Tag Archives: accessories

Sewing Machines, Site News

The shop is up and running!

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As I mentioned in last week’s post, I’ve decided to finally set up the shop completely.  With the way we all do things changing from day to day, this seemed like the right time.

For years, I’ve mentioned in posts that I would put this or that into the shop when I had a chance.  Now that my IT work and sewing machine repairs have slowed to a halt due to the pandemic, it’s bubbled to the top of the list. Everything’s been photographed and a description added.  I’ve tried to be as descriptive as possible but do check attached photos as well.

This means : Continue reading The shop is up and running! →

Longarm Quilting, Patterns, Quilting, Sewing Machines

A new pattern for a new year!

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Happy New Year everyone!

If anyone had told me a few years ago that I’d be teaching people to maintain their vintage machines, I’d have probably thought they were crazy.   We’re planning more workshops for 2016 though!

For that matter, if they’d told me that I’d be quilting on a massive quilting frame and have a long arm as my most consistent dance partner and half my basement dedicated to sewing machines and quilting, I’d have shook my head and thought they really didn’t know me.

Similarly, it never occurred to me that I’d become a published pattern designer.  As of today, this too though has come to pass.  Today, my very first pattern has been uploaded to Craftsy and is available for sale and proceeds from this pattern will support the upkeep of ArchaicArcane.com and facilitate the upgrade of certain video making equipment. Continue reading A new pattern for a new year! →

Life, Sewing Machines, Site News

A Million Miles – traveling to speak and teach!

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Note: Amended date!  I goofed ladies and gentlemen, April 16th is the date, not March!

Update: 2014-04-09 – It looks like the Evening class is tentatively full (may be able to open 1 more spot) and there is one left open for the morning class.  If you wanted to get in, now’s your chance!  We’ve been chatting about the possibility of me doing the class again in the future in William’s Lake, but there’s no firm timeline for it.

OK, so it’s not quite a million miles but I bet it feels like it by the time I get home.

I’m going to be teaching people just like you how to service and restore their vintage machines in BC next month! 🙂

Beauties like this:

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The Cariboo Piecemakers quilt guild has asked me to speak to the group about vintage sewing machines at their Tuesday meeting.   The following day I will be doing a marathon training session.

The class is in William’s Lake, B.C. Canada (approximately 3 hours out of Kamloops) the Wednesday before Easter (March  APRIL 16th) at the Pioneer Complex, and we have just added a second session and there’s currently a little room left.   The tentative times for the classes are 10am to 3pm with a break for lunch and 5pm to 9pm.  If you’re interested in attending, leave me a comment below or contact me here.

Here’s what I’m planning to cover: Continue reading A Million Miles – traveling to speak and teach! →

Sewing Machines, Site News, VSM Repair

Greased Lightning – Singer motor lube in Canada

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Update 06-30-2016:  The latest batch of Singer Lube I received from the supplier is no longer suitable for use in Singer motors.  As such, I’m recommending the use of Petroleum jelly.

People far smarter than me are recommending it and White Sewing machine motors of the same time period used it.

 

Over the last few months, I’ve been hearing that Singer Lube / Lubricant / Motor Lube (S2129)  is getting really hard to find, especially here in Canada. This has been my experience as a consumer as well.  Walmart used to carry it, but no longer.  I believe that it may have been at Fabricland at one point.  Also, no longer.  With the loss of the Singer store in Edmonton, there were no longer any options I was aware of in my area. Continue reading Greased Lightning – Singer motor lube in Canada →

Sewing Machines

Sewing articles to come

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  • Introductions to our whole sewing machine family, and how I ended up collecting.  It should never have happened really
  • Feet and attachments – They’re an addiction all of their own or “Style boxes, can I help you assemble yours?”
  • Featherweights and their poor sore feet
  • Oil Cans – Dating them
  • Screwdrivers – Why they’re so hard to find, or little boys with mommy’s toys
  • Basic adjustments you can do to make your sewing machine love you again
  • An impromptu article – What a Pile of …. or rebuilding your carbon pile button foot pedal.  A complete tear down.
  • A Kenmore? How did that happen? Or “another way to up your machine count”
  • Tension – Not just the stuff between your shoulders
  • Fade to white – Experiments with “whitening” products to revert the yellowed color of your plastic machine back to its factory color.

Please let me know if there are any articles you want to see, and if I have access to the items I need for the article, and the knowledge, I’d be happy to post about it.

Sewing Machines

A find at the local V.V. Boutique

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Or Value Village to the uninitiated.

Normally this is a place I avoid, but my recent quest to find all of the books in the “Singer Sewing Reference Library” has me haunting all of the thrift shops I can find.  Next weekend’s quest will lead us to the flea markets.

I was really only looking for the books, honestly.  Then I decided to wander over to the furniture section, to see if there were any machines there, just for fun.  So many of the machines I’ve been finding in the thrift stores are incomplete or “not working”, so I felt not a lot of risk.  Besides, hadn’t Ryan and I just been talking in the truck on the way over here about me not looking for another machine?  Really, I have all that I need, the only one that I might look for would be a really good “zigzagger”, for some finishing work, but it really wasn’t a priority…

Then it happened.  Continue reading A find at the local V.V. Boutique →