Introducing Genie Singer!

Hello again!  I'm back from camp and have a fun find to share with you all.  Isn't she a beauty!

I found her at a normally ridiculously overpriced consignment shop in town.  The place is packed to the gills with tonnes of overpriced (and often broken) furniture and all sorts of do-dads and treasures.  I literally tripped over one of three sewing machines tucked in the back, and after disregarding the other two, found this little girl!



And it not only worked (so far as I could test at the shop without any fabric and thread), but it was only priced at $45!  I had to get her to repeat it because I thought she must've for sure meant $145.  But nope.  I bought it on the spot and brought her home to clean up.


She's a Singer Genie Model 354, made around 1974 in France.  There's been some great write up's on her, in particular Sally Ann's review and even Peter of Male Pattern Boldness, who owned one before he started blogging (see his pic series here).


I'm not ashamed to admit it took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to open her:




Sneaky!  And even sneakier is where the cable and pedal is hidden:



Apparently not a few people have gotten good deals on these because the seller thought the cable was missing!


Despite first impressions, she's the same size as Maggie Kenmore!  I really thought she was smaller.  She's definitely lighter, being made of plastic instead of metal.  Definitely more transportable than Maggie.  BTW, I've named her Genie Singer.  I know, bask in my creativity.


As you can see above, there's a bit of damage on the faceplate itself.  The needle seems to be moving into the slot fine, so I'm not sure how this happened.  I gave Genie a good cleaning and oiling.  She was actually in pretty good shape, a bit of fluff in the feed dogs and a bit of old grease.  Took me less than 10 minutes, and only that because I had to figure out how to remove the faceplate.  And then I realized it's been a really long time since I've cleaned and oiled poor neglected Maggie.  THAT took me nearly an hour, she was in a shameful state.  I apologized profusely to her, but considering that I then immediately put her away to play with Genie, I'm sure she'll never forgive me.  Poor thing.


Off the hop, I'm having trouble with straight stitching with Genie.  The stitch lines are looking a little drunk, but I suspect that it's more of a tension issue than anything else.  But what I really wanted to try was all of her zigzag options.  Look at them all:




Maggie can only do the standard zigzag (and then do some fancy stitches that Genie can't do, so she's still a few up on Genie).  Genie can do the standard zigzag, a blindstitch, a funky heart monitor-like zigzag which is apparently better for sewing elastic, satin-stitch, and a multi-stitch zigzag - which I've coveted in other machines!  And boy do these stitches look gorgeous (although again, the multi-stitch zigzags look a big drunk because of my wonky straight stitch).




I'm pretty excited about them!


It didn't come with the originally included accessory bag, nor the manual.  Luckily you can either order a paper manual or download a free PDF version of it here at the Singer website.  I'm also really lucky because many of the feet I use most often on Maggie will fit on Genie.  I liked to pick up the lifter piece that allows the faceplate to be raised above the feeddogs for free-motion sewing (the feed dogs on it don't drop down), but honestly, I can do that on Maggie, and I'm happier with her straight stitching.


Genie does have a drop-in bobbin set-up and uses smaller plastic bobbins, but luckily I was able to find them at Wally-World, so that's less hassel than I thought it'd be.

Anywho, that was a looong blog post, but I'm pretty stoked about the new addition to my sewing room (if you couldn't tell).  I'm planning on spending the day sewing, so I'm going to get on that.  Two things though:

1. I know my photos are bigger than usual.  Flickr has changed thing (again), and this is how they're showing up on here.  I might have to switch to a different photo hosting site, because I'm unhappy with the process right now, but we'll see.
2. Does anyone have any suggestions for fixing Genie's straight stitches?  I'm going to play with tension and stitch length, but input from you smart folks would be appreciated!

Happy sewing all!

Baggy Too Loose Cardigan to Cute Semi-Fitted Sweater

POLKADOTS!!!

Back in August or September, I found this adorable cardigan at a local consignment shop.  Despite how the Boyfriend feels about them (and boy does he have strong feeling about them), I adore polkadots!  What person in their right mind doesn't?!  So of course, I had to bring it home with me, to damn with how it fit.

And boy did it not fit.  I guess it wasn't too bad, but bad enough that I proceeded to not wear it at all (despite the polkadots).  See how thrilled I look?  It was too wide across the shoulders, too wide across the body, and the armpits were about 2-3 inches away from mine when I stretched my arms out.  And it looked awful unbuttoned.  What's a sewist to do?!

Obviously shove it under the sewing machine and hope for the best.  So I did just that, right before leaving for camp again in January*, marking out how much and where I wanted to take it in, and then sewing it up.  Well, one side of it, anyways.  And then abandoned it in last-minute work preparations.

First thing I did on getting home last week was trim my seam allowance from the one side...

...then taking a page from Lauren method of transfering aterations from one pant leg to the other, I folded the cardigan in half and traced out the seam allowance, then sewed 1/4 inch away from that line.  Easy peasy.  A bit of trimming and I was done!

Well, other than a bit of quick handsewing to close up the front so that it went from cardigan to sweater.  This is the one time I prefer a sweater to a cardigan.

And Voila!  A nearly instant (if you ignore the months I dithered over this) sweater that I've barely taken off since fixing!  Look!  The armpits are actually close to mine!  Much better.

Also, remind me to never wear my hair up ever again!  YEASH that's not a good look on me.  (And no, I'm not fishing for compliments - at least, not on my hair!  lol)



* Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that?  The silly mine called be back, again.  This time as a production geologist in a more essential (and less expendable) position, so here's to hoping that I don't get laid off from them a third time.  But if I do, at least I'm an old hat at it?  lol

Vintage Pattern Thrifty Finds

So much creating lately, but not much sewing.  Well, other than the Tiramisu I finally finished up for a wedding a couple weeks ago, but there's some tweaks needed so it'll be a post for another day!

Yesterday, I did a bit of retail therapy in the form of treasure hunting at the local thrift store.  I went specifically looking for something to act as a yarn bowl (something to keep balls of yarn from rolling all over my unvacuumed floor), but the only thing that I liked was a super thin-glass round vase, and that's just asking for a cut foot.

I did, however, luck out a bit in the 5 (yes FIVE!) drawers of sewing patterns!  They're mostly filled with 80's and 90's patterns, and since our only fabric shop has only sold Kwik Sew and Burda patterns for decades, there's some real...interesting patterns from that era in those drawers.  Spandex men, women, and kids' athletic gear anyone?

There are some gems every now and then though, and more often then not they're of the vintage rather than modern variety.  Like this cute sleeveless blouse.  Butterick 3286 is basic, but with some great neckline variations.  And, surprise surprise, in my size too!  I'm desperate for more bottom layers...

And look at this cute 1973 jumper and blouse pattern!  Simplicity 5913.  Why do I love the 70's Simplicity patterns so much?  They're colourful cover art from that era always catches my attention.  I normally avoid shift-like dresses (my wip Laurel excluded, of course), but then I noticed the dart shaping:

AND it immediately went into my pile.  Not sure if it's me, as I've barely worn a skirt or dress all summer, but I certainly wasn't leaving it behind!  Thank you, whoever you are, for donating all of your pretty vintage patterns in my size.

Then I found this gem.  I've heard of Stretch & Sew from other bloggers, but I'd never come across them before (that I'd realized, anyways).  I did some reading up on Ann Person, and she sounds like a remarkable woman.  Apparently she received a box of knit remnants from someone after teaching a class in the 60s, and when she went to sew it up into kids clothes she realized that knits were a lot different than wovens.  She started to experiment and came up with her stretch & sew methodology, which she then started teaching to others and creating patterns.  Patterns that are based on real body measurements, apparently.  And then an apparently hugely popular pattern company was born! 

I was surprised to see that the pattern was printed double-sided on a heavy sheet for tracing and includes sizes from 28-44.  Remarkable for a 1967 pattern!  She apparently did this to make it easier for people to get the right fit by grading to other pattern sizes.

The pattern itself is Stretch & Sew 300, and I immediately fell in love with the cardigan on the front.  Looking at the line drawing, it appears to have less shaping than I'd like, but that's not a hard alteration, especially in a knit.  On a more annoying side, this pattern cost me $1, compared to 25 cents all the rest cost, just because it's in a larger envelope.  But then I realized I was getting pissy about paying a dollar for a vintage pattern and shut up.  Perspective: I sometimes lose it.

Oddly, my favourite find out of the bunch was this 1972 McCall's 3272 transfer pattern for embroidery.  Look at all those cheery images!  The marching pengins!  The scottie dog!  THE BEE!  I need to start embroidering happy things all over everything.

Finished Object: The Spotted Blouse

HOLY COW DON'T FAINT, I actually finished something!! Oh I know, I did that scarf 3 weeks ago, but that barely counts.

Actually I started this blouse months ago, but only finished it this past week. Heck, I've worn it too many times to count with both the bottom hem and the sleeves unfinished! Whoops.

Last Wednesday, I had a big meeting at work and we were supposed to dress business casual. I opted for a pair of black trousers I bought a few months ago, and wanted to wear this spotted blouse with it. Except the hem was starting to really fray after...many washes, and what if it was warm and I needed to take off my cardigan?! Hairy sleeves are not so pretty. So late Tuesday night, I hemmed the bottom, and very early Wednesday morning, I hemmed the sleeves.

As I've said, I'm very good at procrastination!

But now it's finished, and I want at least 8 more of these. With a few modifications, of course.

This blouse is Simplicity 2594, view B. It's made with a mystery poly-something polkadot fabric I found at Value Village last summer sometime for just a few bucks. I've been sitting on this fabric for a while, trying to find the perfect pattern to pair with it, and I think I found it. The blouse is bias-cut, and this fabric just hangs beautifully without clinging in awkward places.

The cowl neckline turned out pretty good too. I didn't do a FBA on this as it was very drapy. I'm good with the effect, but I suspect the cowl would be a bit looser and less v-neck if I'd done the FBA. I will say, the cowl seems to hang whatever way it feels like it that day, so sometimes its like this, and sometimes it's softer, and other times it flips out in all the wrong places. I suspect this is just the nature of these cowls.

It's difficult to see in these pictures, but there's some pretty gathers at the shoulder to help the front cowl. I really like the effect.

I think next time I'm going to draft the sleeves a bit longer so that they hang over my ham-hock upper arms a bit more. Seriously, I didn't realize how thick they were until I saw these photos! Ah blog photos. At least it keeps me honest about my body, both the good parts and the bad. lol

Uh yeah, see what I mean about those arms? These sleeves aren't doing me any favours. ANYWAYS, yes that's a yoke across the upper back. It's actually a nice feature, cut on-grain and self-lined for stability and keeps the rest of the bodice hanging nicely. Sadly, the blouse pools on my prominant derriere, so I think I need to finally suck it up and do a sway-back adjustment. It really stands out because of the bias-cut drape.

On a side note, I bought these very skinny jeans a while ago, and have been trying to decide if I like them or not (and whether I should be wearing them). These photos tell me that no, they're not a very good idea, mostly because the fit is awful. They are far too tight, but the one size up was falling off my waist they were so loose up there. *sigh* I hate clothes shopping, especially now that I sew and understand how things should fit. But I do like the narrow leg profile, and I think I need to look into pants like the Clovers.

Anyways, back to this blouse. I really like it as a layering pieces, since yay polkadots, and I practically live in cardigans now. However, I suspect that if I work out the issue with the sway-back and the unflattering sleeves, this will make a great summer top pattern. And frankly, if I was willing to wear this blouse unfinished, a couple fit issues aren't going to keep me out of it this summer.

I mean, wouldn't it look cute with a bright yellow skirt?!

Colour Inspiration: Yellow!

Photo Credit

Colette Patterns is hosting their Spring/Summer Palette Challenge, and Caitlin recently posted her moodboard. She's got a palette full of pretty pastel blues and pinks.

The colors I chose are ones I don’t naturally gravitate towards for myself but I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something new! What about you? Are you planning on using tried and true colors or are your switching it up?

This got me thinking. This spring, despite years of being kind of meh about the colour, I'm all about the colour yellow. I shouldn't be surprised though, I've always thought that there's nothing more cheery than a field of canola or sunflowers on a bright clear Manitoba day!

Photo Credit

Actually, this latest obsession started in the middle of winter, when I found a bunch of lovely spring fabrics in the clearance area at Fabricland and picked up a couple metres of this bright yellow silk noil at 75% off.

It's actually brighter in person, but the lighting outside was pretty poor. Your retnas should be happy though. This fabric is bright!

It screamed at me that it wanted to be a skirt. Why I'd want to put one of the brightest colours in nature on my ample booty I have no idea, but just go with it. I'm still trying to decide what kind of skirt. Originally I was thinking A-line, but maybe a pleated skirt, something with more volume? What do you think?

Anyways, a few weeks ago, I was at Value Village to buy scads of t-shirts and tanks for the summer, and happened to find not one but two bright yellow cardigans! And to top it off, one had giant polkadots. It was a no-brainer.

Every time I wear these cardigans to the office, people comment on how bright and cheery I look. Operation: Canola Field is a success!

Is there any colours that are suddenly catching your attention lately? Or are you sticking with tried and true colours this year? What's been inspiring you lately?

*~~*~~*

Oh hey, speaking of thrift shopping, look at what I found at my local used book store!

Totally worth the $15 I dished out for it!

To Infinity AND BEYOND!

After declaring that I was in a bit of a sewing slump lately (of which I seem to be in good company, if recent blog posts are any indication), I suddenly had a desire to sew. But I didn't want anything too complicated or time consuming, so I thought it was about time to make an infinity scarf.

Last fall, everyone was making these, and I picked up a small piece of this lace-printed cotton/rayon (I think) knit precisely for this project. And just like how everyone else in the sewing world has done at one time or another, got distracted by shiny things and forgot about it.

The whole thing took me under 15 minutes to make, including cutting, pinning, sewing, and then attempting to pull the thing right-side out properly not once, not twice, but thrice before I got it right. Oh, and hand sewing the gap closed. This is about as good as it gets for instant gratification.

But man, I just could not work out how to finish the scarf. First I tried to leave an opening on the side seam to pull it through, but I wound up with the tube on the inside (sorry, didn't think to take pictures). Then I pulled the whole thing wrong side out again, sealed up the side seam, and opened up a section along the joined ends. Same result. Then, and only then, did I google a tutorial. Why yes, I do in fact get my fear of reading instructions first from my Dad. I wound up just hacking out the seam along the joined ends and following the tutorial instructions. Worked like a charm. Hmm...I guess instructions can be helpful afterall...occasionally.

In other news, don't you love this skirt? I found it at Value Village, and was in love with it before I even tried it on. Good thing too, because I found it just as they were trying to kick everyone out of the store at the end of the day, and I had to take it home before I could try it on. Luckily it was a perfect fit!

It's basically a pencil skirt with the bottom part hacked off at an angle and a pieced flaired section sewn on. It's made of a cotton twill (think cargo pants), and drapes and moves beautifully. Would probably be pretty easy to make, actually.

As if I don't have enough to make already!

Coming down for a landing from beyond infinity.

Between the skirt and the infinity scarf, this gave me a great chance to play in the park on my way home! It's been such a weird winter and early spring. Normally we'd have a few feet of snow on the ground still. It's disorienting being able to wear skirts in March! Never mind the +26C weather we had a couple weeks ago!

I hope you're all having fun sewing, or if you're in a slump, that you can kick yourself back out soon. I recommend making an infinity scarf!