New Addition

Although I haven't blogged much, things have been going on. Finished a pair of pants, I'm working on a swim suit, I finished the edges of some table runners for my SIL. Been mostly in planning mode though. I have some new fabric!

 This piece is a woven and reminded me immediately of the shirts the men wore at my parents' 40th anniversary renewal party! I thought about making Rob a dress shirt but he recently got a huge assortment of very, very dress shirts from his BIL. So he is all set in the dress shirt division!

 This very large piece (I estimate it at 6m) says it's 80% rayon, 20% linen. It has a nice drape but still some body. I'm picturing  New Look 6457 in view E. I need to muslin it first though. And I don't have enough similar fabric to make a wearable muslin. Do I just scrap it together? I also thought about flowy summer pants but the girls said no. They always so no to that. Hopefully I have enough left over for a top, since I have blue shorts and blue pants, it will fit right into my blue capsule, and maybe the beige capsule. I'm picky though. If it doesn't match the beige pants, it'll need to contrast enough that it looks intentional!

The other great  gain is a "new" sewing machine! I saw a post on Freecycle for a 40 year old Kenmore. I haven't been lucky on Freecycle in a while, but I emailed and asked about it. It had been regularly maintained and used until recently but now seems stiff to turn the wheel and skips stitches. Okay, doesn't sound too bad. Skipped stitches could simply be a new needle!  It wasn't too far, so I didn't feel too bad asking Rob to drive me over (my truck is dead).

It has the manual (good, because it's different enough than my other Kenmores, when it comes to the dials), and the proper case, and the foot pedal! What it doesn't have is any extra feet or attachments. We sprayed it down with a silicone spray and let it sit over night. 

 Look at that zig zag, right on the edge!! I've never been able to do that with either of the Kenmores I've had!  The stitch lengths go from 8 to 12. There's no 6 like on my machine, but it does have a "B". This creates a stitch which seems longer than the 6 on my machine. And lately my machine is not very good at being consistent when I change speed.

 The stretch straight stitch and stretch "smocking" stitch had some tension issues. The bobbin case was quite loose, so tightening that helped. Also, this is a woven, with a universal needle, so not really the right application for either of those stitches.

 I decided to wash the bottom of the cover in my dishwasher. After it was all clean, I noticed the instructions. Well, technically I followed them, especially since I don't use the dry cycle.

My collection! At first, I thought I would give this machine to my mom. She just does repairs (mainly it was my dad that did them LOL). She could use the zipper foot and button tools from her machine. And it could go in her machine's cabinet. Then I would take her Kenmore, which is more advanced than either of these. I'd still be able to do zippers and button holes on my Kenmore (the one on the left. Confusing because it's my older acquired machine, but newer in age LOL). Then I realized there's no base for mom's machine. I'm not sure it would sit on a desk. We talked about me just taking her whole desk, but I LOVE my desk. And with the machine in a desk, you can't do free arm sewing. That is a must to me. So, it looks like for now, I will just keep it. I threaded it up and intended to use it for basting only in my next project (swim suit). But then I did some twin needle work with it...

So, so far, I've sewn with four different Kenmores, all different models. I love them, especially now I can do a proper zig zag. My MIL also has a Kenmore. She was trying to sell it before she moved, but no one would buy it so she just kept it. Maybe one day it'll be joining my collection! I saw it once, but I didn't pay attention to the model or anything. She's had it since the late 70s I think. And if anything ever went wrong, I know my FIL would have taken care of it!