A small present

A friend is having a birthday soon and I was very unsure what to do for her.  Eventually I settled on machine embroidered pillow cases.  Using two of her favourite colours I came up with these.

I used the Singer 306 again because of its interchangeably cams.  It was actually remarkably well behaved.  It really didn't like the downward triangles but I had some lightweight interfacing underneath and that helped.

Downward triangles, or upward I suppose if turned up the other way!

I think perhaps I need to play with the tension a bit more but it worked and that's all I'm concerned about!

Oooohhhh tension!

These were really rather neat, I quite liked them.

This has to be one of the more interesting renditions of sideways triangles...

A close up of the cam on the Singer 306

The beautiful Singer 306

The Singer 306 has to be one of the most beautiful machines, in my opinion anyway!  I know a lot of people don't like them and to be truly honest if I'm not feeling patient I prefer not to use them.  They take a shorter needle than your standard sewing machine and have a front loading full-rotary bobbin.  The timing on these machines seems to slip quite easily and unless they are perfectly timed they go from difficult to impossible.  Unless you are sewing slightly rigid, heavy weight, woven material at exactly the right speed they are likely to skip stitches quite frequently, no amount of anything seems to completely rid them of this trait.  I found through testing with my 206 (the pre-cursor to the 306) that they like a spotless and well oiled bobbin and foot area.  Changing the bobbin (which by the way, is flatter than your standard bobbin!) requires you to tilt the machine backwards in its box or stand, no mean feat considering the weight of a 206!  However the one-piece throat-plate is handy because there is little for your thread or material to catch in.  I totally love the zig-zag and needle position adjuster knob though, I've always found it fascinating.  The final catch with these machines is that internally they have a 'cloth' belt which apparently is not particularly robust although in my three they are fine.  I have found a lot of more modern machines use these crimped belts as well but I suspect they may be stronger than the ones used in the 206/306/319 clan.  If sourcing bobbins and needles for these machines is difficult there are a few solutions.  You can re-time the machine to take standard sewing machine needles, some people disagree with this but my 206 is re-timed and works fine.  The machines will sew with standard metal Husqvarna bobbins although they won't wind them.  I buy the Husqvarna bobbins and wind them on a stand-alone bobbin winder, it's easier.  If someone is offering you one of the clan I would say yes and have fun going completely barmy!  They are great if you have patience!  When they're good they're very, very good but when they're bad they're horrid!

An Oldie but a .......Goodie..??

A while ago ( and it was a while ago, when I first started using the 206 as my go-to machine) I made this skirt.

 I liked it, even if it was a little odd because I made it up as I went.......wrong usually!  First time I just stitched the purple broadcloth pieces together and I couldn't get into it so I found some garish quilting material and made pleated side panels and matching waist-band.  I liked it, it was colourful and I love colourful (think Freddie Mercury, Shirley Strachan, Elton John...) but sadly almost everyone else was stuck for something nice to say about it.  I suddenly decided yesterday, what the heck, I was going to wear it out anyway.  So being me, instead of pairing it with plain top and shoes I created this outfit:

Yes I know, just laugh quietly will you?

We are forecast more warm weather this coming week but here are some pictures I took the week before last.

Below are some images of the three 'colourful' mentioned above, in some of their more interesting costumes.

From 'It's A Hard Life', one of my favourite Queen's.

One of Shirl's more interesting, if not better clad, costumes.

And I'm off for another bout of tidying up.....ooohhhh I hate it!

Update

I can't get a bearing off the 206 motor at the moment.  It is in pieces at the moment though.  Pictures to follow.

This is the actual machine, set in its table.  I think it was made in Scotland in 1940 but I can't quite remember, I'll have to check.

It has a fabulous knee lift presser foot which is very useful.

The motor is 1/4 horsepower and mounted underneath the table.

Here are some pictures of the dismantling process.

Firstly I disconnected the electrical wires to the motor.

Then I unlooped the middle metal band, it just clipped down.

The ends then prise off, I'm not all that sure it had been cleaned recently.

Taping a shaped piece of cardboard to the vacuum cleaner nozzle worked very well for vacuuming it clean

After a thorough vacuuming

From the side.

More pictures to follow in the next post and some Christmas photos as well.

Bye-Bye Baby.....For a little While

I haven't completely disappeared......  I've been working on my 206's motor.  It has a bearing.  Quite a few actually but one of them is a naughty bearing.  It is my go-to machine because of its beautiful industrial table.  Its sister, the 306, is getting a work-out at the moment.  Blogger is refusing to let me upload photos tonight.