Showing posts with label Singer 15. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singer 15. Show all posts

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Singer 15 meets Sieuwke's Quilt

Machine quilting















Well, it took me long enough, but I've finally started to quilt Sieuwke's Quilt.

I used a rather unusual way to sandwich the quilt, due to the size. Of course I wasn't looking forward to sandwich a quilt on the floor on my hands and knees to begin with, but also because I'm short. So I would have to crawl over it anyway, and most likely inadvertently cause wrinkling.

Instead I first spread the background fabric on my bed, and positioned the wadding (batting) on top of it. I had already marked the center.
Then I laid the background fabric along with the wadding on a table with a smooth surface, and checked for wrinkles. Lastly I carefully draped the patchwork over them, again smoothing out the sandwich and started pinning from the center.

Although I used a thin wadding the quilt is quite heavy. Much to my delight quilting in the ditch is going well, considering that I'm not very experienced at machine quilting. So far I've managed to stay in the ditch most of the time.
My arms tire, though, from handling the quilt. So I do two to three rows at the time, and take a rest or work on something else for a while.

After using the 127 to stitch the quilt top, I'm once again amazed at how quiet the Singer 15 is when you're operating it. Not that the 127 is noisy, but when you use the 15 you can hardly hear it at all. You just see the needle moving, ;-)))


A closer look at the machine quilting:

detail quilting in the ditch















Well, here you can see why it's hard on my arm muscles. I can stitch almost 3/4", smooth out the fabric, move the large part that is not being stitched along, and keep the folded part flat so it doesn't interfere with my lamp.

That's it, folks. I'm off to bed.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Meet my Singer 15

Singer 15 FrontView
Singer 15















Here she is: my Singer 15. She was made in Italy in 1934.
She could be a 15-88, but I'm not sure.

I found her at a Dutch auction site. There were no extra feet, bobbins or attachments, but at least she had no missing parts. That was a relief, I must say, because she appeared to be in poor condition in the pictures the previous owner had taken.
But I wanted her anyway, because she has such a pretty faceplate.

Singer 15 faceplate
Faceplate















singer 15 cover plate
Cover plate















She also has an intriguing tension unit, at least to me. When I bought this machine, it was the first time I saw one like that.
singer 15 tension unit
Tension unit















While testing the tension setting on a piece of fabric, the adjustment knob (not sure what it's called in English) accidently came off and the tension unit came apart.
I was in shock! Well, it wasn't hard to reassemble it, but I had no clue how to calibrate it. So I asked my regular repairman whether he was willing to work on a vintage sewing machine. He said yes, and off she went to the shop.

He took great care of her, I must say. Apart from a minor repair, he repositioned the take-up spring and calibrated the tension unit. And he serviced the entire machine. Maybe he thought I had missed an oiling spot, ;-). 
Well, at least she got the full spa treatment, and her movement is ever so smoothly.

Maybe I'll have him check my Singer 127K as well. Just to make sure I haven't overlooked something.