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Politics and Practical Things
May. 11th, 2012 10:10 amSo an American President has actually given lip service to the revolutionary concept that all people are created equal, endowed with certain inalienable rights, chief among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Part of me says it's about damn time. Another, more cynical, part of me notes that it's an election year.
And then there's the whole lovely traffic situation last night, the same thing that happens every time he comes into town. :)
That all aside, though, I spent a good portion of last night working with the Singer 101 on a skirt for Faire. I have decided she (the sewing machine, not the skirt) has earned the name "Mikaela." (All my vintage machines have "m" names - Maggie the handcrank, Moraga the treadle.) The reasoning behind the 101 getting this most special name is that she may look a little trashy (the cabinet needs work), but she's long and lean and elegant, runs as smooth as silk, is mechanically sound (after a day to think about its drink of oil, the bobbin winder works again), and came through when I needed her.
The 101 is a somewhat curious machine. Singer only made it for seventeen years (1920-1937; Mikaela dates from 1931), which seems a long time until you consider that some models they manufactured for upward of fifty years. It's not popular among vintage sewing machine collectors, and I'm not entirely sure why. It was the first machine Singer made that was completely and only intended for electric use. I'm told it doesn't quite have the power of its younger sister, the much-loved 201; maybe that's why? Or maybe its visual oddities offend people's visual sensibilities. Every other sewing machine I know of has a half-moon needle plate; the 101's is square. Stitch length is controlled by a knob on the bed, rather than the trunk, of the machine.
Well, whatever the reasons, I like Mikaela. She's helping me turn two grotty pieces of fabric into a decent skirt. The body of the skirt is a cream linen-look fabric that was riddled with holes on the ends and along the selvedge; I managed to salvage a 99" circumference skirt out of it. Problem is, I could cut enough off one selvedge to get rid of the holes, but doing so on the other side as well would leave the skirt far too short. So I took some sage probably-cotton and applied a wide guard to the bottom of the skirt. The holes on the fabric can still be seen from the inside, but I will patch them by hand later. I've got one welt cut of the same fabric and will probably do a second as well, but if neither can get applied in time for tomorrow, that's fine. My main task for tonight will be pleating the skirt, sewing on a waistband, and applying hooks and eyes.
And then there's the whole lovely traffic situation last night, the same thing that happens every time he comes into town. :)
That all aside, though, I spent a good portion of last night working with the Singer 101 on a skirt for Faire. I have decided she (the sewing machine, not the skirt) has earned the name "Mikaela." (All my vintage machines have "m" names - Maggie the handcrank, Moraga the treadle.) The reasoning behind the 101 getting this most special name is that she may look a little trashy (the cabinet needs work), but she's long and lean and elegant, runs as smooth as silk, is mechanically sound (after a day to think about its drink of oil, the bobbin winder works again), and came through when I needed her.
The 101 is a somewhat curious machine. Singer only made it for seventeen years (1920-1937; Mikaela dates from 1931), which seems a long time until you consider that some models they manufactured for upward of fifty years. It's not popular among vintage sewing machine collectors, and I'm not entirely sure why. It was the first machine Singer made that was completely and only intended for electric use. I'm told it doesn't quite have the power of its younger sister, the much-loved 201; maybe that's why? Or maybe its visual oddities offend people's visual sensibilities. Every other sewing machine I know of has a half-moon needle plate; the 101's is square. Stitch length is controlled by a knob on the bed, rather than the trunk, of the machine.
Well, whatever the reasons, I like Mikaela. She's helping me turn two grotty pieces of fabric into a decent skirt. The body of the skirt is a cream linen-look fabric that was riddled with holes on the ends and along the selvedge; I managed to salvage a 99" circumference skirt out of it. Problem is, I could cut enough off one selvedge to get rid of the holes, but doing so on the other side as well would leave the skirt far too short. So I took some sage probably-cotton and applied a wide guard to the bottom of the skirt. The holes on the fabric can still be seen from the inside, but I will patch them by hand later. I've got one welt cut of the same fabric and will probably do a second as well, but if neither can get applied in time for tomorrow, that's fine. My main task for tonight will be pleating the skirt, sewing on a waistband, and applying hooks and eyes.
