The bright African print which I picked up in a charity shop recently is being put to use already. I have decided to make a cover for the Singer 15K treadle, my wonderful free motion work horse. I use the machine so often that I never put it away, and it could do with a cover to keep the dust off it.
The pattern is so busy and the red so bright that there was no point in doing anything fancy with the quilting. The variegated rusty brown thread blends in well, and the meandering infill is easy enough to do quickly over a relatively large area.
The quilting shows up better on the back, which is going to end up hidden anyway. I didn't even bother agonising over the colour of the thread underneath - I just used bobbins that were already filled, and made sure that it was a dark thread so there was no contrast with the top thread if it showed through. The backing is a lightweight polyester and cotton which I had in the cupboard. Cheap, but very irritating. It doesn't glide across the bed of the machine as smoothly as pure cotton, so I was working against it for much of the time.
Once I have quilted a couple more panels I should be able to assemble the cover fairly quickly...
Welcome to Graham Wilson, the latest follower. Thank you for joining!
Linking up again with Leah Day's blog for Free Motion Friday - plenty of blogs to visit there!
And also with Barbara's blog Cat Patches for the September New FO Linky Party, to see what people have started, but not necessarily finished... And here is a link to my July New FO, which is well and truly finished!
Free motion on a treadle?! I'm intrigued! I will have to take a look around your blog.
ReplyDeleteHello Amy,
DeleteThank you for visiting, and I hope you enjoy the blog.
I do all my sewing on vintage machines, treadles and hand machines. My newest machine dates from 1949. I have never owned an electric machine, and apart from a few traumatic minutes at school in the 1960s, I have never used one.
Welcome to my time warp!
Love,
Muv
What a fabulous print on that fabric. I think it's entirely befitting a 15k, which shall look quite splendid with it's new dressing gown/enormous tea cosy on.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Graham, I am all geared to make a giant sized tea cosy. The brown in the pattern is an exact match for the wood of the treadle table. I'm looking forward to it.
DeleteLove, Muv
What a great fabric to use for a sewing machine cover. Are you making it up as your go, or is there a pattern?
DeleteHello Sandy,
DeleteNo I'm not following a pattern, I'm making it up, but provided it turns out well I shall post instructions on how to do it - next week I hope.
Love,
Muv
Muv, you've given me the impetus to make a new cloth cover for my Janome, something I've meant to do for a while. I love your fabric! I hope this comment gets to you; none of my other ones have. This tme I'm signed in under a different account, so we'll see. I so enjoy your blog site. (This is Linda Wulf Koenig of Linda's Landscapes :)
ReplyDeleteHello Linda,
DeleteYes, you've got through this time! Computers can be so fickle.
Glad you enjoy the blog. I love seeing your projects too.
Love,
Muv
I think it's cool that you use a treadle. I've been campaigning for over a year to get my grandmother's treadle which is sitting non-used at my father's house. But I guess it's sentimental to him even if nobody there sews, so that's cool. Hopefully some day. . . ;D
ReplyDeleteHello Lyn,
DeleteThere's only one answer... You will have to see if you can spend some time at your dad's house and get the machine up and running there. You never know, your dad might enjoy cleaning up and oiling the machine with you.
Love,
Muv
I really need to make a cover for my machine. I'm glad I haven't done it up to now however because I bought a bigger machine back in March. One of these days I'll put one on my NewFO list. Yours is looking great.
ReplyDeleteDear Muv,
ReplyDeleteI have been reading through this four-stage project of yours with great interest.
One of my first serious sewing-projects was a machine-cover similar to what you are making. I was making it for my grandmother's 99k electric Singer.
Now that I have TWO portables (the 99k electric, and 128k hand-cranker), I have decided to throw out the single, old crappy machine-cover, and make two new, better ones.
The one difference between yours and mine, will be that I will have a hole in the middle, for the folding handle to pop through. And a button-down flap to cover the space under the handle. That way, they can be protected, and portable! :)
Hello Scheong,
DeleteA cover to go over the wooden cover - that's an interesting variation. I hope they turn out well, and be sure to leave me a link when you post photos on your blog.
It really was very naughty of people to call those machines portable. The handle was only designed to lift the cover from the machine, not carry the whole machine - the catch and locks where the cover fit into the base are not strong enough to take the weight of all that metal.
Love, Muv