Machines Old and New

Published: Wed, 05/02/18

Hi ,

Thank you so much if you wrote in last week with a treadle (or otherwise) machine story. I've really enjoyed collecting all of these stories and seeing these beautiful machines. We received so many great machine memories, I decided to create a special page for them.

Click Here to read some fun treadle machine stories as well as see some historic pictures.

Speaking of treadles, we have a new podcast episode today all about collecting vintage sewing machines.

Cheryl Warren is the author of the Dragon Poodle blog and an amazing resource for learning how to restore and use treadle machines.

Click Here to find Episode 55: Collect Vintage Machines

Since I spoke to Cheryl a few months ago I managed to acquire two treadle machines - a Singer 27 and a Singer 12. You can see the Singer 27 in the podcast and hear the story of how I'm restoring the Singer 12 (with a few bumps in the road).

But wait... I have another machine!

Introducing the Sparrow 20

The Singer 27 treadle isn't the only new machine taking up residence in the Crafty Cottage. I've just switched out my old Bernina 1230 for a new Eversewn Sparrow 20.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Josh and I were planning to become sewing machine dealers and the Sparrow 20 is the first machine we've added to the quilt shop at LeahDay.com.

I've been playing with this machine for the past few weeks and I've absolutely fallen in love with the stitch quality, simple functions, and sturdy build.

Click Here to check out the Eversewn Sparrow 20.

Straight out of the box, this machine comes with an excellent variety of feet for sewing garments and DIY projects.

It has 80 decorative stitches and has an automatic needle up / down function as well as a start-stop button and speed control so you can stitch without using the foot pedal. I've been amazed with the tension on the Eversewn.

I normally never quilt with a different color of thread in my bobbin, but on this machine, the tension is so nicely balanced I was able to quilt with white thread on the top and black thread in the bobbin.

Prism Path with Easy Straight Lines

Welcome back to the Prism Path baby quilt along! We’re piecing AND quilting together to make pretty rainbow baby quilt. This week we’re finally ready to machine quilt a super simple design over the surface.

Click Here to learn how to machine quilt easy straight lines on our baby quilt Prism Path.

How to Quilt Jagged Cosmos

Ready to quilt another walking foot quilting design? Jagged Cosmos is an attention-grabbing zig-zaggy design that's super fun to quilt with your walking foot.

Click Here to find the book Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day. Inside you'll find 30 fun walking foot quilting designs with tips on how to use them in real quilts. This book also includes the quilt pattern for Marvelous Mosaic, the quilt we're making together with these squares.

The first step to quilting Jagged Cosmos is to break down your quilting space and pick the center point for the jagged lines to radiate out from. I positioned that spot slightly off center which made the quilting design much more interesting when quilted in this square sandwich.

Click Here to watch a new video on how to walking foot quilt Jagged Cosmos.

So that's it for this week! I really hope you take a moment and check out the Sparrow 20. We've been wanting to offer a solid and affordable sewing machine for years now and finally are happy to have one that meets our expectations.

Check out the videos I've shared giving more information on this machine.

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day