Been working hard these past few months. I've had very little time to expound on sewing philosphy. My dear daughter went back to school in September and as a result, I went back to work.

I must admit a real passion for working at JoAnn Fabrics. I don't get paid much and it can be physically exhausting sometimes, but it is so much fun and I really love eveyrone who works there. My manager is great and so is the rest of the supervision staff. Our store is the best looking corner store in the NoVA area. As a result of hard work and great sales, we are getting the privilage of becoming a mini superstore soon. In fact, our last shipment was sent on Tuesday so it looks like we will be moving very soon indeed. I can't wait!

As for sewing...well, I have been super busy creating lots of fabulous things. I started my Christmas gift sewing and completed a couple of outfits for my mother and grandmother. I also finished a really cool halloween costume for my daughter. She plans to be Cleopatra for halloween. I decided to cut cost this year since the economy is going to hell in a sewing basket, and use some of my stash to create the outfit. Luckily, it worked well for this garment. The fabric is a gold knit with patches of see through nylon. My DD will have to wear a black shirt and shorts underneath it. I bought a Cleopatra wig and am going to make an egyptian style head peice too.

Got to go sew. I plan to use the designs in Clotilda's Sewing Savvy Christmas edition to create gift bags this year!

Waiting For a New Machine

I've hit a slow down in my pursuit of Antique Sewing Machines. Since I finished fixing the Bowman, I have nothing else to work on. I surfed my local Craigs List and found lots of antique treadles but nothing that was inspiring. Only one was in bad shape and they wanted way to much money for it.

As a result, I was forced to do some sewing today. A project has been brewing int he back of my mind for sometime now. Take a sweatshirt...cut off the neck band and bottom band. Then cut it down the center. Pick a nice cotton and make quilt binding from it. Sew it to the raw edges to make a decorative edge to a sweater jacket. Add a pocket featuring one of my digitized embroidery designs (yes, I'm a digitizer). Perhaps add some designs around the neck and front edges and you have a fun fall sweater.

With this plan in mind, I went to Target to pick up a sweatshirt, but they were not in for the fall season yet, so I picked up a mens size at Walmart. I started my project and have attached the cotton edging so far. I have finished the pocket design and will attach the pocket tomorrow. I chose the antique sewing machine design I just finished. I think it will look quite good. After I am done, I will post a picture on this site and on my personal webpage at http://mysite.verizon.net/restui4l/ I have many lovely things displayed on my personal page as well as embroidery designs for sale!

Well, got to go hunt for a new "old" machine to work on. I would love to get my hands on a pawfoot handcrank. Good luck finding one for a reasonable amount of money.

My Bowman Troubles

I thought I was all done with my restoration of the Bowman (pic at bottom of page). Boy was I sorely mistaken.

I had been anxiouly anticipating the arrival of a full set of feet and accessories for the machine, generously given to me by Katie...owner of the White Research Project website, when they arrived only yesterday. I tore open the package and set about attaching the foot I was missing. I had everything in place and began to sew...only to find that the feed dogs were not moving in an eliptical manner as they should. Nothing was happening.

After hours of inspection and many tears, I bullied my husband into taking a look. It took him all of five minutes to show me that a small wire spring had come loose and it was responsible for creating the forward and backward motion of the feed dogs. I almost laughed out loud. After all that work my husband comes along and fixes it in 5 minutes!! It's good to have a handy husband.

Now it works quite well. If I could only get my hands on an dirty and needy hand crank model from the 1800's I would be all ready to start working on it!

Kel