How Many Machines Make a Collection?

I picked up another sewing machine at the thrift store. I saw it and didn't buy it. I pondered it for three days, and then I went back and bought it. It's a Singer 301. 301 A actually, though as far as I can tell the letter A just designates the factory that produced this machine, as there is no difference between this and regular 301 models.

This machine is circa 1951. It's a slant shank, meaning the presser foot is at an angle, which also means that the feet are not interchangeable with my other machines. It is referred to as the "big sister to the Featherweight" because it's lightweight (16 pounds) but full sized, it uses the same bobbins as the Featherweight, and it produces nice straight stitches and only straight stitches. Unlike the featherweight it has an enclosed motor and it's gear driven (no belt.) The folding extension comes in a short or a long length, and mine is a longbed model.

Considering I managed to take 3 machines out of action in the past month it was easy to justify a spare machine (or four!)







And actually, I got one machine working again the other night. I managed to disassemble the bobbin base on my Featherweight with a tiny screwdriver and dislodge a thread jam. For all the things that I have figured out on my own, I am surprisingly intimidated by taking things apart. In the end it was so easy that I kick myself for my reluctance.

And in other news, I was in California this past weekend so I took a little drive over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and went to the Heath Ceramics Factory Store to check out some of the discounted factory seconds. I picked up a few things that still set me back more than a few pennies. Aren't they pretty?

Two Buck Shrug

Rowan Cotton Tape from the thrift store + free Drops Design shrug pattern = a quick knit for only a couple of bucks.




This pattern starts with one sleeve cuff, works up the sleeve and into the body of the shrug with a little short row shaping, and continues up the other sleeve to the cuff. It's meant to be knit flat, with the ribbing around the body picked up and knit last. I knit the sleeves in the round but made no other mods.



My 5 year old daughter was excitedly checking on the progress with hopes of wearing her sweater right away. But when I finished it after about a week, she was disappointed that there wasn't more to the body of the sweater. I guess the whole shrug concept was lost on her. So I stuck it away and forgot about it for a few weeks. But then on Tuesday she was requesting her sweater, so I figured I'd better grab some modeled shots while I could.



I'm afraid these pictures show off her hand-me-down shirt more than the sweater, sigh. My only thought about this shrug is that that the sleeves could be shorter and the 5/6 child's size came out a little snug in my hands. I think I used a US size 8 needle.

89-13 Shrug in Paris from Drops Design

Sometimes I Hear Voices. In My Pants.

I have been trying to do the whole carry on thing, but I'm finding it hard to function in life. Some moments are fine and sometimes I am such a train wreck. I am trusting that this will get easier with time, and yet I am not ready for things to be fine, because it sucks to lose someone special.

Anyway, here's some stuff I made a while back. Late at night, because there's not a lot of free time otherwise.

A deer stuffed animal from a Japanese crafting book.



It's a little splay-legged, but I'm not sure how I would fix this and not sure if I really mind it.

And a pair of Portabellopixie Ruffle Pants (with single ruffle.) The pattern was pretty straightforward with attractive instructions. I found the pattern pretty detailed and sometimes not detailed enough for my liking, but not at all complicated.





Both of these were made as presents for my seven-year-old on her birthday.

And my five-year-old always comes up with the best lines for co-opting as blog post titles.

Loss

Grief is a challenging process, and I can't seem to find the right words to talk about it.

Crafty Woodland

My eldest daughter had her seventh birthday party today. Seven. It doesn't stop being amazing to me each year as she continues to get older.

She wanted a Woodland-themed party. With all 34 kids from school, their siblings, and a few cousins thrown in for good measure. And I said..."Sure, sounds great!"

Hahaha!

Actually, it was a crafty fun time. (She, much like her mother, does love a good crafty project. In fact, most of the ideas were hers, with a little tweaking on my part.) I was a bit stressed last night as I put the finishing touches on some mushroom huts and tried not to hyperventilate. Anyway, by today I was mostly relaxed and had a great time.



We had the mushroom huts (cardboard + duct tape + hot glue + newspaper + felt + 2 girls let loose with paint and glitter)...



Fake Christmas trees with birds and nests (thank you Freecycle!)...

Woodland crown decorating (42 crowns made with Joel Dewberry Aviary wood grained fabric + rayon/wool felt + grommets + glue your own embellishments + add ribbon ties)...



I made some felt flowers for decorating crowns but burned out after the first dozen.



I forgot to get any good crown pictures. Here's mine before it dried.





This project mixed together with another involving pompoms + glue + googly eyes...

And finally a dose of sugar. Chocolate butterfly cupcakes (chocolate + 2 kids with copious sprinkles + colored sugar)...



My daughter said they weren't like butterflies because they had no bodies, I told her they were butterfly-ish. I did a lot of Ish-ly crafts rather than getting too hung up on making everything just so. It was still a big project, but I am glad we did it this once. And next year we'll just go to a theme park or something.

I have more birthday related crafts to post soon...Stuffed Animal! Girly Clothes!

Sally Go Round the Sun

When you live in Seattle you have a strong reaction to the arrival of the sunny season. Residents don sunglasses (Seattle reportedly sells more sunglasses per capita than any other city in the US!), put on short sleeves, and if you are my kids, you start complaining about that bright ball of light in the sky and start requesting a new sunhat.

Any excuse to give the new Necchi a whirl. I oiled it up good (I read somewhere that Necchis are so well built with such tight tolerances that they really need frequent oiling) and tightened the belt. And then I broke a bunch of thread. Oh yeah, I forgot a new needle, that makes all the difference. Then I was ready for action.

My thoughts on the Necchi? It's not quiet, but it's definitely not clackety, and it feels really solid and powerful. The Low speed setting helps you maintain control by keeping things moving along at a consistent pace no matter how hard you stomp the foot controller. It wanted a little nudge on the flywheel to get started, but that might be because the belt still seems like it could be a bit tighter, though it's not noticeably slipping. I really like having a dedicated sewing table that's easy to set up, I think it might motivate me to do more sewing. So far I'm really happy with my new machine. (FYI, I'm also thrilled with the Featherweight. I'll have to give an update on it soon.)

I used a hat pattern that I have made before and some IKEA fabric I had laying around. This time I did 1/4" seam allowances to make the hats a little bigger. Two hours later we have new sunhats! I didn't have interfacing so I skipped it, besides the fabrics are heavy enough to hold the shape. The girls didn't actually want to stand still for a picture, but these shots give you the idea.







Butterick pattern 4531, view F, in size XL

Equal Part Luck & Stupidity

On my way out of the grocery store with my daughter I noticed some splinters in her hand. I dropped everything and went to work extracting five splinters. We were on our way and across the bridge when it hit me. Crap, my two bags of expensive groceries and my purse were left on the sidewalk in front of the store. Hurry back taking a mental inventory of my purse. Credit card, debit card, cash, signed checks to deposit, new cellphone...Speed back to the store and there were my things, waiting for me behind the customer service desk. Lesson learned, put the groceries and purse in the car first. Because I'm less likely to leave my daughter behind. Thank goodness for that one honest person that turned in my stuff.