Antique Machines

I recently discovered that you can date old Singer machines by their serial number on the Singer website, so while I was in Perth, with help from my dad, I dug out the old Singer sewing machines I have inherited to take a look at them and to date them.

I inherited two sewing machines from my Gran, which she in turn had inherited from her grandmother and her great-grandmother. Before we moved to Australia my Gran kindly passed them on to me... and they've been sat in a box ever since (for the last 8 years).

The information I got from my Gran about them is as follows. Both the machines originally belonged to my great-great-Grandmother Louisa Horton. She used them in the 1880-1890's because she was a dressmaker before she was married and would go to peoples houses and stay for a few days at a time to do their sewing. My gran informs me that she made quilts and clothes for herself and her children and never used a pattern in her life. When she died my great-Grandmother "Gran B" inherited the machines. Gran B apparently always preferred the older of the two machines.

The first machine out of a box was the oldest, with a very battered case:

Looking at the plaque with the serial numbers we found two 7 digit numbers. We weren't sure which is the serial number but one dates at 1887 (7858031) and the other at 1875 (1994291), however speaking to my Gran about the dates and where they are from it must be from 1875.

The other machine is slightly newer, being dated as 1891 (10310970). This one no longer has a case.

They both have a bobbin mechanism that I've never used so I don't know how to thread the machines so I've been unable to have a go and see how functional they still are, but I have a memory of using one of these machines as a child at my gran's house.

The third old machine I have was gifted to me by an ex-housemate's mum. I believe she was clearing stuff out and didn't want it anymore and knowing that I sew offered it to me... and I of course said yes straight away. More than that I don't know the history of the machine, but this one is much newer, dating in at 1929 (Y6956953). I also discovered from the site that it was manufacturered in Clydebank, Scotland.

My dad made a comment that other people collect nice small and light things. I made him feel better by telling him about how many sewing machines some other people have and that four machines (these three and the Janome I use everyday) really is hardly any at all!

Thank you Granny...

I've had this post in my mind for a while and since it is Mother's day here in Australia I thought it appropriate to post it today. I would like to publicly thank the person in my life that has had by far the biggest influence on my sewing; my Gran.

Granny has helped and encouraged my sewing from the beginning right until today, and I'm sure into the future. She is actually the reason that I started my blog, to make it easier to share my progress and creations with her since as she lives the opposite side of the world to me it's not all that easy for her to see them in person.

A Close-up of the quilt that Granny made me in 1998-99.

For as long as I can remember Granny has been doing patchwork and quilting, and when I went to stay with her in the half-term holidays she would teach me how to do it myself. Starting with hand quilting around the outlines of printed cushion panels, and progressing to basic patchwork and moving on to more and more ambitious and complicated things.

The whole quilt Granny made me.

Machine pieced and quilted by her.

Before I finished high school I had completed, with Granny's guidance, many many cushion covers, a patchwork bag, a patchwork waistcoat, a pair of raggy dolls, and I had even completed a single bed quilt top and begun quilting it.

Taking me along to many different quilt shows, patchwork classes and workshops and more also showed me from a young age how welcoming, varied and friendly the sewing community is.

A close-up of the quilt that Granny made my brother in 2001.

It was this basic sewing knowledge that I was then able to use when I started university and had the need and desire to make fancy dress costumes, and since graduating my progression into garment sewing. I think the attitude of getting stuck in and having a go, even on things I've never tried before, stems back to the times when I would do just that, after raiding Granny's truly superb fabric stash of course! (Over which she is incredibly generous, never begrudging my use of any cut of fabric, no matter how beautiful)

The whole quilt that Granny made my brother.

Machine pieced by her but sent away to be quilted.

Even now, from the other side of the world Granny is a huge support to my endeavours; from encouraging comments on things I've completed, to words of advice when I'm pondering over things, to gifting me with sewing books and fabric.

Me & Granny.

So thank you Granny, for all the help, guidance and support you've given me over the years, both in sewing and in life. I am truly grateful to you for sharing with me your interest which has allowed me to form many happy memories through shared experiences, and I hope there are many more to come.

xxx

Me-Made May - one week down

One week into Me-Made May... and I've passed my rules so far. I haven't gotten photos of each of my outfits each day due to a combination of not having a photographer and having a crazy busy week, I have however documented what I wore each day:

1st May - Me-Made (& Me-refashioned) JJ shirt with jeans.
2nd May - Me-Made purple tank with joggers.

3rd May - Me-Made purple tank with jeans & v-neck jumper.

4th May - Me-Made brown dress with long sleeved black t-shirt, black tights and black hooded jacket.

5th May - Me-Made black Emily shirt with jeans & v-neck jumper.

6th May - Me-Made Boat Necked t-shirt with jeans & rugby shirt (ice skating outfit!).

7th May - Me-Made Jenny Skirt with grey t-shirt and green jumper.

I've also worn me-made PJs each night.

This first week has been interesting, I have received many compliments on the clothes I've worn, both from people who did and didn't know I'd made them. I've also had some interesting conversations with people who know I'm doing Me-Made May and have enjoyed guessing which item is the one I've made each day.

And because picture-less posts make me sad, here's the custom designed hanging rail that my kind brother made me as a belated birthday pressie (with my help holding stuff while he hammered, drilled and screwed):

It's got many many more clothes in it now and I'm planning on adding a curtain across the front. Thanks lil Bro!

Me-Made Inventory

May the 4th (insert Star Wars joke here); we're 4 days into Me-Made May (or MMM for short) and I'm back in Perth, which means I can now do what many of the other MMMers have done and do an inventory of me-made items.

First an inventory of all the me-made items in my wardrobe:

• 6x PJ bottoms (not as excessive as it sounds: 1x full length summer, 2x 3/4 length summer, 1x shorts summer, 2x full length winter)
• 1x Summer PJ top (hidden support tank)
• 1x Pyjamas (top & bottom, winter)
• 1x Blouse (Sencha)
• 3x Shirts (stripy JJ, peter pan collared, black Emily)
• 1x boatneck flower top (red)
• 1x tank top (purple)
• 1x trousers (grey)
• 7x skirts (1x grey flowered sidonie, 1x black jenny, 4x summer gored, 1x smart gored)
• 7x dresses (2x day winter, 1x evening winter, 2x day summer, 2x evening summer)

(plus a hat and scarf not me made but handmade and gifted to me, so I'm saying they count)

A reasonable range actually, and actually quite a lot when you put it all together like that. It's autumn here and starting to get pretty cold, so many of the skirts and dresses can be excluded, as can the nightwear, so here's my inventory of (daytime) clothes for the month:

• 1x Blouse (Sencha)
• 3x Shirts
• 1x boatneck flower top
• 1x tank
• 1x trousers
• 3x skirts (1x sidonie, 1x jenny, 1x smart gored)
• 3x dresses (2x day winter, 1x evening winter)

I'd like to make another Jenny in a more casual material and length, at least one casual top (I have fabric for one) and of course I'm working on my Hikaru jacket.

Now I just need to work out an outfit for ice skating on Thursday or I'll fail on day 6!

Perth BSC

Yesterday I joined the ladies at the Perth BSC for an incredibly enjoyable afternoon.

(A picture of Perth, not of the BSC, taken by me in 2006)

I contacted Melissa back when I booked my flights saying that I was coming over and that I'd love to come along and meet them if they had a meet while I was there. She emailed back saying she was sorry but they meet on the second weekend of the month, which I was sadly not here for... however I received another email from her a month or so later saying that they'd decided to hold the May meet a week early so that I could go along!

The ladies at Perth BSC are lucky enough to have it hosted by Sandra in her wonderful little studio. As terrible as I am with names, I can remember hardly anyone's name, but everyone was really friendly and made me feel at home as soon as I arrived. There was stitching, showing and much much telling. Vintage patterns, thrift store finds, both inspiring and hilarious magazines and much much more.

My New Bodice Block

Even more amazing, Sandra was kind enough to show me how to construct my own bodice block. Made to measure, a toile sewn up and final alterations made, I now have a custom fit bodice block to use to make new patterns and check the fit of existing ones. She even showed me instructions for altering patterns to accommodate my substantial derrière.

I certainly hope to pop in again next time I'm in Perth.

WA Fabric Spree

While over here in Perth I thought I’d spend some time at the local fabric stores looking for some more fabric for my genome quilt.

The first store I visited was Homespun Workshops in Willagee. Early in the day but by far the most successful of the trip. It's actually pretty near to my parent's house so I suspect I will be visiting there again in the future. They had a lovely selection of fabrics, very diverse and all very beautiful, the store was a pleasure to browse and the staff very friendly and helpful.

I ended up getting these five fabrics. On the left is a white-on-white fabric with a sort of dotted cross pattern on it that hasn't come up that well in this photo but is more clear in the photo at the bottom of this post. Also some green to bulk up that end of the spectrum, some gorgeous teal with white spots, some navy and white spots and some blue/navy with a kind of tree pattern on it.

Down the Leach Highway and up the Stirling highway, the next store I visited was Calico & Ivy in Mosman Park. Another beautiful store with a great range. They had a very impressive range of liberty fabrics and also a very extensive plain fabric selection.

I ended up getting a white with pale greyish blue spots, a white on cream this time with a text design, and a plain teal/green.

The next store on my trip was Materialise in Nedlands. A small shop but they've definitely made the most of the space they have. Sadly they didn't have anything that suited my very specific requirements (well they did, but I already had it!) so I left empty handed.

After a slight detour because I missed a turning next I arrived at Hot Possum in Wembley. They had an absolutely amazing selection of fabrics, all very modern and very brightly coloured. If I was simply filling my stash I could spend FAR too much money in there! Sadly for me, but luckily for my bank balance, I'm being very strict with myself and only buying fabric for the genome quilt. Hot Possum also had notably friendly and helpful staff.

I bought the following four fabrics at Hot Possum. Two more white on whites with different designs and two teal based ones. I'm very happy with the one on the right in particular as it has a larger print than most of the other fabrics I've bought so will hopefully break up the small prints a bit.

After a quick break for lunch the next store on my adventure was Bassendean Fabric and Craft in Bassendean, which while it had a pretty extensive selection didn't have anything that particularly caught my eye so I left that store empty handed too.

After getting thoroughly lost a couple of times the last shop on my trip was Kraft Daze Sewing World in Maddington which had a modest but good selection of fabrics and I ended up buying this beautiful grey on white fabric.

Quite a successful day I'd say; 6 fabric stores & 13 new pieces of fabric.

Here's what all the fabric I have for the quilt looks like now:

I have 17 darks and 14 whites, getting closer to what I need. There are also a few of solids I have seen that I will get at some point (including Kaffe Fassett shot cottons in Aegean and Viridan, gorgeous!!).

When I last discussed this quilt I hadn't decided what size blocks to do but have since bitten the bullet and decided to go for 3" blocks. Andi brought up a very good point in her comment however, how am I going to quilt it? I currently have no idea, either on the quilting design or the colour thread to use... any suggestions?

(all photos in this post are clickable to see them larger)

Flashback Friday #3 : Embroidered Blue Flowers

Blue Gingham Flowers, made Sept 2005

I had some scraps of blue gingham left from another project, so decided to make it into a cushion cover. I embroidered the flowers on to add some interest.

Heading West...!

Things will probably be a little quieter around here for a while, as tonight I'm heading west. Thankfully there is no volcanic ash in the air around here affecting my travel plans, and this evening I'm flying to Perth for 10 days to stay with my parents, for a change of scenery and to start writing my thesis. Oh, and I'm going to meet the lovely ladies at the Perth BSC!

Wish me luck and see you soon!

Flashback Friday #2 : Australian Flag Dress

When I was at uni I went to a lot of fancy dress parties, which in turn required a lot of fancy dress costumes. One such party had the theme "countries", so I chose Australia.

Australian Flag Dress, made ~Nov 2005

I had an Australian flag, which I made into a very simple dress... It turned out shorter than I anticipated as I was limited by the width of the flag, If I were to do it again I'd probably use two flags and make a long dress.

Incase you were wondering, the party was lots of fun!

Injuries!

Last night I cut out the wool for my Hikaru Jacket... and discovered I shouldn't have been lazy and should have cut the two layers separately. Not because of any (yet undiscovered) inaccuracies between the two layers, but because the two layers is bloody thick!! Both me and my scissors are now feeling a little worse for wear! My thumb is bruised (and at one point last night didn't have any feeling), and my scissors were squeaking while I was cutting, which has never happened before.I tried them on some calico and they seem fine, but I will be taking them into get sharpened as soon as I have some free time...

Which leads me onto this question; does anyone have any recommendations of where to get my scissors sharpened in Melbourne? (Preferably in or near the city)