Elna Super 62C

Elna Super 62C

This was the first Elna machine I had ever sewn on. Well loved and often used, this machine came with a bit of a patina. The machine came to me after a customer decided she could not pay to replace the camstack gear so the machine could only sew a straight stitch. Fortunately, the customer had another machine that I serviced instead and she decided to donate this machine. It has the manual, carrying case, and accessories that originally came with it and I offered to clean and oil the machine and then find a beginning sewist to whom I could donate the machine. 
As it turned out, I got this machine shortly before going Ray White's class this summer though, and I decided I would like to try replacing the camstack gear with Ray's help. I knew I would learn a lot from such a project and then the machine could be returned to its full sewing abilities before it moved to its new home. I purchased a replacement gear from Ray and this repair took me a full day of class to complete. I consider that donated labor and well worth my time to invest in this project. 

It's all got to come out

With Ray's guidance, I opened the top of the machine and took out the stitch width selector, camstack reader, and camstack. The gear is hidden underneath the camstack, so there's a bit of work to get to it.

Hand wheel off and pulling out upper shaft

Empty now

Taking out the camstack, gear is underneath here

And there's the broken gear, notice missing teeth in upper right quadrant

Old gear on left, replacement on the right

Actually switching out the gear was relatively quick and then it was time to reassemble the machine.

About half way through reassembly

This is a project I was hesitant to take on until I could work with Ray.  Now this machine has a new lease on its sewing life and I'm happy it will continue to sew for years to come. I will find a project soon that will put it through its paces, but here are some pictures of how she looks now.

Steel travel case

All packed into case

Accessories tray that slides under the freearm

6 decorative stitch cams

The front panel of the case doubles as an extension table

Instruction manual and foot control

Machine with accessories tray

Back of machine

Does anyone want to share a praise or complaint about their Elna? I'm looking forward to learning more about these machines.

Simplicity 1692, Flowered Shirt

The fabric was picked up for free about a mile from my house.  Someone had posted online that they were cleaning out and had a couple bags of fabric remnants that anyone could claim. There were a lot of upholstery remnants in the bags, but I did find a couple pieces that I could use for garments. I wish everyone would call me when they had fabric they wanted to pass along!

I held off cutting into this piece for awhile because I knew I couldn't get more if I made an error

The pattern, Simplicity 1692, is a vintage 1940's blouse that I picked up at Joann's. It has long and short sleeve options and high and scoop neck options. I chose to cut view B, jewel neck and short sleeves, in size 14. There were three muslins for this shirt before I cut into the fabric. Among the changes I made in the muslin process were to add 1.5" to the bottom and move the front darts down, add 1/2" to the side seams then add another 1" to the length and 1" to the hips.

Muslins 1 and 2 from an old sheet

After the third muslin, I was ready to cut into the fashion fabric.

Bright colors

Having partially constructed three shirts already, this fourth one went together quickly. The back is fastened with a button.

Facing for back opening, button will be added to top

The finished shirt as not what I had planned. First, I had to abandon the sleeves as they wouldn't go around my arm and there was not enough fabric left to recut them. The armscyes were a bit small as well, so I trimmed about 1/4" off and then turned under about a 1/4" to finish them. I don't mind the sleeveless look though, it is nice for summer.

There is too much fabric across the chest area for me.  

 I chose not to put in shoulder pads, but there wasn't room and I don't think that I miss them. The button on the back was from the extra button box.

Back with button closure

I was happy with the overall length of the shirt. There was too much fabric around the bust though, it doesn't give a fitted look. And the armscyes were still too small. It would improve arm mobility if the openings were a little larger.

The size zipper looks good and even matches one of the blues in the fabric

The gathers at the neck look great, but the neckline is a bit tight. If I could take some of that extra fabric in the bust area, open the armscyes and neckline a bit, and take in the side seams maybe I'd have a good fit?

I do think I'd like to try this pattern again with a few more adjustments.  Unfortunately, I don't think I will even be able to use this shirt as a wearable muslin. That means I don't get to keep this fabric in my collection. I'm going to miss the bright colors.

Update: I wasn't ready to let this one go. It hung in my closet for several weeks before I decided to give it one last go on the fitting. There was way too much fabric in the front and I didn't want to take out the side zipper, so I played around with other ways of eliminating extra fabric. I ended up taking in about 2" in the middle above the waist and 1" below the waist. Now this shirt will come out of my closet to be worn regularly.

Here is a much better fit

Keyhole opening in back

Front pleat is almost lost in the flower pattern

The neckline is still a bit high, but I do like the gathers

Keyhole with button

Red like the blooming hibiscus

Pattern washed out a bit in the sun

I am very pleased with how this shirt turned out in the end. The gift of free fabric pushed me to try something new and I relished the challenge. If you want to get rid of some fabric, send it my way-- I'm curious to see what will inspire my next project.  :)

Pinwheel Quilt Finished

Hanging in the garden

Fabric- Kaffe Fassett collection from Quilter's Destination in Arlington Heights, IL

Backing- scrap piece from Mom's stash

Binding- Kaffe Fassett collection from Jackman's Fabrics in St. Louis, MO

Machine pieced on Bernina 717

Hand quilted on a roadtrip from Chicago to St. Louis and back

City Sewing Room

Slowing down the pace while vacationing in St. Louis

T and I spent this past few days in St. Louis. For one of those days he had a ticket to the PGA Championships and I had about 9 hours to myself. My first stop was to hike at the Powder Nature Center. This area was all forested and even though the high temp for the day reached almost 90 degrees, it was quite nice on the shaded paths. After traversing 4 miles of trails I headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and then drove to Jackman's Fabrics arriving soon after they opened. The store had a huge collection of quilting fabrics, sewing and quilting machines sales and repair, sewing notions, books, patterns, and a smaller but adequate selection of fashion fabrics. I was looking for fabric from the Kaffe Fasset collection to use as binding for the pinwheel quilt that I was hand quilting. Jackman's had several fabrics in this collection to choose from and I ended up buying two fat quarters for binding. Then I perused the fashion fabric section and found some white knit for t-shirts that was not transparent and black and gray cotton/linen combo for a dress.
After lunch I decided to check out the City Sewing Room. I found this place when I searched "sewing St. Louis," and the concept of sewing space rental, sewing lessons, custom work, etc. sounded promising. I had no trouble finding the place and when I stepped into the building, I immediately felt at home. Anne, the owner, has created such as welcoming retreat for sewing in this space. There seems to be every sort of tool, machine, notion, pattern, and fabric available to anyone who wants to sew on about any project. Anne introduced herself and told me a bit about the place. I told her what I was hoping to use the space for that afternoon and she got me working in no time. There were a couple other women who were already in the studio or who came in throughout the afternoon. One lady runs her sewing business out of a corner space, another was refashioning thrifted shirts, and a third was cutting out fabric for duffle bags. Her sewing guild was planning to make bags for children who have to move around a lot and do not have luggage other than perhaps a garbage bag. There was plenty of room for all of these projects to be occurring at the same time.
Anne also gave me a tour of the building and I continued to be impressed with the use of space.  There were several cutting tables of varying heights (loved having an extra tall one for me), sewing machines both domestic and industrial, sergers, a notions area, an ironing table, dressing area with mirrors, dress forms in various sizes, many in progress projects, and a wall of fabrics.

Work tables

Wall of notions on the left, fabric shelves on far wall, sewing machines in the middle

Books on technique

Sewing supplies in spades

Washer and dryers across from the fabric wall

Wall of fabric

View from front to back

Anne said that many of the supplies were donated and there was quite a range of items so I think you could find about anything you needed for any project. I arrived with only my basted quilt and the fabric I had bought for binding and I soon found a cutting table, rotary cutter, ruler, iron, sewing machine, thread, and scissors at my fingertips. It did not take long to cut my quarter yard into strips and then sew the strips together for binding. I had never put the binding on a quilt before the actual quilting was done before, but I knew that I wanted to finish the project on the car ride back to Chicago so I took advantage of the supplies Anne had available.

Ironing my fabric

Sewing my binding strips together

Before I left for the afternoon, I shopped the fabric wall and a few bins Anne had under the tables. We talked about the fabrics I had chosen and even planned out how to use a few of them.  For one fabric Anne showed me how to do a burn test.

Clearly, I did not go home empty-handed

Conducting a burn test

My heart was so happy after spending the afternoon with these ladies. If St. Louis was closer I would plan to come down again soon. As it is, I will definitely visit next summer when I'm at sewing machine repair camp. If you're in the neighborhood or passing through St. Louis on your travels, stop in to City Sewing Room. Whether you choose to sew, craft, or just draw inspiration for a next project you'll surround yourself with friends.

Pinwheel Quilt

You need more color?

The quilt top came together in one weekend in November. It was cold and dark outdoors and I was trying to chase away the blahs indoors. The fabrics are from a Kaffe Fassett Collective charm pack. I was drawn to the bright colors and even though I haven't decorated with them in my house, I know I can find a place to incorporate a striking wall hanging. The block is a 4" finished pinwheel.  Cutting out this quilt went relatively quickly even though I was sitting on the living room floor watching a Hallmark holiday movie and had to keep shooing away curious feline attention.

I made a template from poster board for these trapezoids

The blocks were sewn together on my Bernina 717. This machine is in a cabinet that has a foldout extension.  Laying out unfinished blocks on the extension to the left and setting my ironing board up to the right made piecing blocks a smooth operation. This machine came all the way from Minnesota and I am so glad Lois was willing to share it with me. Thank you.

Finished pieces were pinned to the quilt behind the table and provided eye candy

The machine came to me with only one presser foot, but it is all I needed for this project.  The 717 sews so quietly, with such a precise stitch, and it feels so sturdy that I actually prefer piecing on this machine rather than on my newer 1230. Eventually, I think I will change out the bulb for an LED one, but that's the only change I intend to make. Working with this machine was like sitting down and sewing with a good friend.  Maybe there was less conversation, but we were both comfortably lost in our own thoughts.

Non-LED bulb

Here is the quilt top sans corner pieces

Reminds me of the windmill pinwheels people put in their gardens

A bit more shiny than the quilt, but both make the most of bright colors

About 8 months later, I finally sat down to finish the corners.Yes, 8 months later. I don't have a good reason for why I neglected this project for so long, but I am gearing up for a road trip to St. Louis and wanted to work on some hand quilting in the car.

Lazy corners--cut big and then trim

Quilt set out on the card table ready for basting

Basted with safety pins

The quilting will have concentric circles in the 4" white squares and then (maybe?) the pinwheels outlined. I made templates for my circles and cut them out of cardboard from a box of crackers.

Circles traced on

I have all my quilting supplies packed and am ready to go. Let's see what gets done on the road trip.