Butterfly potholders

Butterfly potholders
Originally uploaded by Vintage Granny

Behold my latest creation.

I found some old potholder patterns online a while back, at tipnut.com. I had trouble deciding which ones to make first, but finally decided to make the butterfly potholders.

I used thick wool coating for wadding, just one layer this time. I haven't tested if that's sufficient, but if it turns out that it's not, I really don't mind keeping them just for decoration, as I already have the heart shaped potholders for everyday use.

Sad news

Even if I have moved back to Norway, I still keep in touch with my old colleagues and friends in Ireland, and these last few days, friends from my former work place have been relating bad news. 

The finance crisis has been hard on advertising companies in general, and my old company has suffered badly, although whether this is mainly due to the crisis, business decisions or management is, I would assume, an open question.

No matter the reason, the result is still that another 9 people have been laid off. I am not sure of the details, but I have the impression that they had to leave the very day they were told. Also the way they were told leave a thing or two to be desired. After having worked in a company for several years, having done a good job, and done your best for the company, I would say that you deserve more than having one of the managers come up to you, at work, in public, to let you know, quite casually, that you have been fired.

Vintage Sewing Books

I have been scouring the net trying to get hold of useful sewing books, and found many books listed on Amazon and Abe Books for instance, but unfortunately, there seems to be a general lack of information regarding the books themselves, such as table of contents, excerpts from the books, and other useful tidbits of information.

I have therefore taken pictures of some of my books, which I will post one book at a time, along with a review. Hopefully the reviews and pictures will be useful for others out there.

The Bias Binder

I am currently working on a 1950's net petticoat, which will be a present for my cousin, and this project allowed me to test the bias binder earlier today.

It looks to me that the 201 sewing machine, which these attachments were intended for, had the needle positioned a tiny bit further to the right than mine, and today I noticed that this makes the bias binder difficult to use. The binder worked wonderfully in so far as it does what it's supposed to - folds and keeps the binding in place while you are stitching, but unfortunately half of the time, the stitches didn't quite catch the binding.

I am wondering if this is solely due to the positioning of the needle, or if it can also be blamed on the binding. I used some cheap polyester ribbon I got in Inspiring Ideas, Blanchardstown, when I was living in Ireland. It looks quite OK, but it is very stiff, thick and slippery. I also think it would have been easier to stitch it on if I had been attaching it to something other than net. Very flimsy stuff, net.

Sewing Machine Attachments

Singer attachments (mostly)
Originally uploaded by Vintage Granny

Here's a picture of the attachments I got from ebay, as well as a few I got from one of the local thrift stores.

Starting at the back row, the attachment on the left back row is a ruffler. Amazing thing, I tested it already, and it makes wonderful ruffles and pleats. The next attachment is a tuck marker. It makes it easy to sew even tucks. I haven't tested it yet, but from what I've read, it's very handy. The last attachment on the back row is an adjustable hemmer.

The attachment at the left in the middle row is a foot hemmer, which creates very narrow hems, and according the only person I know who have used it, it works well for very fine fabrics. The next attachment is a bias binder, then there is the edge stitcher, which is good for piecing strips of lace together. The last attachment in the middle row is a gatherer, which works well on fine fabrics.

The 3 attachments in the front I got from a local thrift store. I can use it with the singer, although I suspect they were made for a Huskvarna machine. I am not 100% sure what these attachments do, but I suspect that the one on the left is for sewing on braids. The other two are very much alike, in fact, the only difference I can see is that one of them have a graduated groove underneath it.

black/red 1950's style petticoat

black/red 1950's style petticoat
Originally uploaded by Vintage Granny

Some 2 years ago I made 2 1950 style petticoats out of stiff net. They turned out great, and due to heavy use one of them has several tears in it, and both of them became very limp. I mended most of the tears a while back, and yesterday I decided to buy a can of starch and see if I could pouf them up a bit. I drenched them in smelly starch, let them dry, and repeated the treatment some 4 times, and it worked quite well. They could do with a few more treatments, but the smell of the starch got to me in the end.

Vintage dress recovery 2

Yay! The dress is saved, I think. It still needs a light steaming to ease out the crinkles left by the stretching process, but other than that, I think the dress will be OK :o)

I think I have finally learned not to throw vintage dresses in the washer ;o)