I have a ton of sewing machines, treadles and cabinets. Well maybe not a ton, maybe a half ton. As I sit here typing there are seven of them are ready for use; cabinets unfolded, bobbins wound, plugged in or treadles belted, needles affixed and threaded.
On any given day I actively use 3-4 machines. Black Swan is the most commonly used treadle. Wicked Queen most often for the electrics. Wicked Queen probably the most used of all over the past month since I had a made to measure project for the wife going on.
The 15-30 in the straight leg treadle is catching up quick though. I'm doing a vest for myself as part of my Philmont (hopefully) wardrobe and wanting to keep it 'period correct' so I'm doing it on a model that went into production before the 20th century. First year of the 15-30 was 1894. I did cheat a bit though, there's some ease stitching required in the shoulder seams, so I put them in with Wicked Queen since the 15-30 doesn't have a numbered stitch regulator and I didn't want to have to spend 10 minutes tweaking it back to 12 stitches per inch after putting in the ease stitch.
I had originally planned to do the vest on the 1908 27-3 and might still swing back over to it when I make the final garment (I'm doing a muslin test garment to check fit right now). I slipped over to the 15-30 because, well, it does the 15 stitch, perfect.
So right now those machines see stitches made on them almost daily. After them comes the 401A. It's not a daily sewer, but it's the zigzag machine. It probably gets used once a week or so.
The New Family (NF) and Improved Family (IF) get used right now just because they are both fun to treadle on. I have a shipment of IF bobbins on the way and once they arrive I'll have more thread options and that may lead to the IF taking the 15-30s place. I'm not for sure, though, I need to tweak the IF a little more to see if I can get 15 quality stitches out of it. For those who don't know the IF is also known at the 15-1, so there is a certain expectation of the 15 quality stitch on my part. The NF is just pretty darn amazing. My sewing instructor was blown away when she saw the stitches it makes. Her statement was "you can buy new machines that don't make that good of a stitch". It's not being used on the current project, but will probably on the next. Like the IF it just needs more bobbins (I only have one currently).
Then there are the portables. The 328K, 301A and Imouto-san. All three of these are ready to go but would need to be put on a counter or something to start sewing. I guess I should include the 50D in the list of portables just so it doesn't feel left out. Of those the 301A is most likely to be used at any point. It's sitting out next to the sofa on a table, but not in a good sewing position.
The 403A is working, closed up in its cabinet but can be ready to go in a few seconds. The 66-1 is 'on display', but can be swapped into a treadle in a minute or so if wanted. Likewise the 1898 27-3, 127-3 and the 66-4 are all fully ready to sew, but don't have treadles to sit in. Once I get tops to put on the Davis irons my plan is for the 1898 27-3 to go in one and the 66-4 to go into the other. The third iron will have machines rotated into it as I play. That will most likely happen once tag sales start in the spring and I can get some tops off irons that people buy to 'repurpose' (take something useful and turn it into tasteless crap).
Next up are the machines that need a bit of electrical to get going. Those are the 1931 66-6, 15-87 and Anna. The 15-87 is the closest ready for use. It is folded away in a cabinet, but the motor is still waiting to be rewired. If I needed to use it right away I could take one of my spare motors off the shelf. The 66-6 has a good motor, it just needs a motor belt and isn't mounted in anything. I have a few spare belts, but since it's a 66 there's no rush to put it on. Anna is cleaned up and ready to sew as well, but when I put power to her, nothing. So there's another motor rebuild on the docket. Like the belted motors, I do have a spare potted motor if I really needed to get her running instantly.
That brings us to the machines in pieces. These guys would take a few days to get back to operational condition if I needed to get them running. Of course this list starts with the 1926 66-6 that is 100% broken down. I still haven't found a suitable repainting solution (one reason apartment living sucks, I can't just go into the back yard and hose it down with some rustoleum) so it's on indefinite hold. The Domestic is likewise in pieces, though not 100% broken down. I work on it here and there, but just can't get excited about cleaning up a non-Singer. I should just put it back together and find a White fan who would swap me a beat up 27 for it. Then there's the 15-91 donor machine. This machine is actually missing parts for and I would need to go shopping to get it back running. Right now my idea is to convert Anna into a 15-88, put her in a treadle then rebuild the donor with Anna's motor and some random parts I pick up as I go along.
The point of that wall of text? Well, I just don't refurbish machines to dump on Ebay or Craigslist. And I don't buy them and sock them away never to be used, maybe the 66s are like that, but shoot, it seems like any good find includes a 66 that has to be taken as part of the deal. I get them, fix them up and then put them back to use. And here is why I started this post. How do I use them?
PART 1
This is a pair of made to measure wool slacks I just completed for the wife.
Finished but for a good press and dry cleaning. She says they are her first bespoke garment. I haven't yet had the heart to say, "No honey, they are made to measure, not bespoke."
So what's the different between made to measure and bespoke? Patterns, fitting and training.
In made to measure you take an existing pattern and modify it to fit the client. In bespoke the tailor drafts each pattern from scratch to fit the client and their tastes. The tailor has studied his craft for years under a master tailor before taking on his own clients.
Bespoke tailors also meet directly with their clients time and time again to fit the garment as they work. They don't just go off measurements but inspect how the garment looks on their client as it progresses. In made to measure the tailor may never even see the client, the client may know nothing about the tailor, if they have even apprenticed or just got hired cause they can make pattern adjustments and are a solid stitcher. If you go somewhere and meet someone to take your measurements and he then passes on your measurements to the tailor, you are getting made to measure. It's not a knock, it's just what it is. A made to measure garment can be the best thing you ever own and a bespoke garment can be a disaster. Shoot if your are one of the lucky folks with perfect sizing, something off the peg might be the best fitting garment you ever get.
I get a chuckle out of the a couple of guys I've seen calling themselves "self-taught bespoke tailors" on the internet, who have never apprenticed for a tailor and do all their construction without ever meeting clients in person, just trading emails. Seriously, folks, there is nothing wrong with calling yourself a self-taught lady's or gentleman's outfitter. It's honest, it's respectable and people won't laugh at you when you say it.
It's not an opinion thing either. There is a Forbes article HERE by Chase Murdock, a made to measure brand owner, that explains the differences between MTM and bespoke much better than I just did.
Rory Duffy, an actual bespoke tailor, has a whole series about drafting and construction of a client's jacket HERE.
PART 2
Okay with that little rant out of the way. Here's a photo of what I've done the most of with my sewing. Camping gear!
If you camp and you know how to sew, there is no reason to buy most of your gear. Compared to garment construction, camping gear is day one sewing. Stitches are long, but they are straight. No tiny fiddly bits to have to work together. The hardest thing is finding room to lay out the material when making something like the camping hammocks above..
The entire house becomes work space. I'm a obsessive about my cutting being exact so even doors get put to use for checking seam alignments.
Cutting takes a long time, not because of any tight curves or the like, just because the seams being dealt with are measured in multiples of yards. Making garments I hate rotary cutters, but with these cuts I greatly prefer the rotary.
Of course no sewing project would be complete without an open flame. Used on ripstop nylon to seal the raw edges.
Once you have the material cut out you are still dealing with individual pieces that are 10+ square yards at a time. Early on I would use safety pins to control the fabric. I've recently gone to binder clips to limit the number of holes I poke in material.
The 'small' pieces for a camping hammock are still over a foot a side. The end triangles to keep the zipper for the bug net from having to make sharp turns.
Getting everything measured, cut and pinned it's then time to start sewing the slippery stuff together. Sewing wool was a dream after dealing with various forms of ripstop and sil-nylon for months. Even the lining for the pants felt like it wanted to stick in place compared to this stuff.
My sewing instructor wondered if I would have trouble doing an invisible zip for the first time. After sewing 30 feet of zipper to bug mesh several times. The garment zipper was almost boring.
That's the sewing on the hammock itself, but all that slippery material needs to go somewhere when not being used. The next project was a little smaller. A quick stuff sack to plop it in. The first french seam I did was for a hammock stuff sack. This one I did while making my wife a chemise which you can see just to the left.
I also stitched some 1" climber's webbing to make the suspension tree huggers, soft against the bark and won't stretch. The soft shackles, suspension ropes and ridgeline are fabricated out of 7/64" Amsteel.
So, here we have it. A few dozen square yards of ripstop and bug mesh. Approaching a football feel length of stitching. A couple of trees, and my ever present cheesy purple rope and we have a full sleep system right?
Wrong. You see hammocks have a dirty little secret that no one selling them to you will advise you about. Hammocks are COLD. See that frozen ground there. Well when you are tent camping you sleep on that. And even frozen ground will provide you with some insulation, eventually, once your body warms it up. All that air space under a hammock never warms up. A sleeping bag is little help, once you are in it in the hammock, you compress it, so the insulation properties are squished away, leading to the dreaded CBS. Cold Butt Syndrome.
Enter the under quilt. The under quilt is suspended from the hammock itself. It snugs around the edge but doesn't hold tight to the bottom. This eliminates compression and allows for the full insulation properties of the quilt to be enjoyed. There are several options for insulating material. Being a masochist I chose Insultex.
Insultex is made up of layers and layers and layers of some slippery synthetic insulation. It's great at keeping you warm, but hell to make a decent seam with. Sure those multiple layers are quilted together, but to get a proper level of warmth you need 3 of the quilted layers stacked together. Oh, and it needs to be shaped to wrap around the bottom of the hammock as well. So there's the joy of trying to dart a material that is made of of tiny slippery layers that really don't want to be darted no matter how nice you ask.
In case that wasn't fun enough I made the spectacular decision of using the lightest (slipperiest) weight (1 oz) ripstop I could find as the outer shell of the underquilt. Because saving an ounce is a big deal in hiking circles. Cashing out your sanity is a small price to pay to have a light backpack.
That picture is from when I decided that the 15-91s (Wicked Queen in particular) are the greatest sewing machines ever made. I'm working with 6 layers of Insultex (3 layers, each with the raw edge folded back over on itself) and 2 layers of light weight ripstop. It's like trying to sew well oiled marshmellows. The 403A puked the stuff all over, chewing up the ripstop, needle hangs, just a big mess. Even Black Swan, still electric at the time, took a powder. Wicked Queen fed it like it was two layers of cotton. Even more impressive was when I put on the folded gross grain for the suspension channel and sewed over the whole thing again. Not a single hiccup in stitching.
Here then is a nearly completed hammock sleeping system.
I say nearly complete, because the last thing, not photographed, is the rain fly. It's about 3 feet longer than the hammock. Made up of two 15' long by 64" wide pieces of silicon impregnated nylon (silnylon) that are flat fell seamed together and then hemmed all the way around. Think of sewing 100' of grease. That's about what it's like. I'm buying the next rain fly I need.
Well this turned out to be a bit of a hike of a post. Hope I didn't bore you. Just felt the need to justify 22... hopefully soon to be 23 sewing machines. Wait, make that 24, I have a friend that needs me to do something that will require finding a nice old industrial. YAY.
No comments:
Post a Comment