What have I been making all week? Clearly I haven't been quilting - there aren't any pictures up of what I'm working on or what I've had to frogstitch.
I do all my quilting (not piecing) on a Singer 188K. This machine was made mostly in Great Britain and only during the mid/late seventies. It is an industrial machine (only does straight stitch, has a very well balanced mechanism). I've removed the feed dog so I can do free motion stitching, replaced the two horsepower motor with a standard singer 1.5 hp, and have given it a little light in the back. The only drawback to the machine that I've noticed is that it isn't a Gammill long arm.
Anyway, my general procedure is to drag whichever portion of a sandwich I'm working on up to the throat plate and slide it around and sew. This works well for small motifs or stippling, but for large graceful curves it gives me little hiccoughs in each spot where I have to stop and haul more of the sandwich up onto the throatplate. So for the past week I've been building a trestle table from scraps (the top is a left over piece of 1 1/8" subfloor plywood for example) of previous woodworking projects. I cut a hole so the machine could be fitted flush with the table.
I do all my quilting (not piecing) on a Singer 188K. This machine was made mostly in Great Britain and only during the mid/late seventies. It is an industrial machine (only does straight stitch, has a very well balanced mechanism). I've removed the feed dog so I can do free motion stitching, replaced the two horsepower motor with a standard singer 1.5 hp, and have given it a little light in the back. The only drawback to the machine that I've noticed is that it isn't a Gammill long arm.
Anyway, my general procedure is to drag whichever portion of a sandwich I'm working on up to the throat plate and slide it around and sew. This works well for small motifs or stippling, but for large graceful curves it gives me little hiccoughs in each spot where I have to stop and haul more of the sandwich up onto the throatplate. So for the past week I've been building a trestle table from scraps (the top is a left over piece of 1 1/8" subfloor plywood for example) of previous woodworking projects. I cut a hole so the machine could be fitted flush with the table.
Voila!
The ONLY reason I'm writing this blog entry is because that last coat of varnish on the top really should be allowed another three or four hours to harden before I start dragging a safety pin loaded quilt around on it.
What have I been making this week? Sawdust!
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Very nice!
ReplyDeleteI can bring the Simon quilt (remind me). I bought it from an antique store. Basted it yesterday and it was cool looking at all the fabrics! I think mostly shirtings.
WOW! You made that? I am so impressed! That's terrific! Altogether a really nice set-up - that will work really well for you. BTW - the BWR quilt on your bed is very cool!
ReplyDeleteFantastic job!!! I think it will work perfect for you, besides being a pretty piece of furniture.
ReplyDeleteHow cool is that?! I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing. I am very impressed and what a wonderful way to solve that quilting problem - way over the top too! Will you be taking orders :)
ReplyDeletejuliann this is what i do for a living - if you really want a table like this one i'd be happy to make it for you!
ReplyDeleteSuper table, and I'm impressed you made it yourself! I love your quilts... keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteCaron in Michigan
http://blog.caronmosey.com