Pattern drafting

There does seem to be some sort of connection. We're probably cousins.

I have two 401As left, one has no motor but the wheel has been ground to accept a treadle belt. I've never gotten it set up in a treadle though. I gave a 403 to one step-daughter, sold a 401 to a dancer who makes her own outfits. There's the XL5000, a Pfaff 1475, a bunch of 301s and two 221s, two 201s, a 316 or 306, I forget which. A Pfaff 360 and I think there's a 130, as well. A Wilcox & Gibbs treadle. Two 66 treadles - one red eye, one lotus. A Sphinx 129 (I think) treadle. A Wheeler & Wilson, several White Family Rotaries including an embossed finish one. Around 3 99s, and a Spartan that I'm going to take the tension from for one of the 99s. A 101. I gave my son a 15 in a treadle and an Elna Supermatic. There's some toys, and maybe another machine or two I've forgotten.... I really should cut down, I think.

The same step-daughter got my old Simplicity serger, and I have a Singer Quantum with 5 threads, that is a lot more complicated. I think I miss my old simple 4 thread one.

My interest in embroidery machines is primarily as ways to embellish garments, such as necklines, collars, jeans legs, and scattered about on the fabric. Beyond that, I may stitch some designs on a few household items.

To me, the sturdiness of the machine and the stitch

Yes, I would agree that this is top priority.

This has not been bettered since the machines which date

I wish every machine had this feature, and may end up eventually getting an older Bernina just to get this. There are some projects where it seems I need to lift the foot every few stitches.

but

It's very sad that more fabric shops are disappearing all the time. Home sewing is becoming an anachronism. Two suppliers are closing in my neighborhood this summer. 8-(((

Sharon

But does he have one of these?

have the 4 stretcher field ambulance version too..... As my main machine a Toyota SM and have a Janome overlocker which are both always plugged in ready to go. The boys use a Singer handcrank, I also have a motorised Singer 66, a Featherweight and a Vickers handcrank.

Lizzy

It sure is. Many people, including me, are buying fabrics via the internet. Problem with that is that you can't feel the drape of the fabric. I went into JoAnn's last week looking for (everyday) dress fabric. They didn't have a single fabric w/o polyester that draped well. And I don't do polyester.

I'm betting you're right!

The nearest I've ever come to machine embroidery on clothes or household items is to use the machine satin stitched scallop design and even one of my geriatric Singers has a cam that will do this.

What sort of designs do you put on your clothes? And bear in mind that I am such a numby because I haven't even looked in detail at any embroidery machines. I do own one book on machine 'embroidery' but from memory it is about freeform 'embroidery' which to my way of thinking is more about fabric making by building up bits and bobs like a 'pizza' type fabric.

I don't know about you, but I am amazed when I've been a steward at our local Show (County Fair in US) and looked closely at the garment construction entries to see how poor the quality of some of the sewn seams have been. If I'd produced something like I've seen, I'd have had the machine of to the sewing shop for an overhaul.

I find it very handy and now when I'm using some old machine without it, I really miss it. I want to "grow into" heirloom sewing (I think this

It's the pits. My favourite fabric shop was driven out by a chain store fabric/homewares shop and the staff and the fabric are all appalling. They don't train the staff, the staff are hired with no knowledge at all of fabrics and they are constantly out of stock of basics that one has to queue for 20 minutes before you can even ask staff if it's in stock.

One of those would be very handy though to put a water tank on in case of a bushfire :-))

Good for a quick kip whilst out doing the shopping.......????

I had to look up a Singer 66 and realised that my mother's old treadle which I have is that model (lovly to use but I keep having to adjust to the treadle when I use it). I also have a Featherweight (a freearm) and would love to have a handcrank one but to date none have come my way.

Fran

My Singer XL5000 has a knee lift, but I also have a broken hemstitcher, old industrial Singer, that has a knee lift on the bench. It's totally mechanical, of course, but operates with a knee lever that mechanically lifts the presser foot. Maybe I should take it off the bench and list it on eBay? ;-) I would guess it could be fit to another machine.