Owner M wished to have the covering replaced on outdoor lounge and increase the thickness of the foam filled seat cushions. Unfortunately we lost the opportunity to take a photo of the original condition but here is a picture of the finished product. Note the four-legged users? They took an immediate liking to the new cushions!
In today’s world of instant information via the internet you would think a quick search would result with the information you are looking for. When you try to find something about an almost 200 year old sewing machine it is not on the side of the Super Information Highway. I would say it is more like information cave exploring. Some of it is out there but you need to dig for it. Go ahead try finding “Thread path for Standard Treadle sewing machine”. Did you realize the Singer Company almost bought up every sewing machine company there was?
So back to the search, as I said it was buried. I finally found a person with a similar machine via Pinterest, noticed they had posted the picture on a forum about vintage sewing machines, so I joined the forum. I posted my question and a member pointed me to a section on the forum that had had a PDF of the original manual. Holy Cow, which is just what I needed. After threading it the correct way I was able to sew two pieces of fabric together. It did take a little more practice at the treadle part though.
It sewed Ok but still not quite right, so I thought I would have Russ come and look at it. After all he now has two professional machines. After some more test runs he thought we needed more bobbin tension. To adjust this you need to make very, very small turns on a tiny, tiny screw located on the bobbin case. I did mention I unburied the machine in my basement filled with other stuff. So Russ was trying to adjust the tension when I hear, Oh s(*@. I turned and said “What happened”, 
“I dropped the screw” Russ said with a troubled look. So after about an hour we finally found it with the aid of a good magnet. All we had to do is but it back in. After another search on the floor we decided we should move to a place where the light was better and the floor was not so available. Well after about another hour of trying to reinstall the screw we finally accomplished the task. Unfortunately after all this work we were still not able to tighten the tension any tighter. The bobbin spring is bent too much. Back to the forum to see if I can find a 200 year old bobbin case, I am sure someone has a few laying around.
So all this because I wanted to try thread painting and possibly using a treadle machine to do it. So I will just use the White sewing machine to get started. Stay tuned, I have to get some new thread.
I being the artistic one as apposed to Russ being the anal retentive machinist type, have been trying out a few new things. I was doing some research on YouTube about sewing and upholstery and ran across something that caught my eye. Thread painting, some call it freehand or free motion embroidering. I also spotted free motion quilting but that will be for another day.
If you want to see what it should look like check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvuHHXyNuFk
Now let me start off my saying “Free” does not mean you can sit down and just create something. First it take hours of YouTube, there is a lot out there. Then you need tools and equipment, more hours of YouTube research. Now let’s see if I have anything that will work. I do, a 1956 White sewing machine that has not been used in 30 years and a 1826 Standard Treadle machine that is buried in the basement under a sand blaster, that is another story later. Maybe I should buy a new machine, but a quick trip to the Quilting shop sent me back home to the not so modern stuff.
Let’s start with the White Rotary sewing machine.
This has been in the family since it was purchased. The receipt in the draw says it was purchased from Yonkers in 1956. This would have probably been my wife’s grandmothers if I had to guess. I could tell by the small drive wheel that was flat on one side it had not been used for a very long time. It was really clean so I purchased a new drive wheel and oiled everything really well. Since I had the original book it did not take too long to learn how to thread it and give it a try. To my surprise it works very well.
Ok, according to YouTube you can do thread painting or free motion quilting on a treadle sewing machine. Check this video out, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEZZj92Gmks . As I mention I just happen to have a treadle machine. So after un-burying it from all the other hobby supplies and tools, I managed to pulled it out to see if it was even an option. Let’s say it was not in the same shape as the White I just fixed up. I managed to clean off the 100 years plus of dirt and grim and made sure it would even move. After some hefty oiling I was ready to put some thread on it and give it try, so I thought.
How difficult could it be, I had bobbins in the drawers that someone maybe a 100 years ago put thread on and there was already a needle in it I just need some thread which was also in the drawer. So you put the spool of thread on the post thing and then under the pin, around the little spiny disk, down through the tension gizmo, through the wire thing then up to the thing that goes up and down and down to another wire loop and then through the unusually small hole in the needle. I grabbed some fabric folded in half and put it under the foot and began to move my feet. At this point I don’t know if it was the thread, the tension, the fact I have no idea what I am doing or what but the thread waded up and broke and the fabric moved back and forth and the machine would not stay moving in any direction. This means more YouTube time. I’ll be back.
OK, before you start thinking you've discovered an article about bags designed to appeal to the motorized crowd, which we're not opposed to making - after all, Alan and I are both long-time licensed motorcycle operators, but this article pertains to a derivative of the Model 1117 bag we came up with a couple of months ago. However, this bag is designed to fit in a pannier on Steve's bicycle (a pannier is basically a bag with a frame and is attached to the bicycle, usually behind the rider on one or either side of the rear wheel - something like a bike basket). You see, Steve only lives a few blocks from the downtown area and major grocery stores. While he's been seen driving his car around town on rare occasion, he's far more frequently observed riding his bike, I suppose due to the associated health benefits, and because it's good for the environment - it could also be that Steve is even more fiscally conservative than me, but I'm not sure that's possible! On the other hand, maybe that's part of why we get along so well.
Bambi and her husband upgraded sailboats late last season and decided over the winter to invest in a new bimini so that it would match with their dodger and sail covers. Using the existing bimini as a pattern, we ordered material, seamed it together and learned to sew zippers in place.
Writing this article and looking back, it's amazing how something that looks so simple turns out to be way more complicated than it needs to be! To share a one example, just for fun, you might think it's be a straight forward process to use the original as a pattern - WRONG! Here's why, first, if you look carefully at the picture above and zoom in tightly to the starboard aft corner (that's the back right corner closest to the camera) you might be able to make out wrinkle lines - there are four pleats on each corner, which I carefully replicated. Upon further investigation it appears pleats aren't necessary if the material is cut correctly in the first place. With that said, there is a rather complex set of instructions to be followed, fortunately they are easy to find on the Internet if you know where to look - like this Building a Bimini video from Sailrite on building a bimini for boats for example. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 and regrettably I made the foolish mistake of working from the original - without first seeing it installed on the frame. Alas, yet another learning opportunity!
While in Chicago to take in the sailboat show we spent a couple of hours at a fabric and textiles discount outlet. Granted, their premise is to buy out businesses going out business, and leftover materials from various industries and as such, and while it’s unlikely one can repeat a purchase you can save a small fortune if you’ve got a project or two in mind! For example, leather is available for a whopping $2.50 per square foot, this is less than half of any place I’ve ever found it and there were shelves stacked from floor to ceiling the width of the building! They also stock thousands of bolts and rolls of fabric ranging from the sheer, silky, and shiny to rugged burlap, canvas, and furniture fabrics. Not to mention foam, notions, and stuff you never knew existed.
Needless to say, Alan and I both dropped a chunk of change at this place violating a cardinal rule we had previously implemented of not buying and stocking excess material due to limited storage. But hey, we’re fiscally frugal and a deal is a deal!
Ever notice how manufacturers make bags just large enough to cover the item they produced? And when I say "just large enough" I'm talking about just barely fitting as in you have to wrestle it on and wrestle it again to get the cover off. Have you been there? If so, you'll totally understand how this can be so frustrating, why can't the manufacturers charge a little more and create covers that slip on and off!!! The trivial amount would be well worth it! But I begin yet another rant...
This project is the case of a boat grill cover that was really tight when you tried pulling it on or taking it off the grill, of course it had seen a few summers of full sun and had not only faded but was beginning to look rather tired.
The process in replacing this cover was to first make a pattern, one we could keep in the event someone else would like the same cover, then cut out the pattern in Sunbrella (or similar fabric), insert grommets, sew along the perimeter, turn and sew the hem, and pull the drawstring through. Pictured below are a few of the steps.
My "before" chair images are a bit sketchy, as in I'm not sure I actually took any pictures of the set of six that came my way this summer. However, I can show a few pictures of "along-the-way" and "after" images.
John got my contact information from a master craftsman and woodworker Tom, who John had hired to restore the wooden portion of a set of six Victorian era Eastlake dining chairs. It was a genuine delight to work with John and I'm pleased to report he asked if I'd be willing to do a few more chairs for him in the future. He's happy, and I'm thrilled!
Before I get to the chairs let's get an overview of the Eastlake style. I'm sure you could pop over to Wikipedia and find information on Charles Eastlake and the Eastlake architectural movement in the Victorian era. From Wikipedia, one of the core principles of this style is reported to be, "Eastlake thought furniture should be good looking and be made by manufacturers who enjoyed their work" or perhaps another way of saying this, he expected the craftspeople to take personal pride in their work - something Alan and I are very much appreciate. My takeaway for identifying the Eastlake style is by examining the furniture for carvings formed into the frame of chairs or faces of other furniture, as opposed to carvings glued onto the wood.
This is a photo of a finished, or nearly finished, Eastlake dining chair. I'll talk about some of the details such as tufting in future articles.
The best I can do for a "before" image is this, a comparison between the before and after inside backs.
Over time, John has accumulated several pieces and after having the wood restored, brought them to me. We decided against restoring with burlap and horsehair, instead opting for post-WWII techniques. As much fun as it could be to work with traditional materials and tools, I have a thing for using air powered staple guns and foam saws! While they didn't exactly match, all six chairs needed to be stripped of old upholstery and new under-seat webbing installed. Which meant the work had to start with a complete tear down then rebuild from scratch. In this case, resetting the coil springs in place after the webbing was installed.
I called my upholster mentor Rollin in for this project for several reasons, but mostly because this was a big one and I didn't want to screw it up by myself! Rollin, remember Rollin? He's my friend who's been doing this kind of work for the past six decades and isn't afraid to tell me to take something apart if it doesn't look right. As I was hand-stitching the springs to the webbing on the first chair, Rollin shook his head and sent me to the supply catalog to buy a Klinch-It tool made for securing coil springs to webbing. I nearly choked upon seeing the price but after I put that tool to work, I figured it would pay for itself after the first couple of jobs!