It Is Finished. Again. For Real This Time.

I just finished altering the dress I made for my daughter. That was a big PITA. Here it is. I hope she loves it.

You can tell how much I had to take it in by how much ribbon is left over after I reattached it.

You'll have to suffer through a couple of more pictures once I have her back over to model. It better fit because I refuse to dismantle it again.

Kenmore 1802 and a Funny Story

I rarely find sewing machines in my local thrift stores. When I do they are usually WAY over priced or craptastic plastic. Or both. Last Thursday I decided to hit a couple of thrift stores. And look what I found? I have been longing for a Kenmore model 158.1802. And there it was, with the case, foot pedal, and bobbin, marked at $29.99. It even had a downloaded copy of the manual. This particular thrift store uses different color tags and this week the white tags were 50% off. I scored the machine for a mere $15. I powered it up and everything seemed to move freely so what the heck, I brought it home. I set about cleaning, oiling and testing. All the functions worked. This model is really nice. But when I tried my beloved goldfish cam I found that the needle was ramming into the bobbin case at the widest part of the zig zag. Straight stitch was fine. I suspected the timing was off. Today the husbeast and I set out to adjust the timing. But no matter how we adjusted it the needle still hit the case. It was no where near the opening. Then I had a “light bulb” moment. Could it be the wrong bobbin case? I took the bobbin case out of my 1753 and compared them. Sure enough, the opening in the case was not wide enough. Somewhere along the way someone had put the wrong bobbin case into this machine. I’ll bet anything the previous owner (the one who downloaded the manual) could never figure out the problem and gave the machine away to the thrift store. It just so happens that I had a spare “correct” bobbin case laying around so I am good to go. The machine sews perfectly. And, as a bonus, I now know how to adjust timing. LOL!

Biting the Bullet

I've been awfully quiet about that dress, haven't I?

What's the difference between a seamstress and someone who knows how to sew? A seamstress makes clothing that fits. If I can get this dress altered to fit my daughter I will consider myself a seamstress. Right now I am just a gal who knows how to operate a sewing machine.

 I haven't admitted defeat. I've been trying to build up my nerve. I had my daughter come over and try the dress on so I could determine how much altering it needed. Come to find out it was 3 1/2" too big around. That's a lot. The front of the dress is so busy, with pockets, pleats and ruffles, I decided to limit my alterations to the side seams and back darts. To accomplish this I would need to do some serious dismantling of those areas. First I had to remove the black ribbon which also involved detaching some of the lining from the zipper.

I needed to take the side seams in 1/2" under each arm and decrease that seam to 3/8" at the waist and then taper that down until it met the existing seam at the top of the pocket. Here is how that new seam looks.

You can see that I have not yet altered the lining to match the dress. 

Then I set about taking in the waist 1" at each of the back darts and extending the darts a total of 5 1/2". This photo shows the existing darts and the marks where I'll sew the new ones. The holes along the new markings are from the basting stitches. I basted the proposed seams and darts then had my daughter try the dress on before removing the basting and sewing the final seams. See! I CAN be taught.

Here is a photo of the new super long extended dart.

And here is how the top of that dart looks from the right side.

Don't worry. That seam at the waist will be covered up once I reattach the black ribbon. That's all the nail biting action for today. I have a cannelloni to devour. I promise to post photos of my daughter wearing the dress before the 15th. If I pull this off, that is.

WARNING: Chinese Reproduction Singers

There are a lot of these popping up on Craigslist so I wanted to make you aware. You do not want to get stuck with one of these. They are poorly made. The cast iron treadle bases tend to crack. These are modern reproductions, made in China and often being passed off as antiques. Avoid them at all cost. First I will show you an authentic vintage Singer with the Sphinx decal set.

Authentic Singer with Sphinx decals.

Now for the fakes.

You can see that the fake decals don't look "quite right" and have an odd reddish cast. The metal parts on the fake machines look too bright and shiny. If the machine is in a treadle base cabinet, the wood is actually cheap press board. If it is in a fake bentwood carry case that case will have silver colored metal latches. Those latches are not correct. Vintage cases locked with a key. But the dead giveaway is the logo badge located on the machine front, under the stitch length regulator. If it has a red "S" it's a fake. Vintage machines have a brass colored logo as seen on the authentic machine in the top picture. Here is a link to someone who is selling the reproduction machines. Take a good look at the photos so you know what to look for in a fake.  Buyer beware.

Kenmore 1410 & Vintage Cabinet

I saw this offered on Craigslist this morning. The machine is a good, solid Kenmore Model 158.14100, more commonly referred to as a 1410. But that wasn't what caught my eye. It was housed in this lovely art deco-ish Kenmore cabinet.

I'm not sure of the year, but I'm guessing 1940's vintage. Obviously the machine is not original to the cabinet. The price was right and I have been on the hunt for a nice cabinet to park my 1753 inside. The cabinet is solid wood. It has 4 drawers down the right side. The bottom 2 drawers are nothing special. The second drawer from the top has an inner box, that slides on top, which contains 4 thread spindles and a little pin cushion. The top drawer contains a glass ink well with a bakelite lid. So cool! There is also a little rounded spot to put your pens and pencils.

There were some other goodies in the drawers. A bunch of bias tape and a bit of seam binding, as well as some elastic and some iron on pockets (hadn't heard of those).

Sometimes searching through the drawers for treasures is almost as much fun as playing with the machine. Look at these 2 old packets of bias tape. Do you know how long it's been since Penney's carried sewing supplies? And for 8 cents!?!!

The sewing machine is up for adoption and I doubt it will be in my possession long. I have a lady coming to look at it tomorrow night.

Hive Boxes Ready

I managed to get the boxes painted last night. I could feel the rain in the air and expected it to start pouring any minute. It stayed dry long enough for me to get the painted boxes stacked safely in the garage.

Now I need to get the bee yard weeded, find a pallet, and wait for a warm, non-windy, dry day. This Thursday looks like the best candidate, even though they are forecasting a 30% chance of rain. We'll have to wait and see. Here is a close-up of the nifty new feeders I bought. I'm glad they are finally making nice top feeders for 8 frame boxes. These have a screen that is supposed to keep the bees from drowning. Now I'll be able to easily feed my girls this winter.

Painting Hive Boxes

I'm getting ready to split my hive. First things first. I need to prep more boxes. Since I am not overly strong, I stick with 8 frame 6 5/8" boxes. When those 10 frame 9 5/8" "deep" boxes are full of bees and honey, they are really heavy. I need to be able to lift and manipulate the boxes without giving myself a hernia. Here I have mowed my lawn and laid out a plastic tarp in preparation for painting.

And this is after I have applied primer to all 10 boxes, the bottom board, telescoping lid, and the 2 new fancy top feeders I bought the girls. The husbeast helped me out by assembling all the boxes so I could paint them.

I hope to get at least one good coat of paint on everything this afternoon. It's supposed to rain the next couple of days and I am playing "Beat the Clock" as it is. I'm afraid my bees are getting too crowded and may soon leave for roomier quarters.