Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

I've today ordered a sewing machine off ebay. It's this one

http://www.whsmithentertainment.co.uk/electronics/new-arrivals-electronics/beldray-12-stitch-sewing-machine-bundle-with-free-200-pc-sewing-kit-with-carry-case/10285271.html


I got it for £26 inc delivery. Now i've never been a crafty type and don't really know how to make anything so I might be asking lots of questions.

wow £26?!  that looks a good deal!  I don't know anything about sewing machines either I'm afraid, I would like one though so will get one someday! 

I don;t know how you can say you're not crafty, when you've just been posting pics of things you've made!  I'm sure you'll have the hang of sewing in no time.

Wow, that's a bargain!  Mine cost around £500  :(

Wow, that's a great deal, good buy. Must root mine out, haven't seen it since I moved here. ::)

Eire

Fab deal :D I have one that my aunt gave to me, it's quite smalll, and all I've learned so far is how to thread it  :mwaha:
I did use sewing machines at school, but that was over 10 years ago!

That is a bargain...

Alphya thats exactly where i am, used a sewing machine to make a tie, a cushion and a make up bag when i was at school but thats well over ten years ago now.

hoping to make some dolls clothes with it for my neice's dollies

Aw that will be nice, good luck, and make sure you show us how you get on.
Me, I'd love to be able to make myself a nice soaping apron :)

Enjoy yourself.

Haven't had my sewing machine out ofr a few years - it's one of those Toyota models with drop-in cams for different stitches.

EJ - I might need your help, my mum bought one of those as her old one finally gave up the Ghost (after 54 years of heavy use!) and I am currently trying to translate the manual for her (it was sold in Germany, but the manual is pidgin english)

Nor sure whether I have a manual - Jones bought me the machine secondhand from a stand in Mold covered market - he didn't ask me (pre mobile phone) but he like the idea of  mechanical control for stitch patterns rather than electronic.

I use sewing machines intuitively having grown up using them; fro Mum's treadle (I wasn't big enough to reach so she used to operate the treadle from the other side while I sewed) and Grandma's hand turned.

Then Mum bought an electric machine when we had electricicity put into the house (early 1950s) but we had to put on a couple of room lights when using it as the generator didn't like the speed variations.

She bought me a 2nd hand Singer, straight and zig-zag, for my 21st and that lasted for years - but eventually I had to do strange things with the tension spring so I couldn't teach Child to use it (she wasn't sewing orientated anyway).

I have an ancient Jones hand turned which Jones rescued from a customer's car (it was on it's way to the tip) which is immaculate - but it has a torpedo shaped shuttle and the bobbins are difficult to find these days, I have just two (must remind him next time he goes to an antiques fair).

ah - my mum's is different then - all electronic. The one that gave up the Ghost after 54 years was a Singer, electric, but otherwise very much like yours. 2 Stitches, straight and zig zag - mum and me made loads of clothes on that machine. My parents were upper middle class, but that still didn't mean they could afford designer clothes for me. So my mum made them and taught me how to. I was ballroom dancing and I made my first evening gown on that machine. It was stunning red raw silk. Could have never afforded it in the shop. We didn't even have a dummy. Just lots of Burda patterns and imagination! I will miss that thing, even though it weighed a ton, all cast ir*n and steel, not a single plastic part!

My mum's a dressmaker so I preferrred her to do the hard work with machines whilst I was "creative" with embroidery ;) I have an old new home electric machine - have never liked machines that have tons to go wrong with stitches you'll never use - like washing machines with 20 settings and you only use 2. However, we do have three singers, a hand one from 1900's ish, a beauty of a treadle from 30's that this laptop is resting on at the moment, then an absolute joy of a 50's treadle in a cabinet. One of my hobbies with Stan last year was learning how to dismantle them and recondition them. EJ I have a couple of links somewhere for spare shuttles and so on if you want me to dig them out - one is a lovely lady who is very reasonably priced - got a 50' zig zag contraption from her that looks like an instrument of torture!

Ta - some bobbins for the torpedo shuttle would be handy.

This one has a few - they are quite good on the phone for the odd one they don't show - here are the spindle bits

http://www.singermachines.co.uk/sewingmachineparts/bobbins/?p=3

and this one is the "nice lady"! She has a brilliant supply and is very helpful

http://www.helenhowes-sewingmachines.co.uk/bobbins.html

Hope that helps EJ - it really is a pleasure to use these old machines, (I had a hankering for an old Jones - machine I mean! - as they were made not far from where I live now and look lovely) and if they are maintained they are the most eco-friendly sewing machine as long as you feed the operator!

Wow nicola, the nice lady's site is exciting to browse through. I really like how she asks folks to be responsible with their bobbin buying! I have a hand singer with a shuttle but I've never really used it as I have a electric machine. OH and I have a machine each and find it really hard if we have to use the others. I'm not super keen on him using mine though as he tends to "floor it"! I feel a bit inspired to have a play with the shuttle machine to see if I can get a feel for it.

curlyW it'll be so nice to know that you can just whizz up little things as the fancy takes you!

Thanks for the links Nicola.

It's a pleasure to be of a little help - you are very welcome. :buttrf:

I would love to be able to use a sewing machine, I got one of those mini efforts but it was a pile of poop

Honestly B, an old fashioned hand crank is sooo simple - just straight stitches but it's all you need to make loads of things, and the beauty of the old machines is that they were designed to last, and designed to be understood, almost nothing cannot be taken apart and put together, honestly - and I got my Victorian one for £12 on e-bay and it is so unfrightening and I made loads of Christmas presents on it. All you have to do is hold a pice of fabric with one hand and turn a handle with the other as slow as you want...go on girl, you can make all sorts of complicated bath thingies so this would be simple, and with a machine, when the world falls apart and electricity is a dim and distant memory only for rich people, you will be running up a nifty skirt on your machine for the dancing!  :buttrf:

 :mwaha:

off I pop to ebay then... then maybe to look for dance classes and to dig my veg patch  ;)  



I'm back.. my word how beautiful are those old machines! watching a couple now  ;D  ;D

Me again, you naughty enablers look what I just bought  :mwaha:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120694386580&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120694386580&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)

Hope that's a decent machine? (even if it's not there seems to be a huge amount of free knitting and crochet hooks with it too!)

Could you pretty please point me in the direction of some cheapie fabrics to practice on

Oh no what have I done - encouraged consumerism noooo....any way, now you have one (it looks in good nick, but can't see any bobbins, feet and so on) a whole world of buying little bits for it open for you! The lady on my link can help with some spares - your machine should have a model number somwhere on a plaque near the front - look it up here

http://www.singerco.com/support/serial_1letter.html

so you know what you have got and when it was made. If you have no manual they can often be downloaded free or got from here

http://www.singermachines.co.uk/sewingmachineparts/instruction-books/

and if you want to go mad and clean it or understand how it works look here

http://www.tfsr.org/pub/technical_info/sewing_machine_manual/

Best bet for practising is charity shop sheets or duvet covers - you can make an apron for bath stuff making! I do have some fabric links somewhere though - Ikea is brilliant for heavier weight stuff to make shopping bags from. Wow, a whole new hobby to start it's like first love isn't it! :buttrf:

I bought a 1970's bernina on ebay. I love it. My mum loved it too, so I found another one on ebay for her! it will sew through practically anything! it is a work horse, but I also made my wedding dress on it. I cannot explain just how great it is!

My machine came  ;D I've looked up the serial number and it's from 1898  :o

There's a couple of bits here that I'm unsure if so any help would be fab

link to pics cos I can't seem to post any
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48739901@N04/5526197099/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48739901@N04/5526197099/)

The metal bit (pic 005) came from the compartment on the machine base, the wooden thing (pic 003) came in a bag with knitting needles and crochet hooks and I can't remember which bit I picked the key up from (pic 005)  ::)

The wooden thing (sigh you young things - I used to sell these in haberdashery in a Saturday job) is a darning mushroom if I am not mistaken - put the sock over the dome, and darn the hole. Just sending the metal thing (I think a foot) to mum as she will know. Key - who knows?! I got allsorts with one of mine - I think the bottom of sewing machines is where people used to put the stuff that now goes in that drawer in the kitchen...you know the one....the one that you have to hold the bits down to close!

Ditto re the darning mushroom!

The "metal thing" looks like a zipper foot - i.e. where you would be wanting to sew as close to the edge of the fabric as possible and a normal 2 pronged foot would hit the teeth of the zip.

If there's a box like compartment at one end of the base (for accessories) and this compartment has a metal lid then the key could well be to "lock" the lid in position to stope it moving when the machine is being carried.

Yes, EJ, mum thought a zipper foot too - however, if it has a metal rod thing like on here, lower down the page

http://www.helenhowes-sewingmachines.co.uk/oddfeet.html

that fits into it , and it is as old as the machine it is likely a quilting foot - I had a few without the rod which must have been lost - the rod sort of guides for spacing if you were quilting a big piece.

Thank you! I would never have guessed for sock darning! I was thinking it was for winding something lol

All the knitting needles are in old sizes too, there's quite a few patterns in and I'm going to have a go at one of them (the one in the pic) as it's the right size for all 3 of my children.. it'd be rude not to really  :buttrf:

Going to try and thread it up later and have a bash, don't want to do it now as L (age 5) has already been turning the handle and trying to figure it out, he's such a boy and has to know how everything works  ::)  :mwaha:

*tut* if I'd looked properly I'd have noticed the number on it! google tells me it's a presser foot? *whispers* what's a presser foot? :mwaha:

or a cording attachment...

Presser foot just means foot as far as I know (google = american). :) Study the manual, check and clean it, oil it (sewing machine oil only!) thread that baby up, and post some pictures of the results!

By the way, ravelry is the website for free knitting/crochet pattern ideas, and http://www.sewmamasew.com/tutorials.php good American site for basics and tutorials with machine sewing.

The presser foot is the piece that to presses the 2 layers of fabric together evenly to stitch together, it should have a channel with 2 pieces of metal on either side.  A zipper foot is similar, but all the metal is offset to one side so you can stitch closely to the edge.

Hope that helps.

(http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n549/Cocoyvictor/wilcox_gibbs_diagram.jpg)

Barb. I think the key thingy is a screw driver for adjusting the tension in the shuttle! The machine is a lot like mine but mine I thing is 1905, still with the shuttle and straight bobbin.

I think my favourite part it the bobbin winder, I could do/watch it all day  ::)

quick question for everyone, are bobbins and needles universal across machines?  or do i need to buy ones particular for the machine i have?

It is, only it's from a different machine and doesn't fit  ::)

So far I've figured out how to load the long bobbin and thread it up, just trying to get the tensions right now, I either have top thread or bottom thread  ::)