Style 4424 Trousers

It has long been an ambition of mine to possess a pair of high waisted trousers.  However, it would seem high waisted trousers are hopelessly out of fashion and I haven't even seen any at work.  Quite by chance I happened to mention this to my mother, who said she had just the pattern.  I actually wanted fitted trousers but I figured that once I had tried these (flares) I could adjust the width on a second pair.  They are remarkably 70's, in fact the pattern is dated 1974.  Without further rambling I will present you with a photograph:

I am making them from a grey heavyish drapeish material.  The instructions gave me multiple headaches, as there is no instructions given for inserting the zip, it just says 'insert as per instructions on zip and zips (these days anyway) do not have insertion instructions on them.  I did a typical centred zip application, which unfortunately is not perfect.  I also managed to interface the waistband facing instead of the waistband itself, which was rather annoying!  Below are some pictures of the sewing process.

The zip, pinned and tacked.

Stitching the waistband facing over the seam.

The finished zip

When it came to taking them up I had a bit of a problem as there was no-one who could help me mark them up.  I ended up taking photos of them at various lengths and judging from that (there's no mirrors either).  Once I had done one leg, I folded the trousers in half and attempted to make the lags the same length.  They are not perfect but I think they will be fine.  I trimmed the excess (quite a lot, even though I shortened the pattern by 7.5cm when I cut it, I think they were designed for a giraffe) to an even length, then overlocked the raw edge and folded it under and stitched.  I then stitched the main hem by hand.  Although I say it myself, I think I did a good job of the hems.  All I need now is a couple of hooks and bars for fastening the waistband.

Trimming the excess

Completed hems

I used the Singer 201K mounted in the Singer 206K table for these.  I had to swap hand wheels to make the belt fit but other than that using the 201 is now a breeze!

The Singer 201K in the 206's stand

When I was (unsuccessfully) looking for some hooks and bars, I came across a card of buttons and some large snap fasteners that I had to share photos of.  They are both English made, something that one can only dream of now!

I love these, I'm not sure I will ever use them, they are too pretty!

I do not know if some snap fasteners still have holes for aligning but the ones I buy do not!

Hopefully I will have hooks and bars soon and then when the weather cools down can wear my new trousers!

Reassembling the Singer 206 Motor

As you may remember back in December 2013 (here)  I took the Singer 206 industrial motor apart in order to replace the bearings.  It sat around in pieces for a year (just over actually) before we got around to removing the bearings and replacing them.  I wish we hadn't put it off so long as it only took 2 days to do!

First we removed the outer, easier, bearing using a gear puller and then we removed the shaft, this left us with one bearing lodged inside the casting and held in with a circlip.  We ran a screwdriver behind the circlip and then we had all three bearings out.  It cost us $35 to buy replacement bearings but I figured it was cheaper than buying another 206.  Below are images:

First bearing removed, second still on shaft

Arrow pints to the circlip holding the bearing in

Using the gear puller to remove the end of the motor and the second bearing

The shaft of the motor, without the casing.

When it came to reassembling the motor and attaching the wires, I was glad I had taken so many photos before but I still could never quite find the right photograph!  While we were doing electrical work on it, we decided to shorten the power lead, so as to cut off a damaged bit.  This resulted in having to rewire the switch on the table.

Switch inside

Despite our concerns the motor now works fine and is MUCH quieter than it was before.  We are considering putting rubber washers on the bolts that hold it on to the table though as the table is hollow and acts as an amplifier.

In other news, I have been quite busy and managed to miss Tallulah Bankhead's birthday, however I thought I would still post a couple of pictures of her.  I love many of her quotes as they make me laugh.

When I stop being so lazy I should have a nice post about the beautiful 201K I acquired a while ago.

Red Scissor Shirt

I have had this red material with scissors on it for quite a while, probably about 6 months.  It was always earmarked for a 3/4 length sleeve shirt.  After we got the Singer 206 back up and running I decided I would make this shirt up on it.  I used my usual shirt pattern, Butterick 6085 in a size 10 with adjustments and no darts.  Below are pictures.

After the collar insertion

Seam finishing using the overlocker

The bottom hem

Topstitching

The scissor buttons

From the front.

Instead of spending forever trying to figure out how to make a buttonhole for scissor shaped buttons, I fastened the shirt with press-studs and stitched the scissors on top.  The sleeves have a slit in them and above each slit I stitched another scissor button.  While the weather is probably not quite right for this shirt yet, when it is, I'll have it ready!

Today is also the birthday of an actress from a film I rather like.  The actress is Donna Reed and the film is It's A Wonderful Life, which was lent to me by a friend, much to my pleasure.

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.