Portable!

 

Good morning and happy Wednesday!

Beth has been collecting Featherweight sewing machines the last couple of years.  She has often taught sewing to adults and children.  Eventually she would like to set up a sewing classroom and use the featherweights to teach kids how to sew.

I often assumed the featherweight was one of the first portable sewing machines.  Boy was I wrong!

I stumbled upon this ad for a portable sewing machine which was advertised in 1920:

The earliest ad I could find was this one from 1917 (it shows the price).

Turns out, there were a lot of portable machines offered even in the 19th century.  I've read a lot of conflicting timelines on when the first portable machine was invented but the one I found most interesting hails from the 1870s. 

1874:

This machine attached to a table and allowed the woman to move the machine wherever she wanted.  The machine was altered a variety of times eventually powered by a hand wheel.

I found a couple of interesting articles on this machine (here and here)

Do you own a featherweight?  I do have one and it is my back-up machine.  How many machines do you own?  I have quite a few (people gave me these) but only really use my Pfaff and the Featherweight.

Have a safe and happy day!

Kitchen Stitching

 

Good morning!

How are you today?

One of the most recent trends (as in the last couple of decades) are quilts that celebrate cooking and food.  I think it is likely because of "foodies":  folks who love cooking and food.  Also more techniques using kitchen gadgets are being shared on the internet.

Most recently, I found an interesting tutorial on how to use coffee filters to make crazy quilt circles (although I think you could use this method for other techniques).  See it here.

Another method of applique employs a drinking straw.  You can see that one here.

Many of us have even made a kitchen themed quilt or two.  Here are a few of mine:

When my granddaughter was young, she was obsessed with cupcakes.  Anyway, I made this wall hanging for her.  That's Seamus posing in front of it.

My former daughter-in-law used to love to make pies so I made her a wall hanging celebrating pie time!

Speaking of pies,  an old  quilt pattern was the Pie Quilt Pattern.  This technique employed foundation piecing.

Most of what I read about this pattern was that it was challenging, if not difficult:

I've even heard of "kitchen quilts"--but that term referred to pot holders in the 1980s.  With so many mug rugs and other accessories, I'm sure there is a variety of "kitchen quilts".

Have you done any quilt in the food theme?

Have a safe and happy day!

World Heritage Site

 

Welcome and happy Monday to you!

This weekend we learned that a local area was named a World Heritage Site.  As many of you know, I was born in Bethlehem, PA and have strong ties to that area still.  The Moravians settled the area in 1741.  They built a village that still stands today and is revered in the area.  The city has worked hard to preserve the history of our region and not only survived but thrived after Bethlehem Steel closed in 1995.

The Hotel Bethlehem stand on the site of the first home but many of the other buildings have been preserved and in fact, are still being used by the Moravian community.

To celebrate, I am posting a photo of a Moravian quilt that I own.  It was likely made at the end of the 19th century.

Wishing you a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: July 25, 2024

 

Happy Flower Friday!

Today we celebrate all creatures great and small that make our gardening better and more fun!

From Diann in Colorado, here is an amazing photo her son took of a swallowtail butterfly!

Sue is known for her sense of humor and shared a number of photos.  I've picked out some of my favorites and will share more next week!

Violet in front of the violets:

The great garden writer Beverly Nichols once said that "A garden without cats, it will generally be agreed, can scarcely be called a garden at all."  I don't agree with that but I do find cats to be entertaining!  Sue's cats really tickled me this week!

Maggie the cat and Portland the dog:

Vlad hanging out:

Ursula doing some aerial surveillance:

Maggie loves to climb the arbor:

Maggie and Ursula on the arbor!

Thank you so much Diann and Sue!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Coloring

 

Good morning and how are you today?

Summertime is the time of enjoying and preserving fresh fruit!

Ruby Short McKim's "Fruit Basket Quilt" was a series quilt published in 1932. 

The pattern was meant to be appliqued and embroidered but this one was drawn and colored with crayon.

Coloring quilts with crayon was popular in the 1930s and beyond.  I actually don't know that I've ever seen a quilt or top that incorporated crayon "tinting" as it is sometime referred to that was made before 1930.

Ruby McKim was a big advocate of this technique.  This makes sense because many of her quilt patterns were made for or by children.  She sometimes often advertised tips about this technique:

"If you happen to be making a crayon colored quilt he would be better in the orange-tan and brown dog coloring..."

It makes sense that McKim endorsed this approach.  Many of her quilt patterns were for children and many children made her quilts (or at least the blocks).  I used to hear people laugh about some really flawed colored quilts but the truth is, it was probably made by a child.  

Coloring was popular enough that crayon manufacturers paid for advertising in women's sewing magazines:

1933 Needlecraft magazine ad.

Most of the time, the colored pieces were embroidered with a black outline.  When that didn't occur, the pattern could get lost like the one below and to the right.

I like to see how well people did with crayon, partially because it's not as easy as it looks and also because the Lehigh Valley is the home of Crayola Crayons factory.

The best tutorial about this technique is from Meg at Crabapple Hill designs.  You can see two different tutorials for coloring at the bottom of this page.

Have a safe and happy day!

Show Us Your Garden Menagerie!

 

Happy Tuesday!

This is just a quick post.  My brother is in the hospital and I have a ton of things that need to be done for him and my mother.  I think Jim will be okay.   The doctors seem to have it under control but we are waiting for more test results.

This Friday, I'd like to celebrate critters in our gardens.  It could be your pet.  It could be a wild animal that visits you.  Or maybe you can tell us which of your plants or flowers attract wildlife.  I'd be interested in knowing which of your flowers hummingbirds and butterflies like.

Please email your photos or thoughts to allentownquilter@gmail.com.

Have a safe and happy day!

Good Tools

Happy Monday!

Over the weekend I was working on preparing my blocks for the guild quilt challenge.  I'm not even sewing the blocks...I'm just cutting fabric and preparing to snowball a lot of pieces.  But once this preliminary work is done, the blocks will be easily sewn.

All that got me to thinking...what is YOUR favorite sewing tool?  I know I probably asked you that before but hey, I'm old and I can't remember. 😄  Besides there are so many new tools these days.  Maybe you know of some that would help the rest of us!

"Make sure that you always have the right tools for the job.  It's no use trying to eat a steak with a teaspoon, and a straw."

--Anthony T. Hincks

Today I will feature two of my favorite tools.  The first is the rotary cutter.  I prefer the ergonomic rotary cutter from OLFA.

Now until I wrote this article, I always thought OLFA was a Scandinavian company.  I'm not even sure why but that is what I assumed.  OLFA is actually a Japanese company and hey--get this--the company that invented the rotary cutter!

This tool was invented in 1979 by Mr. Y. Okada according to the OLFA website.  It was actually invented for garment sewing but quickly adopted by quilters.  We know a good thing when we see it!

🔴🔴🔴

My other favorite tool is the FriXion pen.  And guess what? This also came from a Japanese company!  Pilot is actually a Japanese stationary company.  The company invented the FriXion pen in 2006 and it hit the market in 2007.  I love this pen for embroidery but also for quilt techniques that rely on a drawn line (half squared triangles and snowball blocks).

The ink is erased after using a steam iron on it.  I have used this pen for years and never had a problem with the ink remaining or reappearing.

What are your favorite tools?

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: July 19, 2024

 

Happy Flower Friday!

Sue has graciously sent some more photos.  She also sent a photo of her cat in her garden but I think I will post that next Flower Friday.  I'd love to see animals in your garden and will request that next week!

Hummingbird moth on bee balm.  These insects start out as tomato horn worms:

Crepe Myrtle:

Blackberry Lily:

 

Sue's Lemon Tree.  This propagated as a product of watering her orchids with ice cubes from her ice tea with lemon!

Rudbeckia:

Turk's cap lily:

Have a swell weekend and I hope you get to spread sometime out in the garden!

Irish

 

Well it seems like all of us are baking in North America.  Everywhere seems to have a temperature of about 100 degrees Farenheit.

This week I was looking for one thing and then found another thing and it got me wondering what the temperature is like in Dublin, Ireland this week.  They are having temperatures in 70s during the day and at night, it goes down to the 50s.  It sounds divine.

What intrigued me this week was a sewing machine called an "Irish Sewing Machine".  I had never heard of this have you?  I found a few references in newspapers but less in the United States.  Most of what I could find was in the early 20th century.

1914 ad, Queensland, Australia:

So what is an Irish Sewing Machine?  According to this article from the U.K., it is a machine that can embroider better than a regular machine.  It had a zig-zag stitch that produced the effect of a satin stitch and the seamstress used a hoop on the machine to create the look she wanted.  It was apparently all the rage at the turn of the century for dressmakers who embellished dresses with this machine.

I probably can't find any machine ads in the U.S.  or Canada because different companies incorporated the technology into their own lines of machines.  Here is one from Ebay that is called a Singer Irish Machine.

Apparently some manufacturers still use the term "Irish Sewing Machine" in their modern machines.  Here's a Juki Irish Machine offered for sale in the U.K.

Although I knew embroidery machines were made at the end of the 19th and early 20th century, I had never heard this term before (being of Irish descent, I would have remembered it).

Some sewists still use this machine.  Here's a great video of a woman using an old machine to embroider.

Have you heard of this machine before?

Friday is coming so if you have any flower or gardening images you wish to share, email me at allentownquilter@gmail.com

Have a safe and happy day!