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Tuesday 10 February 2015

Style 4424 Trousers

It has long been an ambition of mine to possess a pair of high waisted trousers.  However, it would seem high waisted trousers are hopelessly out of fashion and I haven't even seen any at work.  Quite by chance I happened to mention this to my mother, who said she had just the pattern.  I actually wanted fitted trousers but I figured that once I had tried these (flares) I could adjust the width on a second pair.  They are remarkably 70's, in fact the pattern is dated 1974.  Without further rambling I will present you with a photograph:





I am making them from a grey heavyish drapeish material.  The instructions gave me multiple headaches, as there is no instructions given for inserting the zip, it just says 'insert as per instructions on zip and zips (these days anyway) do not have insertion instructions on them.  I did a typical centred zip application, which unfortunately is not perfect.  I also managed to interface the waistband facing instead of the waistband itself, which was rather annoying!  Below are some pictures of the sewing process.

The zip, pinned and tacked.

Stitching the waistband facing over the seam.

The finished zip
When it came to taking them up I had a bit of a problem as there was no-one who could help me mark them up.  I ended up taking photos of them at various lengths and judging from that (there's no mirrors either).  Once I had done one leg, I folded the trousers in half and attempted to make the lags the same length.  They are not perfect but I think they will be fine.  I trimmed the excess (quite a lot, even though I shortened the pattern by 7.5cm when I cut it, I think they were designed for a giraffe) to an even length, then overlocked the raw edge and folded it under and stitched.  I then stitched the main hem by hand.  Although I say it myself, I think I did a good job of the hems.  All I need now is a couple of hooks and bars for fastening the waistband.

Trimming the excess

Completed hems
I used the Singer 201K mounted in the Singer 206K table for these.  I had to swap hand wheels to make the belt fit but other than that using the 201 is now a breeze!

The Singer 201K in the 206's stand
When I was (unsuccessfully) looking for some hooks and bars, I came across a card of buttons and some large snap fasteners that I had to share photos of.  They are both English made, something that one can only dream of now!

I love these, I'm not sure I will ever use them, they are too pretty!

I do not know if some snap fasteners still have holes for aligning but the ones I buy do not!
Hopefully I will have hooks and bars soon and then when the weather cools down can wear my new trousers!

Thursday 5 February 2015

Singer 201K

Quite some time ago I bought a lovely Singer 201 from work.  However with study I never got around to cleaning it.  On Sunday I was bored and decided to get it out and play with it.  Every time I get this machine out I sit and look at it for a bit because it is just so beautiful and sleek.  This time was no different and afterwards I set in to cleaning it thoroughly.  There is no rust on it, excepting the hand wheel but a lot of caked on oil and dust.  This I set about removing, before oiling it and trying to set it up.  I started under the bed of the machine, because I always do.

Packed in its crate with its motor, as it has been for a year.

Under the bobbin area

Gear cover, to remove, remove circled screws.

Bobbin gear cover, to remove, remove circled screws.

Lovely metal gears.
Once I had finished under the bed I did the rest of the machine, starting with under the faceplate and moving through to the bobbin area and finally all the 'cosmetic' work, which isn't necessary for the efficient functioning of the machine but I like to know it's all shiny.

Under the faceplate, before cleaning

Bobbin and needle area, before cleaning

Hook, after the removal of the bobbin case.

Clean bobbin area

After some cosmetic work 
At the moment I have it mounted in the Singer 206's table, running off the industrial motor as its own motor needs a lot of work.  I am very pleased with it, it is very quiet and stitches very neatly.

Reassembling the Singer 206 Motor

As you may remember back in December 2013 (here)  I took the Singer 206 industrial motor apart in order to replace the bearings.  It sat around in pieces for a year (just over actually) before we got around to removing the bearings and replacing them.  I wish we hadn't put it off so long as it only took 2 days to do!

First we removed the outer, easier, bearing using a gear puller and then we removed the shaft, this left us with one bearing lodged inside the casting and held in with a circlip.  We ran a screwdriver behind the circlip and then we had all three bearings out.  It cost us $35 to buy replacement bearings but I figured it was cheaper than buying another 206.  Below are images:

First bearing removed, second still on shaft

Arrow pints to the circlip holding the bearing in

Using the gear puller to remove the end of the motor and the second bearing

The shaft of the motor, without the casing.
When it came to reassembling the motor and attaching the wires, I was glad I had taken so many photos before but I still could never quite find the right photograph!  While we were doing electrical work on it, we decided to shorten the power lead, so as to cut off a damaged bit.  This resulted in having to rewire the switch on the table.

Switch inside
Despite our concerns the motor now works fine and is MUCH quieter than it was before.  We are considering putting rubber washers on the bolts that hold it on to the table though as the table is hollow and acts as an amplifier.

In other news, I have been quite busy and managed to miss Tallulah Bankhead's birthday, however I thought I would still post a couple of pictures of her.  I love many of her quotes as they make me laugh.



When I stop being so lazy I should have a nice post about the beautiful 201K I acquired a while ago.