thriftwizard's extreme patchwork...

2009-05-17T00:39:00.000-07:00

For simplicity's sake, I'm closing down my other blogs, for now at least, and redirecting everyone to my everyday maunderings, which you can find at Recycled Lifestyle.

I may well pick up the threads again one day in cyberspace, as I regularly do in real life, but there's too much on my plate just now to post regularly in several different places. I'm still rescuing machines, and still crazy-patching, more than ever now I've turned Big Bad Jones (the 565) into a treadle, but struggling to find the time to write about it all. So - see you over at Recycled Lifestyle!

2008-06-16T03:25:00.000-07:00

Long time no post... Been busy!

This is what it's all about; what could be more peaceful & productive than quilting in a shady corner of the garden with Austen's "Mayor Of Casterbridge" rose nodding gracefully & fragrantly over my shoulder? Using the Singer 201K that turned up at the tip on my birthday, too!

The constant spate of machines to rescue seems to have dried up for a day or two; perhaps the good citizens of East Dorset have now achieved a Zen-like decluttered state and thrown away everything that might conceivably be of any use one day. Even the fabric skip has been full of real rubbish for the last few days, hence a slow-down on the Morsbagging too. So I've had a chance to catch up on a few UFOs, especially as the twins are now nearing the end of their GCSE exams; it will be blissful to have a break from the constant background tension that these have produced. I have also managed to sell on a few of the machines in better decorative order, which allows me to maintain the polite fiction that my efforts aren't draining the family finances too far.

In the meantime I have been introduced to a few more creative textile ideas; thanks to Carrie and Caroline, I've had a go at felting and tatting. As my younger daughter now wished to re-enter the formal education system, I'm beginning to realise that during the next year, I can take the first steps towards turning my dreams of a small, basic creative textile workshop into reality. This is an awesome and possibly slightly scary thought, but hey! the time is right! The place isn't, but I can't expect to have it all and I just need to start somewhere and adapt as I go along. Wish me luck!

2007-11-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

It may not be patchwork...

...but it is quilting. I might get the hang of this yet! I used my trusty 1909 Jones Medium CS treadle to quilt this, having first stitched the scraps onto an old sheet using a super-sturdy Jones 565 with embroidery cams. Then I made a quilt sandwich using an old towel and a layer of the lovely silky stuff from the dress my mother wore to my wedding. It's really strong and a practical size, big enough for all the things I need to carry if I'm not out for the whole day. Although I probably should have added a pocket for the screwdrivers I always carry, in case I should happen to come across a sewing machine in distress...

It's fastened with a home-made beaded Dorset Button, another favourite fad of mine. A little more portable than sewing machines, too. But somehow Thriftwizard's Extreme Dorset Buttons doesn't have quite the same ring to it - or does it?

2007-10-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Aha! Ahahaha.... Cue mad laughter - the reason I haven't been able to log in to my account was because I had misspelt my email address... There's one born every minute, as my mother would say. And what a lot's gone on in the past few months; between me, my kids, my fellow Freecyclers, those lovely young men at the tip (OK, Fester, you're not that old!) TFSR,TWAM and WorkAid, we have now rescued and sent off nearly 50 sewing machines, which would otherwise just have been sent for scrapping. Which pleases me! And some woodworking & gardening tools, too. We're currently sharing our living space with 5 treadles and an assortment of machines that I can't quite bear to let go of yet, for one reason or another; some are of no use to the charities, as they use needles which went out of production 20-odd years ago, or they're too small to be practical, and one or two are of genuine historical interest, so won't be sent out until the discussions are over. Anyway, I will just post a couple of pix, one of a little rustbucket I picked up last Friday,

and one of what it looked like after Sarah's science lesson on Monday:

So you can see we have been busy. Now to try to get my login sorted out...

2007-04-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

Funny old world we live in. We still haven't started on the quilt, but we've rescued loads of sewing machines now; another 5 left for Africa on Easter Sunday. People are contacting me out of the blue and asking me to take them on; the last three arrived on the doorstep on Sunday morning, about an hour before TWAM's local rep came to pick some up, so one, a pretty little Singer 99K that just needed brush-out & a drop of oil, went straight off with him! One of the others, a 201K, just needs to be turned over to handcrank, which I will do over the weekend, and the last is a little more - well, fun, being a Davis VS - the first American machine to pass through my hands.
We've also been off to two places that would have made fantastic locations for this project, Pembrokeshire in Wales and North Devon. But it wasn't possible to take a machine on either trip, this time - so now we'll just have to go again! And we've been busy making Morsbags, too, which is a very good use to put the machines & spare fabric to, so I think I need to work on allocating my time a bit better. Which could very well be the story of my whole life!

2007-03-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hmm - how many machines did I have last time I posted? A couple more have landed since then, somehow. A cosy little nest of solid, elderly German & British machines has developed under the stairs and a few seem to be roosting happily in the shed... I have given some away, but more keep flocking to me. The trouble is, they all have characters, from the cheery little Singer 28Ks, the dinky Vesta Saxonia and her chunky VSIII sister, a pretty little Faudel's by made Mundlos and a "mystery" machine (above) that sews beautifully despite having a broken take-up spring. So it's not easy to decide which ones to give away! And I suppose it's not, strictly speaking, necessary, if they're not getting in anyone's way...

The weather is improving now and starting the quilt looks likely in the next week or so. We've chosen a fabric to base it on, and I think we'll stitch the first block in our very own garden, on the "Tremuddle" which is a 1892 28K on a 1945 treadle with a chunk of 2007 pine doing duty as a tabletop, courtesy of my kind-hearted & curious neighbour. And for my next project, I'm pressganging the old Frister & Rossman treadle we inherited with the house (as a garden table) back into service with a massive, motorless Jones zigzag machine on top - hardly authentic, I know, but at least both bits will be useful, together, where they are no use at all apart. But what shall I use as a tabletop this time? An offcut of black Corian would look best, as long as it would stand the weight...

2007-02-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

And still they keep on coming... I have spent the last week or so barely functional, with a horrible cold that just wouldn't give up & go away. So there was no scope for rescuing any more machines; not that I should anyway, until some of the ones I currently have have gone on to their new homes. Anyway, I used the "downtime" to piece a couple of scrap quilt tops and sort out some fabric to dispose of. I freecycled it yesterday afternoon and one of the ladies who replied & "won" some asked whether there was anything I wanted, as she was sorting out the contents of a large loft... And this afternoon she turned up with a Singer 66K (probably with the wrong tension knob to be useful to TFSR, and in need of a new slider plate, but otherwise lovely) and a straight-stitch electric Brother. I'll know more when I've cleaned this one up, but it's a classic candidate to be converted to handcrank, having reverse & drop feed, which makes them very versatile; the Alfa 50 that has undergone this process is now my favourite "everyday" sewing machine. And the 66K might be the best candidate yet to sit on the delapidated treadle pretending to be a table out in the garden, if I ever manage to restore it.

I'm still wrestling with my Harris No. 9H, which has some kind of problem with the feed dogs snarling the bobbin thread. I may have to admit defeat with this machine, which would be sad but might give me some much-needed spare parts; that's what I "rescued" it for in the first place, after all. And we're still waiting for some reliably decent weather, now that I have sourced some spare needles for the Vesta, so that we can get out & about & do some extreme patchwork!

2007-02-05T03:31:00.000-08:00

Another great find at the tip this weekend!

As I was offloading some soggy chipboard into the "Wood" skip, I spotted the dome of a delaminated Singer case. So off I trotted to the "Metals" skip, and lo! and behold, there was a folorn handle poking up from behind some rusty corrugated iron. One of the kind gentlemen in charge duly fished her out for me; a handcranked 201K from 1937. Seized solid, and a little rusty, but with pristine decals, showing that she hasn't had a lot of use. I have her turning now, but can't seem to undo the screws to polish up the rusty bobbin assembly - yet! Pass the WD40...

This one is destined for http://www.tfsr.org/. When my little collection suddenly started to expand and outgrow its allotted corner of the loft, I set myself some "rules" as if I were playing a game. Firstly, I will only "rescue" machines. Nice though it would be to own some truly historic machines, I am not in a position to pay lots of money for ornaments, or give them houseroom either. If they turn up, lovely, but if they are being offered for sale at anything more than £5, or are never likely to do useful work again, they're for someone else. Secondly, if they can go on to help someone somewhere earn a living and support their family, than that's what's right & proper to do with them. Thirdly, I will rehome the machines that aren't suitable for TFSR wherever possible; some are going to other families to assist in "Textile" projects, at home or at school, and one has gone to help someone with a biggish family start up a business at home, which delights both me and the retired couple I got her from. I also intend to start up a regular textile afternoon for any home-ed teens around here that are interested, which can neatly encompass "socialisation", textiles, history, maths - all sorts of things, really!

And we're really looking forward to some better weather, so that we can go out & about on our patchwork project!

2007-01-29T02:42:00.000-08:00

Truly is it said that sewing machines attract more sewing machines, once you get past two or three...

At the last count, we had - oh, about 11, lurking about in various states of repair, most almost ready to go on to their new homes, and one waiting to be fetched; it's a long way away, but I would go a long way for a free treadle, in good condition! I found an old but respectable machine table for "Tiffany," the Janome/New Home that has a very brittle plastic box and base, at the tip this weekend. Nearby was a tempting plastic box... I peered inside, but it was a fairly modern Alfa with integral motor and stitch patterns. Not a hope; I am not a qualified electrician, so I am not allowed to take anything with a power supply from our tip. But suffice to say, an everyday miracle occurred, and the machine ended up in the back of my car! I got it home, vacuumed & oiled it and tried it out - perfect! It has that lovely solid purr of a machine that has been well-used & cared for, and a sticker that shows it has been regularly serviced.

There's a good home lined up for it already; I knew someone who will use it to the full, only having an elderly but reliable zigzag machine. Even that is being passed on, to someone who has no machine at all & needs one for her Textiles GCSE. So although it's not a human-powered machine, I feel at least I've saved something worthwhile from an early landfill grave!

2007-01-18T02:26:00.000-08:00

I need to make a first post, although we haven't gone anywhere yet, or I won't be able to find this blog again! So here's a little pic of my Vesta Saxonia to keep us all going...

I suspect this will be the machine we use the most outside, as she's very light and her case is small but sturdy. The only problem will be finding needles, as she uses narrow, round-shanked 12x1's, which are no longer made. But I have high hopes of tracking some down - sadly I'm sure people are throwing them out, thinking no-one will ever want these - much like they do with the machines themselves.

Plans are afoot for making a quilt-top; we toyed with the idea of making a wearable garment in each location, but I could see this getting rather out-of-hand as pleats and tucks were being discussed... and that was just a wrap-round skirt! If we had enough narrow-hemmers it might have been a handkerchief, but being thoroughly modern misses in other ways, they'd never use those, so a quilt it shall be.

So this blog is a way of justifying the space my "rescues" take up; those that can't go off to Africa to enable someone to make a living, or be rehomed with someone who will love & use them. It's a way of showing that these little old snippets of history are still useful and have a future in a world which may need to reduce its power-consumption quite drastically. It's also a History & IT project from the home-education angle, and a way of demonstrating that teenage girls can have fun and make something useful in a thoroughly old-fashioned way!