Follow-up on free motion quilting on a Singer Rocketeer

After leaving this project sitting for months, I could not convince myself to actually use my Singer 503A to machine quilt one of my quilts.

None of my samples were really satisfactory. The effort to push this small sample under the foot in an all-over swirl pattern was much more work than it should be. I actually had to push and pull the sample with some effort, which is not normal. I had a hard time visualizing myself doing this for a queen size quilt. With a proper foot or machine, it would be easier and probably fun.

So the decision is made and I will likely be hand quilting my Hawaiian quilt instead. I used safety pins to baste it together.

As an alternative, I also purchased a walking foot attachment. This attachment actually works well. It does have a cheap feel, so I'm not sure about long term durability. If I choose to quilt in straight lines, then, this is a possibility I may use this attachment on my next quilt.

*Amazon links are affiliate links.

Sew What? Sewing a VW Convertible Bug Top Cover

This VW Convertible Bug looks better than the one I made!

I am sure many of you who sew have had this exact reaction to a sewing request. In this case, one woman named her company Sew What? Inc. Megan Duckett started a business sewing draperies. Her employment sewing for a theater company is how she decided on a company name. The complete story can be found at U.S. News and World Report, July 31, 2006 edition.

I am always impressed by women who start sewing related businesses. Megan even ran her company out of her garage for a time. What an inspiration! For more info about Megan, check out her website Sew What Inc.

My blog entry is not really about Megan's company, but about those Sew What?! moments. For Megan, she was asked to sew a lining into a coffin for a theatrical production. I have had many Sew What?! moments, but one stands out. I was asked to sew a vinyl car top cover for a convertible VW Bug.

Yes, I took this job. I knew I wouldn't make any money from the project, but it was the challenge that grabbed me. This was during college and I thought I could sew anything (I still think that, provided I have the right equipment). During college, a friend of mine bought a convertible bug. It had no cover. He welded a frame together and then asked me to sew a top together. I had an average home sewing machine and a lot of ambition.

With a budget of $60, I purchased some black vinyl, extra large snaps, and some clear vinyl (for a rear window). The only equipment purchase I made was some teflon coated needles in size 18 and a snap kit. This fabric was very thick. I have to say my initial pattern actually looked very good. The execution is where I had trouble.

This is one of those instances where a walking-foot machine would have come in handy. Instead, I sewed this thing together with my Singer 503A. For all of those Ebay sellers out there that claim this machine can sew through 4 layers of vinyl, well they are half right. It will do it, but it may not look very good. This is a tuff little machine and I really pushed it to the max sewing this together. The seams were overlapped on top of each other like a lapped seam, but the material slid and stretched as it went along. In any event, I finally finished it.

The top was attached to the car with the snaps. The snap kits available in the fabric stores are not really designed to go through heavy-weight vinyl or to be glued onto a car surface, but somehow we got them attached. Despite our efforts, this car was not really safe to drive with a home-made car top. I could just see it fly off at 25MPH. My friend ended up using the car top for rainy days while it was parked. He also bought a real vehicle that was safe to drive.

Hawaiian Paradise Line pt. 2 : The Singer Ruffler Attachment.

As a part of this project, I have utilized a new attachment for my sewing machine. It is not really new - I acquired a couple of these for about 50 cents from a thrift store years ago. But I have never really needed it. I just thought it might be useful one day. Finally, I DID need it and it IS useful.

Let me introduce the Singer Ruffler. This attachment makes pretty ruffles, tucks or pleats. I am primarily using it for gathering the skirts of my Hawaiian sundresses and it has saved me loads of time.



Since I am a newbie to this attachment, I did break several needles. There is not a lot of clearance under the attachment for fabric. Because of this, it is difficult to tell if the foot is actually all the way down against the feed dogs. My needles were breaking because I had not lowered the lift lever and my needle was hitting the gathering blade. With it properly lowered, there is plenty of clearance for the needle and less needle breakage. It was one of those Duh! moments. Now I double check everytime in lowering the lift lever and attachment before sewing.

Another difficulty with my attachments occurred because they had not been used in a long time. A couple drops of oil at all of the moving points loosened things up and everything slid like it should.

Technically, I should be able to gather and sew my skirt to the bodice at the same time. I didn't do that this time. I am jumping from one size to the next and I have to adjust the gather ratio each time. Plus I am still a bit nervous because of all the needle breakage. But as I become more comfortable, I will give it a try!

I did a quick net search and discovered these attachments (in one form or another) are still available for purchase for about $50, for many machines. But before dropping that kind of cash, check out thrift stores, ebay, etc for the exact same thing at a lower price.

If anyone is curious, I am sewing these dresses on a vintage Singer 503A Rocketeer and a Babylock Evolve. While this is not an industrial set-up, it is working amazing well. One of these days I will be able to afford and find space for a couple of industrial machines.

I would love to hear from anyone else who has used this great attachment!