Tutorial: How To Thread an Empisal Sewing Machine

 If the pictures don't explain it, please let me know.

all the best with your sewing!

Tutorial - Using Photoshop to make Historical Sewing Patterns which Fit

There are a lot of great old patterns out there that are free to download, via places like the Internet Archive, or possibly you've bought Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion series. Patterns which are scaleable, all drawn on helpful grids just waiting to be enlarged.  The problem is even once you scale these patterns, chances are it's not going to fit.

Well, I've come up with a method to solve this using Photoshop -- I used it to create my 1880s jacket -- and I'm sharing how I do it over in a series of tutorials on my graphic design blog, Part One and Two are live and I hope you'll check them out.

Dyeing Chicken Feathers with Food Colouring

Feathers dyed by microwaving with food colouring

At the start of the year my sister-in-law showed me socks knitted from wool dyed with food colouring. They were BRIGHT. I was sceptical. Food colouring is water soluble. Right?

Not so much when you microwave the heck out if it. I found an excellent tutorial on How To Dye Yarn with Food Colouring, over at Instructables

Knitting is not my thing, but when my chickens started moulting I wondered if the Food Colour Dyeing trick would work on feathers, why because then I could trim me some hats 'o plenty 19th century style for very little $$$

Long story short, yes, you can dye feathers with food colouring.

I followed the wool dyeing tutorial above with only two variations. Firstly I didn't really measure how much colouring I put it. Secondly after microwaving it the stated amount of time, I totally forgot about it and left it in the microwave over night. Did that extra time help the process? I can't say.
The main difference when doing the chicken feathers was the water didn't turn clear like it's meant to with the wool method.

But as you can see the colour took to the feathers quite well. Of course adding blue colouring to brown feathers has resulted in a greeny-blue, which I probably should have expected. I imagine if you use pure white chicken feathers the colours will be very true and BRIGHT.

Blue Food colouring dyed feathers on left, before dyeing natural brown on right

A word of warning, a little colour will come out of the feathers if you get them wet again, so I would be careful not to place them on white fabric.

Sewing Machine Tutorial: How to Use Stitch Pattern Cams

If you have a vintage zig-zag sewing machine you might have a box of stitch pattern cams. These come in the shape of weird knobs or discs that you have to place within your sewing machine if you want to go beyond the basic zig-zag stitch and create other decorative stitches.

It has taken me ages to figure out how to use the stitch pattern cams that came with my vintage Empisal sewing machine, because there are no instructions anywhere online (seriously, am I the only one who has one of these awesome machines??) but now that I have I wanted to share a tutorial just in case it will help someone else.

How to Use Stitch Patterns Cams on a Empisal Goldline zig-zag sewing machine, Model GL-2E

• Select a Cam
• Set the ZigZag control to the max - this step is important
• Open up the top cover housing.
• Peer inside and locate the tooth gear wheel - don't worry, it's obvious.
• Place the cam exactly centre on the gear, aligning the hole in the cam with the small knob on the gear. It should fit nicely and sit perfectly flat. [If it doesn't, check you set the zig-zag to 5]
• Only now loose the dial controlling the zig-zag length so the stitch width goes down to zero. No need to re-tighten the dial.
• Reduce the stitch length to as small as you can - mine is set to half a stitch. You'll probably need to play around with the length once you start stitching.
• Close up the cover and proceed to sew.
• Magic! The cam now controls the stitch that is produced. 

Tutorial: How to Take apart an Empisal Sewing Machine Tension Unit

Why would you want to take apart the tension assembly unit on your vintage Empisal sewing machine? Good question. Perhaps like me, the tension check spring broke and needed to be replaced. Maybe your unit needs to cleaned. Whatever your reason, I wouldn't advise doing this unless it's absolutely necessary.

Should you decide to take your tension unit apart make a photo record of the process, your machine maybe not be identical to mine.  

Finally, I'm no expert, I'm just sharing this in case it helps someone out there because when I broke my tension check spring I couldn't find any info online about what to do for this brand of sewing machine, and I had to figure things out for myself.

In the another post I will show you how to put the tension unit back together - which is a lot more complicated, so be warned!

One last note: in these photos I'm using a replacement tension check spring which I made from salvaging another part, read about that HERE.

Tutorial: How I made a replacement Tension Check Spring

When I broke the tension check spring on my vintage Empisal Goldline sewing machine, I was unable to buy a replacement.

Here's how I made a replacement by salvaging a tension spring from another sewing machine:
  
 I salvaged a tension spring which had these characteristic in common with the broken spring:

•  same coil length,

• same coil diameter,

• coils wound in the same direction as the broken one.

Using wire side-cutters, I cut the salvaged tension check spring to resemble the original.

 

= Voila! Replacement spring ready to go.
:) 

Mini Tutorial : How to Make Ruffle Cuffs

Sorry this is a bit brief, I made these ruffle cuffs for a friend's birthday, and didn't take many photos, so hopefully you can follow along what I did.

To Make Your Own Ruffle Cuffs, you will need:

•  4 pre-ruffled fabric strips conforming to the measurements below

Make these using your sewing machine ruffler foot if you have one - mine looks like this - or gather the fabric, to these dimensions: (NOTE: these are the completed dimensions AFTER ruffling/gathering)

Main ruffle =  longest edge is your wrist measurement, shortest edge approx 3 and a half inches.
Smaller accent ruffle = longest edge is your wrist measurement minus 1 inch, shortest edge approx 1 and a half inches. 

You will also need:

•  2 strips of leather (length = twice your wrist measurement plus 2 -3 inches)
•  4 D-rings
•  2 pieces of bias binding or scrap fabric to make a casing. 

Then follow the pictures below, and I hope it works for you. :)

How to Make a beeswax polish to Restore Singer Bentwood case

The bentwood case that came with my Singer66 was in need of a little TLC as the wood was very dry. I researched online what was the best - easiest - cheapest method and came up with this recipe:
1 part beeswax to 4 parts olive oil

I tried it and it worked fine, but being a tinkerer I modified the recipe a tiny bit so that it would smell even better.
my polish recipe = 1 part beeswax, 1 part coconut oil, 5 parts olive oil.

Here is how I made my Beeswax Polish:

1) I chopped off about a teaspoon of wax (when balled together) from a pure beeswax candle I had.
2) In a heatproof glass, and using a double boiler, I slowly melted the wax.
NOTE: Beeswax is highly flammable - Do take care!
3) Removing the liquid wax from the heat, I poured it into a container with 4 teaspoons of olive oil, and 1 teaspoon of coconut oil (I used tanning oil because that's what I had) and kept stirring with my wooden chopstick.
As the wax cooled it looked like whipped honey.
4) I applied a small blob onto a soft, clean cloth and smeared it on the side of my Singer sewing machine case. I then used the cloth to polish the wax into the wood.
The 5th picture shows the case, with the left side freshly polished, and the right side in it's original condition.

I was a bit concerned the case would feel sticky afterwards, but once applied it left the wood glossy with no apparent residue. I applied a few more coats over the next couple of days, and I'm very pleased with the result.

If you're going to try this, I suggest you apply a small amount at a time, always test on an out of the way patch of wood in case you don't like the results. And as I said before: Beeswax is highly flammable, make sure you use a double-boiler, keep away from open flames.

Have fun!

Homemade Beeswax Wood Polish

How to make a no sew Bustle Pad from an 80s handbag

If you're interested in Victorian or Steampunk clothing you'll be familiar with the bustle skirt and you may even be aware of the bustle-pad, a cushion-type device for accentuating ones...silhouette.

If you haven't tried using one with your bustle skirt I highly recommend you do. When I started working on my first Steampunk outfit I came across an excellent blogpost and tutorial on the Steam Ingenious blog "How to make a bustle-pad and why you should"

At the time I didn't have a sewing machine so I actually hand-stitched one following her instructions by hand.

Did I mention I sewed it by hand? It was worth the effort but by sheer dumb luck I've now come up with an no-sew version.

A while back I was browsing the handbag shelf in Butterflies ** ,one of my favorite local Op-Shops (thrift store), when among the black PVC bags an orange beacon of 80s ugliness enthralled me. I couldn't pass it by and I didn't know why. Slowly I realised that beyond the fulginess the bag was the same shape as a bustle pad...

So here's what you do:

First, take your 80s bag 'o ugly and stuff it with full of batting. Tie on a couple of strips of cotton - or whatever. [If the bag has big bulky handles you'll probably need to remove them, but in my case the straps were just soft cloth and as the bag was in good order,  (and not being a complete vandal) I decided not to cut the straps.]

And with an over-skirt in place, and a cummerbund to hide the ties I think it worked a treat. So if you can't be bothered sewing one, I suggest keeping your eye out for this shape of bag instead.

** If you haven't been in there, Butterflies is tiny, seriously tiny. St Patrick's day is their busiest day of the year, when ALL the Dunedin students, suddenly overcome with a hankering to dress up in green and drink green beer, descend upon the tiny shop. Do not go to Butterflies on St Patrick's day unless you want to risk suffocation by shoppers.

UPDATE If you're looking for more Steampunk ideas, please check out my

 How to Make Ruffle Cuffs mini-tutorial, 

or you might like my  

Steampunk DIY board on Pinterest.