I learned in the last week that is is possible to do embroidery and lace work on old vintage / antique Singer Sewing Machines!
You can either disengage the ‘dogs’ (the teeth on the base of the sewing miachine which raise to grip and push the fabric through) or, you can cover them with a plate.
In order to freely move the fabric around, you do not use a presser foot. However, as the fabric will be pulled upwards as the needle returns to the top, the fabric is best held taut with an embroidery hoop.
I found someone on e-bay selling a CD with instructions on embroidery … and I found a ‘hard copy’ book on amazon … but then my money-saving mind went to work, and I found what appears to be the same thing for free on www.archive.org (I love that site 🙂 )
Shaded Embroidery ( Flowers )
Art Embroidery
Raised Embroidery
Scallops, Beadstitch. Cording
Venetian Embroidery
Seed Stitch
English or Eyelet Embroidery
Shaded Embroidery on \’elvet or Plush
Gold Thread Embroidery
First Openwork Stitches
Filet, Netting or Open Mesh Embroidery
Hedebo Embroidery
Richelieu Lace
Point Lace
Renaissance Lace
English Point
Duchess Lace
Brussels Lace
Novelty Lace
Point Lace
Cluny Lace
Hemstitching
Mexican Drawn-Work
Mexican Drawn-Work ( Second Part )
Teneriffe Wheels
Velvet Applique
Net Applique
October 24th:
The days and nights have been getting cooler for a while with some light frosts in the past week, but we’re set to have our first ‘hard’ frost in the middle of next week.
The garden was a big disappointment.
I got a total of 9 acorn squash, one dutch-crooked-neck squash, and two smaller butternut squash.
The courgettes produced so-so – I think we got 6 of them in all. I left one on the vine, hoping that it’d provide seeds for next year, but there wasn’t a trace of a seed (which meant it was great for eating! just a shame about preparing for next year).
The peas were a pitiful failure. I guess those beds needed to be very very heavily weeded before the weeds get too big. The stems of the pea plants were so delicate, that they ended up getting mixed in with the weeds, and were pulled out.
They did not do well at all in warmer weather, so need to be planted nearer the start and end of the seasons.
In contrast, the beans did rather well. I probably left many of them on the vines for too long, being a bit less diligent than I should have been, but I canned 9 quarts in all – and this should provide for some hearty soups and casseroles.
The corn produced fairly well.
We weren’t diligent about picking, so many dried up.
The tomato plants were well loaded, but the unfortunate part was that most of the plants were of the pear variety – small.
I only canned 5 1/2 quarts.
None of the peppers we started from seed grew to any size worth mentioning.
The okra was planted late – the plants looked fair, but they never produced
November 11th:
We dug up 3/4 of the sweet potatoes on Nov 1st, and brought the plants in just in time to beat the first hard frost.
The plants that were left outside died, but the tubers survived until they were dug a week later.
I’ll be growing vines from them over the winter, and will transplant them in the early summer.
The tubers that have been inside for a week are shrivelling from the lack of moisture, so I’m going to have to plant them soon to stop them drying out.
We dug up the rest of the ‘normal’ potatoes on Tuesday 8th.
There were some good-sized tubers, but most were rather small.
I’ll probably start growing those once they sprout more heavily, and just transplant them in the early spring too.
The carrots were planted too close together. Someone had said that they’d weed themselves out (selection of the fittest and all that), but that wasn’t true. The only ones that were any size worth boasting were ones that were spaced further apart.
I’ve no idea what happened to the parsnips that we planted.
Frank started some cabbage plants later in the season
The lettuce is still growing very well, but with the first snow of the season today, I’m concerned about the extended exposure to snow, and what that will do to the plants.
We don’t have a single cold-frame built.
I own pretty much all of the patterns on the above pages – well at least as of the time that I’m writing this – and I’m finally thinking about starting on my collection of Victorian-wear
While I was swotting up on Victorian petticoats (a must), I came across the text below, which I just had to include:
A woman of ‘quality’ was expected to look as though she didn’t do anything except needlework and wait for her man. When in reality, she worked as hard as any field hand!! She had to be able to run a household of many members so seamlessly that no-one knew she was doing it. She also had to manage accounts, schedule and plan for supplies and deliveries and meals, not to mention parties, balls, etc. She also had children (whether her own, the children of the household or family) to look after, and she was expected to be the first to administer medical care in times of illness and injury.
But!!
She was never to be seen doing any of these things!! She was the force behind the scenes. The quiet voice of reason, the iron rod of discipline, the keeper of the purse, the manager of the staff. To any who might see her, she was the languid, helpless, softly, feminine flower of the south.
She had white, soft skin. Glossy hair, and bright, shining eyes. She never raised her voice and she was never in a hurry. If you listen to older ladies from the south, you’ll find they speak, softly, and with a gentle, measured cadence.
Here’s a link that’s inspired me somewhat.
http://www.lady-faire.com/petticoat.html
My first petticoat, however, is going to be pretty simple.
I’m taking some flexible branches from the lilac bush outside, and will bend them into circles, bound with florist’s tape, to ensure that the largest hoop will fit through the doorways in our house!!
I’ll then have some removable rings of tulle to add body to the hoop skirt / petticoat.
Aug-31
We picked our first hearty load of tomatoes yesterday.
We’ve had more peppers recently, and there are a number of small ones on the bushes.
Last week, I chopped the basil plants down to around 1′.
I’m thinking we should have already started using the cold frames to boost the temperatures around the peppers and melons which were planted a couple of weeks ago, as there’s very little growth at present.
Sept-2
We picked grapes last night from the vines at our former house (rented out at present).
Filled a 23-quart container to a nicely rounded top.
I’m just going to make grape juice and can it.
Jam was nice, but the batch I made 2 years ago lasted for an eternity, and we gave much of that away… so much sugar went into it … just not really a healthy option.
I’ve just thrown the grapes – skins and seeds and all – into my Omega juicer.
The juice has a dry aftertaste because of the seeds, but grape seeds contain vitamin E, flavonoids, linoleic acid, and OPCs, and increase levels of antioxidants in the blood, so I’m really not complaining.
Ok … so I don’t know what OPCs are … but they were listed as great benefits of grape seeds, so it’s all good, ok?
We have around 5 aacorn squash now.
The yellow squash (last I checked) is doing very well.
I’m going to let it die on the vine, and then save the seeds for next year.
The tomatoes are about to kick into full production. They appear to be LOADED.
Frank planted two beds worth of lettuce on Friday, and they sprouted over the weekend!
The days have been in the upper 20’s, and the nights have been cool.
We planted cabbage broccoli and cauliflower in trays the other night – they are cool-loving plants, and will hopefully kick into production before the end of the summer.
I noticed that the one of baby aacorn squash that I’d been watching was noticibly MISSING this morning … but another is producing on the opposite end of the bed. It’s about golf-ball sized now.
We have one yellow squash growing on a plant … but a number of the plants have also started rotting around the bases. Perhaps the weeds kept them too moist for too long?
I don’t know.
We’ve had cooler weather this past week, and the peas have perked up a bit.
The basil plants between the tomatoes and peppers are more like bushes now.
I’ve not seen any more peppers … but there are a number of green tomatoes.
I picked two more this weekend.
Sweet potatoes are doing well, seemingly.
I had to pull some of the vines out of the ground, as they were trying to put additional roots in (and that’s not good, coz it takes energy away from the potatoes under the main plant)
Frank told me that he’d bought me a surprise (of course, the give-away post title has already spoiled it for you!).
I walked into the kitchen after work to find this.
It didn’t work.
There are no maker’s marks on the unit; no lable to indicate which of the brands this is.
There was a velvet record cleaner in the case with the ‘His Master’s Voice’ logo on it, and a case for needles with “Brunswick” written on the lid.
Frank and I, people that we are, dove inside to take a look at the mechanics and work out why it wasn’t working.
It is powered by a hand-crank dual-spring OKEH motor. (Yes, it is pronounced “okay”, but is in actuality the initials for Otto K. E. Heinemann (1877–1965), a German-American manager for the U.S. branch of German-owned Odeon Records.)
I took off the top of the cast housing, at which point the springs released fully (severely gouging the table I was working at, as the teeth of the cogs dug in – I guess just because it’s siezed doesn’t mean that there’s not pent up energy inside! Could have been rather tragic if my fingers had been in the way).
Now, I find myself with the task of reattaching the spring to the anchor on the arbor.
I did fully disassemble the housings last night, but couldn’t get the spring to hold.
I’m guessing that the hole became disfigured when the spring flew off, so I’ll have to use pliers to get it back on.
This motor drawing is sideways. Comparing it to mine, the right side should be on the top.
Seeing as I’m going to have to reopen the housings, I figure that I might as well give it a thorough cleaning.
The mechanism can be cleaned with Paint Thinner, I read, and then either grease / wheel bearing lube can be used to recoat everything, or a homemade vaseline:graphite (2:1) slop can be made.
I think I’ll go with the first option.
To describe how it works:
When you turn the crank, it turns a cog that rotates the top spring housing.
There is a ‘pin’ (arbor) that runs between the top and bottom spring housings which is connected to the spring through an anchor of sorts.
In order for the top spring to tighten as the crank is being turned, the arbor must remain stationary.
If the arbor moves with the top spring housing, the spring will never tighten.
The only way for the arbor to remain stationery is if the bottom spring is turning in the opposing direction with an equal force.
When sufficient potential energy has built up, the energy will transfer to the driving gear, turning the turntable spindle.
Well, that’s how I imagined it working anyway based on my ‘appraisal’.
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The Disassembly
I took photographs along the way, to ensure that I’d put it back together correctly!
Lots of WD40, lots of paper towels, lots of elbow grease.
But in the end, the clean coils were generously coated with synthetic grease, and will hopefully last for another 110 yrs.
I was turning the coils directly into the housing, which took a LOT of strength and downwards pressure to stop everything from flying out.
Unfortunately, I noticed that bits of newspaper (my worksurface) were making their way into the base of the housing – not good – and all it took was that one moment of lapsed concentration, and the coil flew, slicing my left thumb and right thumb knuckle.
Frank heard the ‘snap’ as the coil released, and rushed in for fear that I might have sliced my juggular!!!
He wound the coils for me (wearing gloves).
A video showing the directional rotations of the spring housings while charging.
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As the machine was cranked, once fully reassembled, it was easy to feel that the potential energy was building within the springs, however as it reached its peak point, you could hear a dull thud as the the spring released from the arbor anchor.
One of them obviously wasn’t on quite all the way.
I disassembled the motor one again, after observing the spring housings while turning the crank.
The bottom housing was completely stationary, and as the top housing would turn, the arbor would turn too.
If the bottom housing were catching the housing, it’d have been totally stationary, but both housings would move.
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I opened the bottom housing and tried three times to tighten the center-most coil so that it’d hold.
Finally, we had a winner.
We had a lot of rain last week. Temperatures have been in the mid 30’s (celcius) for around a week too.
Suffice it to say that the garden is happy.
Well, the weeds are the happiest.
I see that the heat must also have kept the groundhogs at bay, as we have a courgette! Yesterday it was 3inches long.
I’ve not got around to canning the beans picked so far, and the latest lot of peas that I picked were super bitter. All I can think of is that it has been too hot, and they matured too quickly.
The youngest peas are the most tasty, I understand.
I managed to repot 32-odd asparagus plants last night.
The roots systems were actually huge! I was most surprised!
I’ll attempt to transplant from the other container tonight.
