[Written 9 April 2008]
DH bought a pair of dungarees today ("dungarees" is what they have retronymed blue jeans now that "jeans" refers to a fashion garment), and they were about half a foot too long. (Remember when blue jeans came only in extra-tall, and children rolled them up because there is no use shortening pants for someone who is still growing?)
The "electric model" has migrated to the corner of the garage and it would take both of us to dig it out, so after washing and drying the jeans, I opened the White Family Rotary. Couldn't find any points to oil, but it seemed to be running fine anyway -- later on I discovered that I'd downloaded and printed out a manual; I'll have to check it for oiling points.
To my disappointment, the manual didn't tell me what a stitch length of "7" is; definitely not millimeters or mils. Probably arbitrary numbers like those on the tension dial. The manual implied that numbers on the tension dial, so that you can change the tension and then put it back where it had been, were a startling new innovation. (The tension it was set at seemed to work, so I didn't meddle with it, but I did prolonged experimentation with the stitch-length lever.)
The presser foot is the old rigid front-loading foot that preceded the hinged "walking foot" that Singer got so excited about that people are still sewing over pins on purpose. (This "walking foot" was *not* the attachment we call a "walking foot" now; it's an ordinary, standard presser foot.) I believe that the "electric model" also has a rigid foot, and I've seen old treadles with the modern foot.
I broke the needle when I got to the first seam. I suspect that it was the needle that came with the machine, and that the original owner had been sewing fine fabric. (She traded it in on a Singer 600 series, poor soul.) So off to the needle stash, despite the manual's insistence that only White FR needles would work. No #16s, no jeans needles -- I use #14 for making jeans, but I trim excess fabric out of crossing seams, and always mock-fell -- well, the dungaree seams were mock-felled too, but with a three-needle serger that put so much thread on the back that they might as well be flat felled.
But for some mysterious reason, I have a packet of leather needles. Totally un-used; I suspect that I had never even opened the packet after taking it out of the bubble. Looked at one with my 3.5 reading glasses and decided they weren't too destructive to hem RTW jeans, even if they are Carhart. (There is a note under the presser foot reminding me to change that needle!)
With the new needle and a trace of experience, the seams caused no further difficulty, though it took a certain amount of care to avoid an extra-long stitch where the foot falls off the seam.
The Family Rotary has been sitting unused because I could never get my treadling co-ordinated, but to my surprise, I powered more of the hem with the treadle than the handwheel -- I even started it from a dead stop once or twice. Perhaps that is because I'd learned from this group that one doesn't put the feet precisely side by side, but pushes one edge of the treadle with the toe of one foot and the other edge with the heel of the other. I can see that alternating feet is a more-natural rhythm that would make long sessions less fatiguing.
I'd still like to see a machine with pedal cranks sometime; every century or so someone touts his newly-invented treadle drivetrain as an astonishingly-superior way to power a bicycle; there ought to be pedal sewing machines just for balance. One would need toe clips, though, which would not appeal to a harried mother.
[10 April 2008]
I think I'll make a pair of pillowcases today -- but first I've got to hustle the seed potatoes into the ground before the three-day rain that is just starting. Fawchunately, we have only half a row of sets. Joy Beeson