think narrowing the shoulder seam was the only tweak I did. The hidden button placket falls a bit low for my taste, but a snap should solve that minor quibble.