That's Enough Glue

My previous entries covered the first impressions between the two machines. And with both of them I have a bit of exploration to go through before I can say definitively anything about the design. Helen (16010) & Jane (16011) One thing I can say for both of these machines, they are strong. You can feel the power when working with them. And neither of them are particularly loud for their strength. Working on these vintage machines, you feel like you are unstoppable in comparison to the computerized machines I have worked with (Bernina Bernette 25 is my go to dearest). They have the same feeling as I get with my mechanical near industrial serger (Juki MO-735). They go through the material like there is nothing there. This was even the case when on Helen, I hadn't quite corrected the bobbin issue and I was destroying my needle points. I also know that Jane is more than capable on hemming jeans. She's the machine that got me into this mess in the first place. I that serger

The next 1601 I tested, and the only other one in my possession is Jane. A 158.16011. Right off the bat, I know she's going to take a little bit of work before I can send her on her way one day. Her drop feed sticks. The feed dogs have no problem being up and working, and being down and staying there. But transitioning between the two can be a bit of a challenge. This, thankfully doesn't keep me from doing any testing with her, I just need to make sure I get that resolved between now and October (when I hope to post the machines up for sale) Boy oh boy does she sew. What's that Mazda slogan, "Zoom, Zoom"? She's got that in droves. In a way that I'm actually having the feeling I'm going to have to investigate. Because she flies a bit free after I lift my foot from the pedal. Inertia keeps her going for sometimes as much as TWO whole new stitches. She's a smooth operator/drag racer. A design change I can note between Helen and Jane is the reverse

I'm working with the machines now, not in chronological order, but in complexity order. So the first machine I have worked with is Helen. This bird is a 158.16010. She has a slightly green, maybe mint, enamel casing. Quick things you'll note about her and what basically drew me to these generations of machines is the simplicity of the design. Proof Helen is indeed a machine Basic features that are identical across the 1601/1701/1802 line are the side opening door to get to the light bulb, the easy to remove top (it is just held on with a tension clip around), and the order of the knobs. From left to right up to down, Stitch Width, Reverse Stitch Modifier, Stitch length (with reverse button), and Stitch Selector.  Everything is upfront and easy to access. All the machines I will be testing are flat bed, so to get to the bobbin casing there is either lifting up the machine and tilting it back, or popping out the access plate and hoping your hands are small enough to re

You can make your own set of  'jams... Or Pajamas, pyjamas, PJs. The point is one of the stereotypical items on a nice set of top and bottom pajamas is the buttons and button holes. (Can you really imagine the Bananas in Pajamas in a t-shirt and shorts? Exactly!) If I must be formal the title of this post is: "Buttonholers for the Kenmore family Sewing Machines from the 60's and 70's." Much like the Monogrammer post previously, there are a few different style of buttonholers that came out with these eras of machines. Infact, there is a near identical trend with these gadgets. A matter of difference is that these gadgets don't ever get to use a hoop like the monogrammers. In general there are two styles of buttonholers in this era: bed specific, and shank specific. (Sound familiar??) The shank specific buttonholers of this era harken back to the buttonholers of the early straight stitch 117s, and the zig-zag 158s. They attach to the presser foo

With the prep for this project I took some old fabric and reinforced it with fusible interfacing and cut them into roughly business card sizes. These little things I have been using for stitch samples. They will not be 100% professional looking as they are partially about getting to know the machine's quirks for each stitch. Largely the machines have been stitched with a length of between 1 and 2, and a width of 4, except for the straight stitch, which by its own nature has no width. And these machines are not yet advanced enough to have straight stitching offsets. There have been some casualties as I have worked on making these little stitch cards. The biggest being just the cards themselves. I have a particular loathing for rotary cutting. It is extremely useful for a straight line, but cutting hundreds of rectangles is just something I don't much care for doing. I have made TWO whole quilts in my life, and I only had to cut pieces for one of them... never again if I can a

We have a few things in play: Needle position, Feed length, feed direction, and feed direction modifier. Something that stays consistent no matter what is the needle piercing the fabric. The up/down motion is independent. The needle will go up and down, the thread will lock stitch, tough luck. The cams will advance in time with this up and down. If we think of the sewing as an inhale (needle in the fabric) and an exhale (needle outside of the fabric), for me at least, it helps see what is going on. Inhale: lockstitch process Exhale: adjust Stitch length is how far the feed dogs move the fabric on an exhale. Stitch width is the magnitude of needle position change while exhaling.  While the needle is in the lock stitch process the most that can be done is the drop of the feed dogs and their lower position slide to the proper length get them into the right position to move the fabric. It is really quite cool, and the timing is everything. The stitch cams cams take that all into

With the variety of accessories and attachments that one can use on these machines I decided that I needed to test out every one of them if I can. However, I wasn't interested in taking parts out of one of the "books" or "Towers of Power" so I designed a master set. With the large number of parts that I had acquired, I was thankfully able to give each machine its own unique set according to its manual and still have plenty left over. With this I created my own master set, a master key to unlocking all the possible potentials of the sewing machines. Lets note that first I purchased an adapter off of ebay between the Super High Shank to Low shank, so that if I had any attachments that were some how special or unique to Low Shank I could use them (in this case one of the monogrammers and a buttonholer) The standard attachments that all the machines can work with are the same across all the lines, and are pretty typical to any sewer. Zipper Cording Overcas

Within the Kenmore family of sewing machines you'll find a few different types of bobbins with their case and shuttle. I don't know much about the early ones with their sizes, but I will talk about the importance of clearance in the bobbin case. If you want to look up different bobbins this link is a google search for bobbin sizes. In general the sizes we see nowadays are A, L and M. A is also known as Class 15. This little guy is what has been on most of the machines I have owned for my life time. And it is the same size that is in the Kenmores I have been working on. Something that one may not know from their history with sewing machines is that the little slit in the side of the bobbin case is actually quite important when using a zig zag machine. The needle goes down into that slit when the lock stitch is in progress. In older straight stitch machines, this wasn't so much of a concern, and the needle could be set aside from the bobbin case. But in the vertical b

Saline, Saline over the Seven C-Cams. Ahoy! These waters you tread are dangerous indeed. The sirens are a'calling, and you may find yourself lost before you see a shore again. We'll be a' talkin' about the Kenmore cams. /me clears throat For the Kenmore Experiment, I wanted to help set you all up with what you'll be seeing me work with that isn't really in many modern sewing machines. PATTERN CAMS! These little beauties are not really seen with modern machines any more for a number of reasons. One of which being that they just build them all in now for simple mechanical machines, or can program them into the onboard computer and never bother yourself with cams again. Pattern Cams are actually a fancy name for the mechanic that helps make your stitch shape. Sort of a mechanical instruction for your machine for where the needle is supposed to go, and how the machine should move the fabric. Mix of C-Cams and Monogram cams that I sold   To me

In this adventure there are 9 machines that will be tested. An important thing to note about the models for Kenmores of this era is the context of the naming scheme. "XXX.MM(MM)Y" The XXX being the general design numbers such as 117, 158, or 148. These often correlate with the manufacturer of the machine and the region of sale. MM(MM) mean while is the model. I have seen model numbers that are from two digits to four digits. All the models I'll be writing on in this series are four digits. Model Number and Serial Plate The last number is the Y, and is always the Y no matter how many M's precede it. It is often casually implied as the manufacturing year, 0 being the first year of manufacture. From what I've actually seen, it's more like revision number just like in modern computing when they go from 2.0 to 2.1. A major revision has been made, but it isn't different enough to be a new machine. With this, sometimes multiple revisions can happen in

Craigslist is a dangerous place. Not because of the shady deals for electronics or the occasional stolen car, but because for collectors and hunters of the curious it is a place where much of our money meets its fate. The story here starts with a craigslist ad about a series of sewing machine accessories. I do a search for sewing supplies pretty regularly. I find that often enough if I'm in need of a small little bit of thread or a cool button craiglist can help me out. This eventually led me to these feet I had never seen before, and a plastic box of cams I'd never seen outside of a sewing machine. I purchased it. Reassembled version of what I bought, it was missing bobbins and booklet Then I started my research. What machine did they go to? What is this shank height? Why is it slanted (I thought only Singers had slants)?, what era?  I know it is Kenmore and Sears because both are listed on the top of the case, my great Grandmother had a Kenmore from the late 1950's

Within the world of the 158 Kenmores, there is an array of monogrammers. We couldn't go as far as call it vast, but large enough to cause confusion and headache. Perhaps the most elusive of the monogrammers is the disk cam monogrammers of the 1802 variety. This monogrammer is shaped very similar to the metal buttonholer of the mid to late 60's. To use this monogrammer you need a machine with the 1 1/8" inch notch (which itself will be a flat bed), and a drop feed. Something pretty standard of the mid to top models of this era. What makes this one so frustrating, isn't the 1/2 inch height on the letters, it is  the lack of a full set of letters. Each letter had to be purchased separately, and most original owners did not purchase all 26 to 36 cams depending on year. 1802 Monogrammer with A cam The cams are green disks with a stylized letter or number on one side and a number from 901 to my guess is 940 on the other. This cam fits between two arms, one arm fitti

Let's open up and be honest about fleece, the polyester kind, it's a version of a nightmare to work with. It's great for warmth and has that great texture that *most* people love. Unfortunately it has two things that drive people up the wall: STRETCH of knit fabrics, and BULK of high nap fabrics. From a distance the fuzzy nap may make it look like it isn't woven (or knit), but it is so it has the normal fabric qualities like grain, cross-grain and bias. That fuzzy puff of a top tends to obscure the directions, the right and wrong side. But never fear! Most fleeces have the high level of stretch in the cross-grain, and the mid-level stretch in the bias, with the least stretch along the grain.  And the wrong side can be found by stretching along the cross-grain and seeing which way the fleece curls. It'll curl to the wrong side. This is *really* helpful when it comes to figuring out how to construct fleece clothing. For knitters: it's just like a project

The obligatory mother's day gift. From the latch-key craft that they teach you just to keep you occupied on rainy days to the carefully chosen card. They have all been well crafted, and usually heartfelt, but none were really my choice. I changed that this past year. By using one particular project I picked up on my own. Making fleece scarves. There are the scarves that I gave to various family members which are just 1/8 yard cut pieces of design covered fleece with the salvage edge cut up about five inches. Warm, comfy, and just a little bit shedding. I have no idea if any family member still has their quick gift. For my Mum, however, I stepped up the game ones year: it was fleece sewn to silk with fringe trim on the ends. Sewing these projects has always been a bit of a problem First off: Silk and Fleece have dramatically different stretch. Secondly: Fleece and Silk have dramatically different bulk. Imagine trying to sew a washcloth to a piece of paper. It doesn

I love food. Full Stop. Most people I imagine relate. The whole, one of those things keeping us alive deals. Either way, food is a major part of my life like most people, as was so kindly pointed out by that crafty Bruce Willis character in "Over the Hedge" I just don't like the TEXTURE of most food, I'm one of those people who'd drown food that I didn't like in ranch. I'd convert the food into a vehicle for ranch. Lately, however, with the demands of my life, the time restrictions I have, and my desire to not eat myself into a ranch based coma... I've opted to try out Soylent . Unlike it's namesake, it's an FDA approved food "replacement". In its design it's meant to allow you to eliminate food without compromising your actual health. As much as I cannot stand the seeds in a strawberry, the natural goodness that is all around me will sing to me and I will be drawn in. Soylent may replace a meal here and there, but it'

 You may call me Mark. Or `Mark..er. Marker. A full time Scientist, part time Graduate student, an ardent lover of the solace of the forest, and a mistress to Old Man Winter's son. Most of my time outside of school and work, when I have it, is spent at home with my cat, Lexi. She's a menace to any string, a deep lover of cuddles, a purrito or cupboard critter when startled, but overall prefers being next to me. Hailing from the Mid-west of the USA, I find that I'm sort of a busy homebody science/nerd/geek streak, with a love of teaching and exposition, which means my posts will often be sort of technical, and likely longer than most people can stomach. The time I spend home could be reading, time with friends, or creating things. My main "thing" is knitting, but I sew on occasion. I do find time to crochet all of my own dish rags and potholders, though. Cross stitch and embroidery sometimes find its way on my project queue, but not often. Those are the sor