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 ...

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...

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...

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...