Breveté‚ S.G.D.G. C.L.

This afternoon I was mining for gold, running around to the local thrift stores looking for sewing machines and attachments.  I found this.  It is a hot mess, but despite appearances it is comfortable, but it does need some work.



It has brass hardware that is in very good shape, but sadly the paint is pretty worn, on all of the places you would expect. 




Originally black with gold swirls, all I could find to identify the maker is a mark

"Breveté‚ S.G.D.G. C.L."



I know it's old, I just don't know much about it.  The stuffing is coming out of the bottom and it includes what looks like straw, excelsior and steel wool, covered with burlap and that fine burgundy velvet :)



The back portion has a blue mohair peeking out beneath the red velvet, so I imagine this was not original.  It's going to make a cute bedroom chair once I'm finished with it.

The Singer Monogrammer

I finally got the little bugger to work!!  After several attempts, and finally figuring out that someone had put the monogrammer together improperly, I was able to produce the first of my monogram samples.  They are not large, they measure 3/8" tall.  Good for hankies, or a shirt pocket.  I especially love to watch the monogram unfold in front of me.  The monogrammer comes with an option for satin stitch (which are the samples above), or a straight stitch monogram which is a bit thinner, I might attempt these a little later in the day...

Singer Slantomatics & attachments, feet, throat plates... don't let this happen to you...

This is where it all started...(went wrong)...



I picked up a singer monogrammer for slant shank at the thrift store for $1.50. It had the monogrammer unit, feed dog cover plate, screw, instructions, letter placement template and one cam for the letter "C". So of course my thinking was that for $1.50 what could I lose? This was before picking up my Singer (Rocketeer aka 500A), so this attachment would not fit any of my current machines.... forever the optimist...


So now that I am the proud owner of a Singer Rocketeer 500A. I needed to get educated on what I actually had. Since I have decided to keep this machine to use it for (eventual) denim pocket embroidery and buttonholes. This is just a little blurb about this specific machine in the Slantomatic, Slant-o-matic series and what to consider when buying vintage machines.

a little background....
The Singer Slantomatics had a few versions, the 400, 500, and certain 600's series. These machines are slant shank machines, which means that the needle and pressure foot are at a slight angle forward for better visibility. So any foot you buy will need to be specifically for a slant machine. Here's a graphic representation from the Clotilde website of the different types of feet.

So from my research these are the other model numbers for the Singer Slant machines.
401, 403, 404
500, 503
620, 630, 640

So you can use the same feet and throat plates for all of these.

They have a pressure fit for the throat plates.


These are great, there's a little lever that drops the feed dogs down and it raises two "clamps" allowing you to switch out the throat plate easily, and you don't have to fumble with screws and hunting down screw drivers.

The lever...


The throat plate





The 401, 403, 404, 500, 503, 620, 630, 640 use the same throat plate system.



The plate on the left is what came with the monogrammer (for the 700 series), the one on the right is #161825 which is what I would need to use it. Gratefully it appeared with the buttonhole attachment which would later arrive.

More faceplates & throatplates....
Then there are the 700 series, Stylist 400, Fashion mate 200-300, Stylist 500-800. These take different systems from magnetic, to slide in and magnetic, slide in and clamp. So it is really important that you know which machine you have, so you can buy all of the proper accessories.

Tomorrow... the buttonholer....

Singer Vintage Buttonholer

Well I finally received my Singer Professional buttonholer today #102577. It's been a long wait, I paid for it on the 6th and it just seemed like it took forever to get here. It also came with the elusive plate that I needed for the Rocketeer. I've had some fun just playing with it today, and look at my buttonholes!! How exciting!! Maybe I can finish that safari jacket and belt now.... and that blouse... and those jeans... I'd better get working.

I've been bad...curtains for me..

My last project was a Warm Window cover for my front bedroom. I have been toying with this for awhile, but after my development trimmed down some trees, my sewing room is very hot, and the AC is straining to keep everything cool. And then there is the traffic from the street, which seems to be increasing daily, and it's a bit noisy in my bedroom at night. Unfortunately I didn't photograph the steps taken to complete the project, but I'll be making another for the back room which is my sewing room.

I used a striped silk taffeta bought at a thrift store, and lined it with Warm Window purchased from Joann's with a coupon (because this is expensive otherwise at $28 yd).



Here's the front bedroom.



I still have to hem it, but I'm happy with the result. It was hung up last night and I slept better last night than I have in a long time.... I still don't know if it was the blind or exhaustion from negotiating a large bulky fabric quilt.

I'm Baaack

I am curled up on the couch with a big mug of tea recovering from a 4 day visit with my niece.  We went to the beach everyday (there is sand everywhere), we had mani pedi's (a treat for me), I taught her a fish en papillote recipe (she should make at home for her parents), and we had a Buffy the Vampire marathon, and we tracked down a non expired twinkie 2 pack to share.  It was fun but it's time to get back to work!!

I should finish my little white swiss dot shirt today, so here are a few pics for fun...

Ok, I didn't mean to buy another but.... Singer 15-91

I misread a Craig's list ad, well not so much misread but my eyes skipped over the date which was embedded in the description of the items for sale in the garage sale. It was a lazy Sunday, and the listing appeared around 12:30, it was just 5 minutes away.... I procrastinated and the sale was only from 2-4pm. I got off the couch and went to the sale, lo and behold, they had listed two old Singer sewing machines. One which was an old treadle without the base, and this one that they couldn't get the bentwood case off of. I could only peek at it through one of the ends, but for $20 I took it home with me. It has cleaned up really well.



It really is crazy, I just could not leave it behind.... I had to rescue it, and you should see the buttonholes it makes (with the attachment). I have only experimented but will post pics of the final garment buttonholes when I finish some.