Simply Stitchy

  Hi all, When people find out I sew, I normally get two reactions. The first, total disbelief. Why would anyone want to sew their own clothes? It’s so… provincial.    The second, pure wonder and awe.  This second bunch are the people who express an interest in taking up the hobby themselves. So they ask what equipment they need. Most often it’s what sewing machine they should buy. It’s a tough question for me to answer. Last count, I had eleven, mostly vintage, Singers. Up until I got Grandma, a Singer treadle from 1912, most of my sewing was on Jerome. A Janome from 2004. My requirements for a sewing machine are a bit eclectic and differ depending on which machine is easiest to get to. Or less hassle to use. If you ask me today, I’ll say, “go Jerome!” Mainly because Grandma is being a bleep .  The question of what sewing machine to buy comes up in various sewing related Facebook groups too. All the time. More often than not the 100 ...

Hi all,  If you own or are planning to buy a second hand sewing machine, the chances are you will hear the terms industrial, antique, vintage or even retro as part of the description. The terms can be confusing and even misleading. Especially, if used incorrectly. The words tend to be interchangeable, used as key words or marketing devices to “sell” rather than describe an object accurately. Most of the time, this shortfall is due to a lack of knowledge rather than an attempt to deceive. Sellers often use the term "industrial" to refer to older Singers and other brands with models pre-dating the 1960s. This description is based on the machines being heavy, built from iron and rock solid when you sew on them. This robust sturdiness gives them the persona of being tougher, stronger and more hardworking than today's modern equivalents.  Take this Singer 15-91 from 1952 for example. When I purchased this, I was told it’s a heavy machine, so it must be a heavy-duty...

Hi all, I’ve been spending some quality time with Grandma over the last few weeks. Mostly discovering what makes her tick. Well, it’s more a clicky whir if I’m honest. I have a video of her in action on Instagram . The lighting is a little dark but if you watch with your sound on, you’ll hear the unique sound Grandma makes when she’s ticking over nicely.   It got me thinking about projects to make with her. We’ve already made some face masks but now I’m looking at bigger items. So we can really get some speed going on the treadle wheel. Wouldn’t it be great to make a vintage inspired item on a vintage machine? Ignoring the trench coat and skorts in my to-do pile, I started looking at fashion from the mid 1920s. A time when Grandma would have been approaching her teenage years. The style that caught my attention most was the flapper dress. A flowy, slightly boxy shift dress with a dropped waist and fringe detail. Romantic images of carefree girls kicking thei...

Hi all, Grandma hasn’t seen much action in years so, the first thing I made sure to change was her needle. The one I took out was this one. As you can see, it’s a bit grubby. It's also too long. According to manuals I’ve downloaded for Grandma, she takes a 15x1 needle, the same as most modern day domestic machines. Which isn’t surprising since it was Singer who introduced the 15 class sewing machine. Look at the size difference in this next picture. The size 15 I replaced it with is on the right. At one time Singer was the largest supplier of sewing machines. Their designs for the class 15 were also used by Japan after World War Two. They made Singer 15 Clones as part of the reparations. These clones were sold to retail stores like Sears. Each different store had its own identity mark or badge. So the machines were also known as badged clones. This is a Singer Clone or badged machine. It’s an Aldens and is from the 1950s. Many other sewing machine brands ...