How to Use the Mystery Buttonholer

A sample buttonhole which took only 30 seconds to stitch...

... using the wonderful mystery buttonholer, which I bought from a charity shop a couple of years ago.  

It has five cams (or are they half cams?), each marked with the size of button they are for, ranging from three to seven eighths of an inch, and including two cams for round ended buttonholes.  The other half is permanently set inside the buttonholer.

This marvellous gadget has turned out to be one of my best purchases ever.  It sews excellent buttonholes, it is easy to use, and I prefer it to my other vintage buttonholer, which is a Greist.  

Last year I posted a video showing the buttonholer in action.  In this post I shall show how to use it. 

This is the front of the buttonholer, showing the lever which fits over the screw of the needle clamp. When the needle moves up and down, so does the lever, thus operating the mechanism.  

At the centre of the photo is the hole for the fixing screw. 

The fixing screw attaches the buttonholer to the presser bar of the machine in place of the regular presser foot.

The red knob on the top overrides the lever mechanism.  When it is turned clockwise you can adjust the position of the parts shown below.

The prong protruding at the front remains static, whereas the metal piece underneath moves as the buttonhole is being sewn.  

In this photograph the lower piece is as far back as possible, and this is the position it needs to be in when inserting or removing a cam.

The cam fits into the back of the buttonholer.  You just push it in, and it clicks into place.

Once the cam is in, turn the red knob so that the lower part comes forward.  It has two arms, with little lugs on the side.

Now you can attach the rectangular plastic attachment...

... by fitting it over the little lugs.

Now it is time to get the machine ready.  This is my Singer 201K treadle.  I have lowered the feed dogs, removed the foot and its fixing screw, and threaded the machine top and bottom.

To attach the buttonholer to the machine, slide it into place from the back so that the end of the lever fits over the screw of the needle clamp...

... and then insert the fixing screw through to the presser bar and tighten it. 

The red knob needs to be turned again so that the plastic rectangle is pulled back as far as possible, as shown in this photo.

If you look at the reflections in the needle plate, you can see that the underneath of the plastic has rows of tiny sharp pyramid shapes, designed to grip the fabric.

The material is now in position, and the presser bar lever is down, ready for the buttonhole to be stitched.  I have brought the tails of the top and bottom threads forward so they don't get tangled up in the stitching.  Usually I just keep hold of them while I am stitching, but this time I made sure that the top thread was held down underneath the plastic rectangle because my hands weren't going to be free...

... because they were holding the camera!  

Watch how this wonderful contraption works - half a minute of pure magic.  The fabric is moved from side to side to give the zigzag stitch, and also backwards and forwards around the whole buttonhole.  I always go round twice to get a nice firm layer of stitching.

Making the video was a bit of a circus trick - feet treadling, both hands firmly holding the camera, and eyes watching the action through the camera.  It took three attempts.  On the first go I was holding the camera too low and the machine (or was it the buttonholer?) bumped it upwards with the first stitch.  The next time I tried I didn't press the shutter hard enough and didn't catch the beginning of the action.  Thrills and spills.

Finally, time to put the buttonholer away, and put this nifty metal tab to use.  First, make sure to turn the red knob to get the mechanism in the right position for removing the cam (see text in bold and photo above).  Also, make sure the tab is the right way up, with the little metal flap facing upwards.

Slide the tab into the back of the buttonholer under the cam...

... as far as it will go, and the little flap will click into a notch on the underneath of the cam...

... so you can pull it out.

The next bit of excitement will be to do samples of buttonholes with each cam, which will be very handy to refer to rather than doing a fresh test for every project.  Also, it will be great way of using this very photogenic cheerful turquoise cotton, which is otherwise useless because the dye runs like water. I am so glad I didn't chuck it out. 

Linking up with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday

Buttonholes on Tweed

Today I got to grips with the tweed cushion that I am making for my husband.  I needed to cut the quilted panel to size and bind the edges, and then do five buttonholes.  It was a replay of last week when I did the buttonholes on the 1940s blouse - attaching the buttonholer to the 201K treadle and trying not to go crossed eyed at the blur in front of me as the work is swung rapidly side to side beneath the needle.

Here is the back.  I used quilting thread and went twice round the buttonhole to get a nice firm finish. If anything I think the buttonholes turned out better on the tweed than they did on the cotton for the blouse.

I always used to do my buttonholes by hand, which was very time consuming.  Now with the buttonholer how long does one buttonhole take?

About 30 seconds.  Total pleasure.

Linking up today with Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday 

Testing the Ruffler

Yesterday I spent a fair portion of the day playing around with rufflers.  It is about four years since I last used a ruffler and I needed to refresh my memory.

I have four of these gadgets, and I tried out three of them.  One is jammed and needs a good cleaning and oiling.  Another is out of shape and it needs some gentle persuasion with a pair of pliers.  Another is a much older model and I didn't try it.  Those three will all have to wait until another day.

However, this one did what it was supposed to do.  Here it is attached to the Singer 201K treadle, and the camera was just sitting on the bed of the machine.  Now I am looking for ways to use it in my next project, which will probably be another little dress.

Quilts are taking a back seat at the moment.  All I want to do is dressmaking - hardly surprising, being hooked on the Great British Sewing Bee at the moment.  Tonight's instalment promises to be interesting...  I think we shall be seeing some vintage machines in action.  Can't wait.

Linking up today with Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday.  Lots of interesting projects to see there.

Making a Cot Quilt Top on the Singer 201K Treadle

Having enjoyed making the scrappy cot quilt so much, I have started another.  This one will not be quite so scrappy because I am limiting the colour range, using mainly reds, blues, pinks and neutrals.  The little daisies on red are just delightful.

The 201K treadle has been being slightly neglected, so I have decided to give it a decent run on this project.  There is nothing too complicated to do - put the seam guide on the machine and then just make panels out of strips, cut across them to make stripy strips, and join them together as a cot top with yet more plain strips in between...  Making it up as I go along, in other words.

Once I got started with the 201K treadle yesterday it took me slightly by surprise.  I had forgotten how smoothly it runs.  Here is a little video so you can all share in the pleasure.  I can't believe I didn't knock the camera - it was just sitting at the front on the machine getting in the way.

Welcome to Blondie, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

Linking up today with Lee's blog Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday
and also Kelly's blog My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and thread Thursday

Hopping Feet and Singer 201s

This is a bit irritating.  I was looking forward to trying out a bit of free motion work on the 201K treadle and found that my hopping foot wasn't compatible.  The lever above the needle clamp stops dead when it reaches the screw on the cylinder that contains the needle bar, so the needle can rise no higher than shown in the picture.  The screw is essential because it fixes on the last but one hook that the thread passes through.

My brother in law looked at this picture and suggested that because the lever doesn't actually need to be so long the end could be sawn off to give it clearance.  He tells me he has the tools if he wants me to do it.  Otherwise, I can get a different type of hopping foot.

Agonising decisions.  

Update - Decision made...

I've had a think and had good look at how much extra lever there is to play with.  When the foot is attached to the 15K and the needle is in the highest position there is a good quarter of an inch spare at the top.  You can guarantee that if we tried cutting the lever to fit the 201K we would shave off a fraction too much.  I am going to get another type of foot for the 201K - could be interesting!

Dropping the Feed Dogs on the Singer 201K

Last night I tipped back the 201K treadle to drop the feed dogs.  This is the only machine I have on which I can do this.

This screw is at the front underneath the machine.  It took me a good five minutes to turn it because of the sticky oil deposit gumming it up.  This is the only part of this machine that had this problem, so I can only assume that the previous owner or owners were not keen feed dog droppers. This screw is now wrapped up in a fat scarf of cotton wool soaked in paraffin to get the sticky muck off.

The lever in the foreground has been moved down so that the screw now goes into the upper hole. When I want to raise the feed dogs again all I need to do is loosen the screw, push the lever up and tighten it up again with the screw going into the lower hole.

I am going to see if I can get better results from the buttonholer with the feed dogs dropped - I hope I can.

Welcome to ecbrowley, the latest follower.  Thank you for joining!

Rear Inspection Plate on the 1936 Singer 201K Treadle

It has a beautiful Celtic design and positively gleams after a good going over with the metal polish.

When I got this machine I enjoyed visiting Gavin Henderson's blog Oil and Thread and studying his 1950 version of the same machine.  Same cabinet, same decals, but Gavin has the post-war striped faceplate and rear plate, and there are a couple of other minor differences.

Not only has Gavin been cleaning up machines, but he's been doing some serious sewing too.  You will have to search his blog and find a very nice felled seam.

People often send me pictures and messages, so I have decided to start posting links to Followers' blogs so you can admire their machines, and could well all end up visiting each other...

1936 Singer 201K Treadle

Here is the latest machine, a beautiful Singer 201K treadle manufactured in 1936.

I had a devil of a job trying to get decent pictures today - poor light, reflections, etc. etc., but I'm sure you get the general idea...

The only job I have left to do is to get a new treadle belt.  The old belt on it is a bit stretched and keeps slipping.

The easiest way to spot a 201 is to look at the spool pin.  There should be a long, round-ended metal plate beneath the spool pin, which has holes in for oiling.

The needlebar comes down from inside a steel tube.

The needle has to be threaded from right to left, and the needle is set into the needle clamp with the flat side to the left.

And here is a nice loving arty shot of the needle reflected in the plate underneath.

It is time I concentrated on my sewing.