Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Work In Progress Wednesday: Fancy Footwork

Some girls collect shoes. For a year or so, I have been collecting feet. Sewing machine feet, for my vintage Singer. I buy them whenever I see them.

Threads magazine had this article on vintage sewing machine feet and their uses. I popped it open and it was pretty durn good. It wasn't the be all end all, so I also searched away in my vintage Singer manuals and Talbots Complete book of Sewing.

I hadn't set up the Farmer's Wife in awhile and I just got inspired.

I started out with the "tucker".


Easy rows of even tucks.  Seamed up one way and down the other.



And then tucking the tucks.


Can you say Addictive?

Then I tried the embroidery/darning foot...
Sweetly sketchy.


I had a drop by from a friend who does real serious art quilting. She helped me understand the  only problem I'm having is hand and pedal speed coordination. That takes practice. Practice sounds fine. After all, it's just thread and scraps.

Then there's the adjustable hemmer. Okay... it just  hems,  but it hems a Variety  of Widths.


I am really loving the mechanical way these devises work. Every one works with the straight stitch. No fussy width, length or tension adjustments. Industrial Elegance. With patience and practice at speed and guidance, the foot pretty well does the work.

And finally the button holer. Okay ... What? this absolutely SHAMES my modern machine. These button holes are gorgeous by comparison. And it does it by wiggling the fabric back and forth.



Three cheers for the good old days.

More footwork in the future... With some in depth tutorials, vintage how to book pages scanned and road tested vintage feet for sale on Etsy. ( Yes, exhuberence = multiple purchases = extra feet to share with you all)

And another give away coming right up from me and DIY Couture!!

15 comments:

Rebecca said...

Cool! I wish I had more feet! (and a better machine to put them on!)

MissesStitches said...

...and we think we keep improving things!

SteffiD said...

Oh that looks like 'sew' much fun you're having! I'm glad you're loving your feet :)

Wende said...

So, you have a foot fetish. :D

Rose@craftymcgee said...

An adjustable hemmer!! Of course *that's* what it is! I've got one, and just keep it hanging around cause it's so cool looking. I've got an old 1936 Featherweight - now in genteel retirement since my Bernina came along.

Robin said...

Where did you get instructions on the tucker? I picked up one a few years ago but it has just mocked me from my box of feet. I also have a foot fetish i confess.

You can call me Betty, or Bethany, or Beth ...Just don't call me late for dinner. said...

Robin,
I collect manuals and vintage sewing books. I used the Singer manual for that one I think.

I'll be publishing all the info very soon, but can email you a scan or two if you need it.

BB

Amy said...

The tucks are so pretty!

Anonymous said...

Love those feet!

signed, chardgirl

Anonymous said...

Woohoo, aren't they fun?

It's nice to find another attachment packrat, um, I mean 'connoisseur' lol

When I got rid of my old Singer, I saved all the attachments for my Bernina. Using Bernina's extender thingy, I can still use my great old rufflers and other treasures.

Susie

Shelley Noble said...

Fancy Footwork! I need help grasping what this pile of old Bernina Minimac 840 feetisies do!

Threads of Inspiration said...

experimenting with tools is always such a fun thing. Thanks for the post

Georgia Peachez said...

You must check out Charlene's book "the sewing machine attachment manual" and her blog: www.thesewbox.com.
It is amazing what you can do with some of these interesting sewing machine feet and attachments. I love the tucks :->
xo, suzy

dorie said...

bethany,i love your love of manuals. it is so good for the rest of us.

Robyn of Coffee and Cotton said...

Oh you have shamed me. I have 2 Vintage..wait..no, THREE vintage Singers and a box and a giant ziploc of attachments. Rufflers and Pleaters and Hemmers oh my!
Anyway...thanks for reminding me. I am going to get them out and figure out how to use them. Did you mention tutorials????

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