It arrived! It arrived! You need to get this book!

Hi there!  Yesterday, 12/26/12, my brand new Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing arrived!  Yay!  I'm so happy!  This truly is one of the best and most informative books on sewing I've read in many many years!  So dear readers I urge you, buy Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing!  Not only are Gretchen's patterns really fabulous, but the instructions she gives you on how to complete each look and each pattern are very well written, clear and to the point!  She shows you how to do so many different sewing skills that have either fallen by the wayside or else the skills are just not being taught any more and they should be!

Get this book:  Click on the box below where you see "Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing".  You'll be glad you did!  Thank you.

Pamela's Embroidery

Hi dear readers!  Today on Christmas Eve I have a new link to share with you!  

Pamela's Embroider 

This kind lady lives in Australia and she makes some of the most beautiful machine embroidery designs I've seen in some time - not that there are not many many beautiful embroidery artists out there!

I hope that everyone has Happy Holidays!

Patterns from the Past and Gertie's New Book

Hi there!  Today I'd like to talk about a great site, Patterns from the Past:  Click here  I was reminded of this website by Mrs. Depew's blog:  Click here.  What's great about Patterns from the Past is that Michelle is having a big sale and also a $50 giveaway!  Why don't you pop on over to Patterns from the Past and pick out your favorite pattern and post it on Mrs. Depew's blog?  You might win! 

Next I want to talk about Gertie's New Book for Sewing by Gretchen Hirsch.  Just click on the amazon button - please! 

I have a fair number of sewing books scattered around the house from various, different authors, but no book has excited me more in recent times than this one!  I have ordered it and I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival.

Although Gertie's main focus is on patterns and sewing methods used in the 1950's, it is a great reference for those interested in sewing better, couture sewing, or making fabulous clothing from the past!  You won't be sorry with this book!  It is hard, spiral-bound so you can open it up near your sewing machine or sewing area and follow along.  She references the techniques she is using to create specific, (absolutely gorgeous), fashions by page number so say if you wanted to create a bound button hole, she would tell you to go to the page where this technique is explained.  Her explanations are terrific and fully illustrated!  Even a beginner like me is left anxious to try them!  She also includes a number of patterns right in the book in the folder so you can pull out the specific pattern you want to make, place it on your table, trace it and voila - a custom made pattern just for you!  She shows how to alter patterns to fit and so many other skills and techniques too numerous to mention here.  If you have no other sewing book, I highly, HIGHLY recommend you get, "Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing."  Click on the amazon button above please.  Also have a look at Gretchen's blog here.

Be sure and leave me your comments, questions, suggestions or anything you like!  Also please follow me as I will endeavor to post more!

Convert Your Mechanical Sewing Machine to Hand Crank

Hi there!  Eureka it actually works!  I thought about the idea of converting my New Home model SS-2015 mechanical electric sewing machine to hand crank for a long time.  Why? 

1. With the coming skyrocketing rates in electricity there may come a time when we can't afford the electrical bills.
2. This model of sewing machine has many decorative stitches that the older models of sewing machines just don't have.  It would be nice to keep those decorative stitches, even without electricity.
3. This sewing machine is portable.

The first part was I had to figure out how to take the handwheel off.  It turned out that there was a little circle in the center that was just a plastic cover.  I pried that off, gently, with a fake allen wrench.  After that I removed the side panel screw and the side panel.  Luckily for me there was no allen screw in the vents of the side panel.  It just popped off after a bit of gentle prying.  Then I took off a clip which was there to hold the handle of the sewing machine on the top and side part.  Then the motor belt came slipping off.  After that I removed the handwheel by means of a screw in the center of it. 

Then I thought about what I actually would need to convert it to a hand crank.  What I really needed was a handwheel with a handle on it.  I looked on eBay and found this one:

 

This is a 12mm x 125mm Milling Machine 3 Spoke Hand Wheel with Revolving attached handle.  The wheel is a bit heavy, but not overly so and is made of a hard plastic with steel parts.  The handle screws into a recessed hole located in the outer rim as you see.  

I put the sewing machine back together including the side panel.  Afterwards my husband took the new handwheel and went to Ace Hardware where he found a bolt and some washers.  It was then a simple matter of putting on the washers and bolting the handwheel to the outside of the old handwheel, making sure that the two handwheels meshed tightly together so that they would turn as one.

Cons:  

1. I can't put on the hard case on the outside of the machine.
2. I would be unable to use the stop lock, formerly in the center, to disengage the needle for winding bobbins.

The results are very good in my opinion:

Now this machine can sew either with or without electricity.  I have sewn a bit on scrap cloth both ways.

Cost of this project:  $13.00 for the "new" handwheel, $5.00 for the bolt and washers.  Time and labor on our part.

Hope this helps someone who is considering converting to treadle or handcrank, but who does not want to go out and buy a whole other sewing machine!

 Thank you for reading!  Please be sure to follow me, subscribe and leave your comments.  Let me know what you think?