Found a 201

[Greger]

Draw on paper lines and angled lines and curves from broad to sharp. Needle with no thread and sew those lines with the machine.  As you get better be faster. When you mentally have control of your hands and fingers (so you let go if you have to) pedal to the medal sewing. At first it can be kinda wild. As time goes your sewing becomes very good at those high speeds. Sew often enough you will keep those skills. One person said that the definition of keep is use.
Guard those fingers. Maybe after a hundred pages you have will be fine. At least a lot better. Finger guards help in front of the needle. Not sure they are fool proof.

[Hendrick]

From my dad, when I first started machine sewing; fold your thumbs under your hands and always feed fabric with your middle finger first never with your index finger. When you start by using two fingers per hand, you will onl gradually start to use the others...

[Schneiderfrei]

That is good advice greger, and Hendrick.

[hutch--]

Hi Victoria, you have done well to get this machine, a now departed friend of mine started her business years ago with one of these (maybe a bit earlier) and she always got very good quality work out of it. As long as it all works correctly, they usually do very accurate face stitching and will probably outlast you.

Now depending on your sense of humour, one of your great grand kids (if you are into those things) will look at this in some distant future time and wonder, "what did the old girl do with this thing ?". 

[Victoria Quinn]

Three pages about machines. Isn't your thimble good enough?
Smashed my thimble finger. Might need to buy a larger thimble. Not sure they are large enough. Might have to make my own. Way cheaper than a sewing machine. 😁

My hand stitching is slow but steady.  I do have a nice thimble, and fits very well.  I just enjoy a quality machine stitch for when my patience wanes.  Every now and again, it's just nice to floor it and zip through an 8' seam/hem.

Guard those fingers. Maybe after a hundred pages you have will be fine. At least a lot better. Finger guards help in front of the needle. Not sure they are fool proof.

Safety guards are for the timid... I don't even have seatbelts in my car.  Living on the edge!      

Hi Victoria, you have done well to get this machine, a now departed friend of mine started her business years ago with one of these (maybe a bit earlier) and she always got very good quality work out of it. As long as it all works correctly, they usually do very accurate face stitching and will probably outlast you.

Now depending on your sense of humour, one of your great grand kids (if you are into those things) will look at this in some distant future time and wonder, "what did the old girl do with this thing ?". 

I got the Singer 15-91 Centennial rebuilt and tuned up.  Sewed like a champ!  I decided to gift it to a friend that no longer had a sewing machine.  She was over the moon when I presented her the rewired 15-91 in the bentwood case for her birthday.  It wasn't the industrial she let go of a few years back, but it was "right sized" for packing around with her while she's still in the Army and hopping around between duty stations.  She really really liked it.  I am going to keep my eyes out for another one, now that I've experienced it first hand.  More than likely I'm going to have to wait until I make my trek back home to the West Coast this spring.  But until then, I do still have the 201 and the 500 to get by with.  And the machine didn't go far... I am staying at her place and watching her kids until this COVID crap blows over. 

I can only imagine how mysterious the art of sewing will become in 40 years.  But the way things are going with fabrics... thread will be obsolete; as you will just need to melt the two pieces of "plastic fabric" together to make a seam.   

[Hendrick]

Fabric that "melts" or "fuses", or "welts" for that matter, is usually made of petrochemical based fibres, rich in carbon. I cannot help but wonder why so much of that stuff is coming our way; ia some country trying to get rid of it?

[spookietoo]

Polyester is cheap to produce. No farming/tending/harvesting required. Oil is already being pumped for fuel. Add to that making the polyester as poor quality as possible and immediately almost all clothing becomes disposable.

In recent years, those with any disposable income spent most of it on electronics and autos to determine status. How many more tricks does your phone need to do? Isn't one flat screen TV per room enough? If you buy the latest technology in a television, how many people actually use the new stuff? Are they starting to realize they don't use it?

Frankly, I don't see us moving into Star Trek suits anytime soon. People are beginning to become weary of technology and I hope this weariness results in a move towards better quality.

That said, I recently read on another forum where a member took an online fabric arts class. She was in the UK, the class was offered by a company in OZ, she paid in U.S. dollars and the instructor was just a few miles away from her in the UK!

These are indeed crazy times, but maybe we've hit a point where we become more involved with the direction technology takes. My Dad is 87. Over the weekend he announced as far as he was concerned technology has gone too far. No matter the reason, he felt the immorality of Iran's top nuclear scientist being assassinated in his auto by a rifle fired 1000 miles away with the aid of AI technology - without harming anyone else in the vehicle. Very scary.

Just like Covid - just because we can, doesn't mean we should.

[hutch--]

Funny enough, polyester is a useful enough fabric depending on the type, I made both winter track pants out of recycled polyester that I bought fleece some years ago from HongThai fabrics in one of Sydney's western suburbs and its both confortable to wear and was really cheap.

By no means a tailoring choice, its really robust and is easy enough to work with. I also make a version of stubbies out of it so its a reasonable general purpose fleece and even I can't kill it (I am a real slob with clothing).

On the other end, I tried to use some polyester drill and it was really horrible to wear, scratchy, itchy and absolutely no give in it. I am sure you could make handbag linings with it or perhaps parachutes but don't try and wear it.

[Steelmillal]

Ripstop polyester is great stuff for backpacks and bicycle panniers! It all has a place. Marketing is the answer. Consumers need educated and persuaded to quality v. led like sheeple to cheap-n-nasty.

[spookietoo]

I was a huge fan of ripstop in the 80's, but it was nylon then. Made for a great everyday handbag.

And some cute buns on the guys! Remember parachute pants at the clubs? Never could imagine wearing them myself but I definitely admired the fad

My BIL was wearing a pair of bright red parachute pants the night my sister met him. It's been a running joke in the family ever since - made funnier by the fact his a VP at a major industrial complex these days. But even then, it was parachute pants at night and wingtip shoes with white button down shirts only during the workday.

[hutch--]

 

I promise I will never make a bright red pair, mine are all black, very practical for a slob. 

[Victoria Quinn]

LOL!  Paper Painter's hats and Parachute pants...  ha ha ha...  Digital watches...  Could be worse, could be the wear your pants around your knees fad.  Nothing like watching people do a high speed waddle to chase down a bus while using both hands to hold up their pants.   

[Schneiderfrei]

What about Fleece Stubbies Hutch.

[spookietoo]

Never saw the paper painters hats around here. Must not have made it to our neck of the woods, though we rarely missed a fad.

For a small city in TN, we were actually in front of a lot of trends. One of the most popular clubs in town, an old beautiful church - converted to a disco, (yeah everybody talked about the hoodoo that could create) had a disc jockey that called other DJs in Miami, New York, London to see what was happening and they'd send her records they were spinning regularly. A song came on once while I was dancing with a friend that had been in NYC the previous weekend. He couldn't believe he was hearing the music because he said every club he'd been to in NY had been spinning her stuff and she was going to be HUGE!  A year later she was finally on the radio....Madonna.

I also forgot to mention, BIL looked damn fine in those red pants. These days they might make it over one thigh.

[hutch--]

Graham,

I am wearing a pair. Just starting to warm up here, my bones stop aching at last.