Last week I posted this photo of my husband's ingenious bit of handiwork to provide me with extra work surface behind the treadle machine. It can't really be referred to as a table because having only one leg, it can't take any real weight, but it is more than adequate for the weight of sewing work and general light clutter.
Space is tight in my sewing corner, so when I don't need the extra surface the machine can be pushed to about three and a half inches from the wall.
When I want to work with the machine, I pull it away from the wall, revealing the large wooden flap.
It hangs from two 3 inch hinges.
When the flap is extended the edges of the hinges are flush with the surface.
The edge of the flap is just over two and three quarters of an inch from the wall.
Underneath is a gate leg, which is hinged to an upright piece of wood which is screwed to the wall.
When the flap is down the opposite end of the gate leg folds against the wall next to the other hinge.
On the underneath of the flap is a stopper for the top of the gate leg to rest against. Ignore the notch at the top right of the gate leg. It shouldn't be there, but it is, and it doesn't matter.
And finally, the toddler's-eye view of the underneath. The gate leg has a caster, so it is easy to pull into position. So if you need a work surface but have very little room to spare, you might have room for a gate-legged flap. There is plenty of room now for me to do free motion quilting without my work bashing against the wall and making me go crooked.
After having such a good time making the scrappy cot quilt last month, I have made another, just finished this afternoon. The fabrics in the centre are mainly shades of red and blue, mostly florals, not of themselves what you might first think of as being ideal for a cot quilt.
Once this vintage style nursery print was on around the border the whole thing just looked a whole lot pinker. The toys hanging out their washing are just hilarious.
Luckily I found variegated quilting thread in red, blue and neutral shades, perfect for the centre panel. I used a different thread for the border.
It is always interesting to see how the colours work with each other. I love the way the blue hexagon on the rectangle of patchwork print just seems to float. Also, in this picture four of the fabrics date back to the late 70s or early 80s. I am gradually using them up.
To make this quilt I used three machines, the 1945 Singer 15K treadle for the quilting, the 1949 hand machine for some of the strips (the ones with lots of seams to feed through) and the binding, and the 1936 201K treadle for the rest of the strips , as shown on last week's video.
Welcome to Lorna McMahon and Martha Murphy, the latest followers - thank you for joining! Lots more projects to see at the links... Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuationfor Needle and Thread Thursday and Sarah's blog Confessions of a Fabric Addictfor Whoop Whoop Friday and M-R's blog Quilt Mattersfor TGIFF andLeah Day's blogfor Free Motion Friday
Having enjoyed making the scrappy cot quilt so much, I have started another. This one will not be quite so scrappy because I am limiting the colour range, using mainly reds, blues, pinks and neutrals. The little daisies on red are just delightful. The 201K treadle has been being slightly neglected, so I have decided to give it a decent run on this project. There is nothing too complicated to do - put the seam guide on the machine and then just make panels out of strips, cut across them to make stripy strips, and join them together as a cot top with yet more plain strips in between... Making it up as I go along, in other words.
Once I got started with the 201K treadle yesterday it took me slightly by surprise. I had forgotten how smoothly it runs. Here is a little video so you can all share in the pleasure. I can't believe I didn't knock the camera - it was just sitting at the front on the machine getting in the way.
Welcome to Blondie, the latest follower - thank you for joining! Linking up today with Lee's blog Freshly Piecedfor WIP Wednesday and also Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuationfor Needle and thread Thursday
I tried to stop the treadle belt slipping, but I still couldn't get up to full speed on my Singer 201K. It ran well for a while, then slowly but surely, the belt started slipping again. The problem has now been solved. My bro in law has been staying with us and he fixed it in about five minutes. He had a pair of pliers ready to open the metal staple that joins the belt, so he could cut the belt down by about half an inch. He had the awl ready to make a new hole in the leather. My contribution to the whole operation was to put the clothes pegs over the belt to stop it dropping through underneath as soon as it was cut. Then I disappeared out of the house and left him to it. When I came home later the belt was fixed and turning the machine beautifully. No more slipping!
The illustrations are from the October 1942 issue of Woodworker magazine. I've seen pictures of treadles with wooden legs before and wondered why they hadn't got the standard iron legs. Now I know why - over-enthusiasm in the DIY department. Wooden legs were considered more modern and a way of increasing the value of the machine. I can't believe they could ever have been as stable or as long lasting as the original iron legs. Welcome to the latest follower, ok4now2000 - thank you for following!
Ten panels are now completed, and this is one of my favourite fabrics of the fat quarters that I have quilted this week. It goes really well with the panels I did last week. Pretty and delicate, and especially important when doing free motion quilting, I can see where I have already been.
It wasn't so easy with this darker floral piece. I have learnt that with a pattern I need to quilt in daylight rather than using artificial light. I have an anglepoise lamp shining down from the windowsill just above me when I am treadling, so I can quilt paler, less busy fabrics in the evenings.
This blue material was a complete pig to work with, even in natural light. You can barely see the quilting on the right side because it blends in so well. Hence the close-up.
This is the back of the blue panel.
The first nine panels turned out fine. I waited until the tenth panel to make a complete and utter dog's dinner of it. Some seriously bad and nasty rumpling had been going on underneath. All carrying on from yesterday's botch job biscuits, I suppose. It's because I have been using brushed cotton for the backing and it doesn't glide so easily. I am determined to be blasé and not grumpy about it. I intend to cut the panel into four smaller pieces, and these rumples fall where I shall be cutting. I'll fudge the quilting into passable shape when I do the cutting. This post is being linked to Leah Day's free motion quilting blog so you can follow the links and see what wonderful work is being done by some jolly clever quilters. Special thanks to Mary Ellen, Laura Jean and Marianne for being so sweet about the dodgy looking biscuits. I will have another go sooner rather than later. Welcome to the latest follower, Sheree Isola. Thank you for joining!
Some things you just have to practise, so this week I decided to start using all the cheap and cheerful fat quarters I have stashed in my cupboard. So far, all the free motion quilting I have done has been the same pattern, the meandering infill. It was time to try something else. As well as having lots of fat quarters in pretty cotton poplins, I have yards and yards of brushed cotton, left by my sister-in-law's mother. She was a great one for making nighties and pyjamas for her grandchildren. I have been making quilted panels with the fat quarters backed with brushed cotton. The wadding is polyester. This is a very economical project, and by the end of it I'm hoping to be confident with a range of patterns to use on my posher, more expensive projects. Here are some views of the back of the panels:-
This one I started in the centre and worked out.
With this one I tried to keep the lines wavy.
This one looks like contour lines on a map. O-Level geography and all those Ordnance Survey maps came flooding back to me.
Here is the front of the same panel.
I am going to cut each panel into four rectangles and make a bedspread for my daughter. She is already looking forward to it, and particularly likes these strawberries.
This post has been liked to the Celtic Thistle Stitches blog, so you can visit other blogs where people have been trying out something new this month. Plenty of inspiration and ideas there! Welcome to four new followers today - Bea, MQuilter, Nancy and Sylvia. Thank you for joining!
It comes in a handy little tin from the music shop and costs less than three quid.
It looks like barley sugar but tastes nothing like it. I know. I tried it when I was little. If it stops violin bows sliding across the strings when they get greasy, it can do much the same for leather belts when they slip on treadle wheels. The 201K treadle was a bit sluggish. The machine was well oiled and turning well, and so was the treadle wheel. The problem was the belt. I was assuming it was too slack because it had stretched with age, but it didn't seem any great deal slacker than the belt on the 15K, which goes like the clappers. I knew if I tried to shorten the belt I would probably end up needing a new one anyway, so I tried the easy option. I gave the treadle wheel a thorough wiping, to make sure there was no oil in the groove, and then ran the wheel with the rosin scraping on the rims of the groove. The rosin dust has made all the difference. The treadle belt is now gripping, and I can run the machine fast enough for the needle to become a blur, which I just couldn't do beforehand. Helen Howes has a good page of advice about treadle belts on her website. It is well worth reading.
Here is the latest machine, a beautiful Singer 201K treadle manufactured in 1936. I had a devil of a job trying to get decent pictures today - poor light, reflections, etc. etc., but I'm sure you get the general idea...
The only job I have left to do is to get a new treadle belt. The old belt on it is a bit stretched and keeps slipping.
The easiest way to spot a 201 is to look at the spool pin. There should be a long, round-ended metal plate beneath the spool pin, which has holes in for oiling.
The needlebar comes down from inside a steel tube.
The needle has to be threaded from right to left, and the needle is set into the needle clamp with the flat side to the left.
And here is a nice loving arty shot of the needle reflected in the plate underneath. It is time I concentrated on my sewing.
Surprising what can be done with a straight stitch machine. I thought you might like to see my first ever zigzagging (excluding five traumatic minutes with an electric horror at school in the 1960s). It was done on the 15K treadle and looks rather like the printout from a seismograph. This is not the beginning of a conversion. I shall always be strictly a straight stitch girl, but a bit of decorative stitching won't go amiss once in a while. Expect some interesting pictures on Monday. In the meantime perhaps I shall manage to get a bit more practice. Welcome to the two new followers, Erin Tucker and Missy. Thank you for joining!
When treadling, you spend 99.99 percent of the time looking straight ahead and concentrating on the stitching. However, for the occasional split second you need to cast a quick glance at the wheel. When pausing or starting you need to make sure the wheel never turns in the wrong direction. You can't always guarantee you can get your right hand to the wheel quick enough, so looking out of the corner of your eye is essential.
Keeping your feet dead still when not stitching is pretty important too. It's all on the video!
This intriguing figure is on the bed of the Serata Treadle.
He also appears on the front and back of the machine. When I posted pictures of this machine on the Quilting Board forum I asked for suggestions as to who it might be. The best answer was Hammurabi. After that I spent ages looking through pictures on the internet of Assyrian kings. I ended up deciding that it was Sargon II. It's as good a guess as any. Whoever he is he must be very wise, sitting on that owl. I emailed the Stoewer Museum to see if they knew. Unfortunately they didn't, but I did find out that this decal doesn't crop up much in Germany, so it seems that they may have put this design on machines intended for export. The Egyptian sphinxes were a very popular design, appearing on Singer and Frister and Rossmann machines, and are very sought after today, but I prefer the Assyrian style on this machine. Update 30th April 2013 - I was delighted today to receive a comment from Assyria, who has identified the king as Ashurnasirpal II . Although both relief portraits are highly stylised, the king on the machine bears more similarities to Ashurnasirpal II than he does to Sargon II. I knew that someone, somewhere, would recognise the king, but it came as a great surprise to receive the message today. Thank you Assyria!
A beautiful treadle, manufactured in 1913 by Bernhard Stoewer in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland).
It has a lovely dainty look about it.
Even with the cover on it looks pretty. When I bought it I emailed the Stoewer Museum and they confirmed that the serial number dated the machine to 1913. But of course, I don't love it just because it's a delight to look at, but also because it runs like a train. A big welcome to Meg, the first new follower for the New Year!
Free motion work is a bit of a leap into the unknown. Not only do you have to get used to the fact that the machine can work in any direction, also, if you use only vintage machines, you have to shake off the notion that only modern fancy machines can do it. It is about three years ago that I started looking on the internet at what was possible with vintage machines. Imagine my delight on realising that I had the right model of treadle sitting in the house all along - it just needed a good clean up. Then I discovered the wonderful Leah Day, the undisputed Queen of Free Motion Quilting. There are too many patterns on her blog for me to try out in the years I have left to me. Leah was wise - she started young. Leah's Youtube videos are fantastic. They show you everything you need to know about how to move your hands and manage the movement of the work through the machine. Leah took care of the hands, but treadling is equally about the feet.
This is the lady to watch, doing free motion embroidery for handbags. Her feet do not stop, she just keeps on going at an even speed. She's so good at it she can take her eyes off her work and look up and smile at people. Leah Day and the anonymous Laga Lady clinched it. Between them they launched me into free motion quilting on the treadle.
If you want to try free motion quilting on a vintage machine you need a Singer 15. There were many minor variations over the years, for example, different stitch length levers, and on some the feed dogs drop. My treadle is a basic Singer 15K (K just means it was manufactured in Scotland, in the factory at Kilbowie). Singer 15s are easily recognisable by the tension discs, which are on the faceplate at the back.
The bobbin is held in the bobbin case directly below the needleplate. This is the central bobbin mechanism, and it is this method of stitch formation which allows the movement of the work necessary for free motion quilting. Many other manufacturers made machines based on Singer 15s, in particular in Japan after the Second World War. These machines are equally suitable for free motion work.
For a good look at this type of machine, you may want to watch the video with the threading instructions. So if you have a treadle or electric Singer 15, or another manufacturer's copy, and want to have a go at free motion quilting, give it a try!
Yes, it's free motion quilting time. It's a bit like jumping into cold water - you have to brace yourself. Then after a few days' practice you just stroll over to the sewing machine and casually blaze away for ten minutes and another section is completed.
Making the video was fun. I will just let you imagine my feet. My slippers kept slipping off so they were held in place with strips cut off an old pair of tights. Also the lighting is tricky on wet November days and I managed to drop a lamp and smash it. All in a day's work.
First and foremost, a big thank you to Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville who posted my video "How to Treadle" on her blog yesterday. I have been a big fan of Bonnie's for some time now and have her to thank for inspiring me to get quilting again after a gap of about 25 years. Also, a big welcome to all the new followers who arrived yesterday - Rhonda D, JudyBL, Not Lucy, Marianne, Leeanne, bmoubray, sharon bull and Shena Boes. Now that so many of you have seen the video of the Serata treadle, here are photos of the quilt that I made as my first project using that machine. I bought the machine in May last year, and once I had cleaned and oiled it I was ready to set to work. The quilt top was made using material left by my sister-in-law's mother, who died nearly two years ago. Pat was 89, a great-grandmother, and originally from Wisconsin. She left the States in the late 1940's. She married an Englishman and lived at various times in the Middle East and Africa because he worked for an oil company. Eventually they settled in England, but she would visit her relatives in the States fairly regularly. She was a tiny little lady, and never lost her big Wisconsin accent. When Pat died my sister-in-law and I sorted through bags full of material that she had squirrelled away. Some of the fabrics had come from the States - in fact I have recognised some of them on the slide shows on Bonnie's blog being used in her classes. Pat loved green, so I had the challenge of making a quilt in her colours. Fortunately she had yards of the neutral print that I used for the background, and I added a few matching colours from my own stash where needed.
All the piecing was done in strips, an ideal method with a treadle, and a great way to give the machine a good workout after years of lying idle. To add length to the blocks, so I could get nine houses to fit the top of the bed with an even border all round, I hit on the idea of adding hedges. The quilting was done on a long-arm machine at the quilt shop, Midsomer Quilting They did a fabulous job, I was really pleased. Then all I needed to do was the binding, which again I did on the treadle. This was my fastest project ever - two months from start to finish - because I wanted to make sure it was ready for the next time I visited my brother and sister-in-law. It looked perfect on their bed, and my sister-in-law was slightly emotional. My brother liked it too, but he had to be told that it was a houses design. He couldn't see them. He thought it was just random patchwork. Blokes.
