Where did August go?

I always seem to fall off the Blogland map for part of the summer every year, traveling and enjoying some summer weather keeps me off the computer, so I do have a few things to share.

  My featherweight addiction continues and I have acquired my third machine!  My justification is that I have two daughters, so now there is one for each of us.  (You can't argue with that can you?)  You can see more about my first and second machines here and here.)

This machine was purchased sight unseen from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It was made in 1949 and has the beautiful scroll face plate.  The case is in fantastic shape with no odor and she sews beautifully.  It didn't come with all the original feet, but it did come with some really cool attachments.

The first is this automatic zig zagger with a set of extra stitch patterns.  Since a featherweight is only a straight stitch machine, so this attachment is necessary to do a zig zag style stitch.  It works well and you just exchange the red cams to change to a different design.

The other attachment is even more special.  It is called a hem stitcher.  It is truly a marvel of engineering.

This is what was inside the box.

My understanding is that this attachment is quite collectible.  The main unit was universal and fit on any low shank Singer machine, the cover plate however is machine specific so finding one for a featherweight can be a little trickier. Mine was the right match for the featherweight.

The large piercer at the front pokes a hole in the fabric and then you stitch as the foot moves the fabric from side to side.   It does take a bit of work to get all the parts aligned just right, but mine is in good shape and works really well.  One issue that sometimes arises is the the little gripping rubber bands dry out and crack and fall off the foot. The bands on mine are like new.

Here is a short video I found online that shows it in action.

This is a more detailed and longer video that guided me to getting things set up just right.

 With a little practise I was able to create a pretty respectable example of hemstitching.

 I can't think of a reason that I would need to use this attachment, but learning about it was really interesting, I feel that I should leave you with a little quilting since its been so long.  I just finished this little lap quilt for Donna with the Come Dance with Me Panto.