Singer Buttonholer Attachment

I have a confession to make.

I don't actually know how to make buttonholes. Yes, I won a Best of Show and went on to get a blue ribbon at the state fair on the button-up shirt I made in 4-H. But, I still don't know how to make buttonholes. It's something that I could learn to do if I really felt like I needed to, however I don't think I will concern myself with it because I have a MAGIC TOOL that does it for me (boy that makes me sound lazy doesn't it?)!

Meet my Singer Buttonholer (model 160506). I pop the regular foot off of my machine, snap this guy on, drop the feed dogs and put the pedal to the metal!

The templates (the little bits there on the left of the photo) control the size and the shape of the button holes. The switch you see on the side is the adjuster for the width of the stitch.

This buttonholer was in pretty tough shape when we got it but with some disassembly, cleaning, and some new white grease it now works like new.

For more vintage fun, check out Vintage Thingie Thursday hosted by Coloradolady!

Blackie the Sewing Machine

Big thanks to my dear darling sweet husband who made my Vintage Thingie Thursday post last week! I should have him post more often.

I have done a couple of posts on my sewing machines, but this old girl belongs to my mom.

Let me introduce you to Blackie!

She's no wimp, I think her motor is bigger than my car's engine.

I did a little bit of reasearch and found that she was manufactured 1937. If you have an old Singer machine that you'd like to know the manufacture date of, go to the Singer Website and enter in your model number.

You can also download a PDF form that indicates the month of manufacture, the number of machines made in that batch and the plant it was produced in. Blackie was made in a group of 5000 machines. I assume that this lower number was due to the fact that she's an industrial machine and not a "home" machine.

I must say this is THE best sewing machine I've ever stitched on... well, after I decided she was safe to sew on. When my mom first brought her home I was pretty sure I'd sew my fingers off if I even attempted to stich on her. Martijn might very well STILL think that, although he did a rather spiffy job on the small project he used her for.

If Blackie didn't weigh approximately NINETYBILLION POUNDS, I probably would try to figure out how to get her here... she can run on 220v afterall!

Check out more fun Vintage Thingie Thursday over at Coloradolady's blog!

Vintage Thingy Thursday: Commodore SX-64

Hi! This week's installment of Mub's Vintage Thingy Thursday is brought to you by her loving husband. In other words: Me. Before she left on her trip, almost a month ago, Mub asked me to do a Vintage Thingy Thursday on her behalf, and she even chose the topic for me:

No Pyrex dishes this week. No cute coat hangers either. Not even an old sandwich maker. Instead, I'll be venturing over to my geeky side. I proudly present you: The vintage Commodore SX-64 my lovely wife gave me a few years ago.



Having grown up in the 1980's, my first computer ever was a Commodore 64. Not this one, just a regular run-of-the mill breadbox. It had a huge impact on me, and years later I started to collect the whole series of so-called "home computers" sold by Commodore. A few years ago you would find these by the dozens on flea markets; these days they're getting scarce - ebay has taken over, and most of them probably ended up in a landfill, unfortunately. Nonetheless, I got most of them, but there was one glaring hole: The "portable" version of the C64, called the SX-64.



It never was overly popular over here in Europe. It was too expensive, too big, too bulky, and not really that portable at all - it weighs 27 lb and doesn't include any batteries; you need to have access to a power outlet. They were slightly more common in the US - but even there, the intended market (traveling businessmen) wasn't overly enthusiastic; there were better options available elsewhere. As a result, these machines are quite uncommon (especially in working condition), and I never really found one that was within my budget.

Mub found this one for me for cheap on ebay. It didn't work at first, but thanks to some very helpful people out there on the internet and some kind of cave where time seemed to have stood still for at least 15 years called "The Computer Bargain Store" we got it working!



It's in great condition. One of the keys has partly broken off and is a bit finicky, the spacebar has an ugly yellow discoloration and somewhere in its life someone replaced the ROMs with those of a regular C64, but other than that it works great!

Thanks, Mub!


See more fun vintage goodies for Vintage Thingie Thursday over at Coloradolady's blog.

Yah, it's more Pyrex- try to act surprised!

I'm such a Vintage Thingie Thursday slacker. I need to amass collections of awesome things to show you people every week, but since I am in a one bedroom European sized apartment (people living in refrigerator boxes under the freeway overpasses have more room than me) I need to keep it reasonable. I have found quite a lot of Arcopal (French Pyrexy things) and a few JAJ pieces but I decided to only buy the ones I really really love and leave the others for someone else.

After I posted my last VTT lamenting the fact that I needed to find more casserole size dishes, I managed to find about four the next week! Sticking to my "Do I really love this?" creedo, I only brought two home.

This is the oval casserole dish from the Fiesta series, manufactured in the late 60s.

The pattern name on this one is Kent and it's a rectangular casserole.

Check out more Vintage Thingie Thursday fun @ Coloradolady!

P.S. If you're here from clicking on the Mr Linky on coloradolady's blog, you might want to read my post yesterday about Snap Links!

More Vintage Pyrex

A few months ago, I got my hands on the larger of these two dishes. I was terribly excited because it is so cheerful and is orange AND yellow. Then when Martijn and I went to the thrift store a couple weeks ago I found it's little brother and snatched it up as fast as I could. I think there's one more size in this style of dish so maybe I'll get lucky and stumble upon it too!

Now if only I could find some more casserole size dishes! I've only managed to find one so far.

 See more fun vintage goodies for Vintage Thingie Thursday over at Coloradolady's blog.

Vintage Thingie Thursday- JAJ Pyrex Finds

Looking through back posts, I realized that I haven't participated in Vintage Thingie Thursday since October! That's too long, so without further ado I present to you my latest British Pyrex finds.

This is the Harvest pattern, manufactured by JAJ. I think this is a cute pattern, but nothing can beat what I am going to show you next.

Orange and yellow, my two favorite colors! I posted this in the Pyrex Love group on flickr and got some really good information!

In the UK in the early 70’s there was a renewed interest in traditional, even rustic products; Stripped Pine and Provençal pottery came into vogue. In 1974 Pyrex, JAJ introduced the short run ‘Rocco’ and ‘Sienna’ casserole ranges, exploiting a technique of over-spraying enamel colours to give a gentler, shaded effect to suit the new mood.

Your casserole is from the “Rocco” range and the pattern name is Rocco. From your photo of the back stamp I can see the number 509 and also a .5. just below the first letter N in England. The 509 is the cat. number for a 2pt Round Casserole and the .5. is the manufacturing date code, your casserole came off the press in Sunderland England in March-April 1975.
Thanks to Mackem 54 on flickr for this great info.

Vintage Thingie Thursday is now being hosted by Coloradolady! Check out the other submissions for this week and sign up for her amazingly generous giveaways this month.

Vintage Thingie Thursday- Candlestick

For some reason, I had a horrible time trying to get a decent photograph of this thing. I think my camera is acting finicky because it knows I want to replace it in the next 6 months or so!

This is a candlestick that my husband's grandpa made. I'm not sure exactly how old it is, but in an effort to help me with Vintage Thingie Thursday, Martijn was running around the house finding all the interesting "old" things I could showcase in my posts. This was one of them! It usually just sits on a little side table under some cabinets, so we don't burn the candle very much. I thought maybe it was time to move it somewhere else so it could burn for awhile.

Greenie

This is Greenie. She's a Husqvarna CL-8 from sometime in the mid 60's. It's a straight stitch only machine, but that just means it's the loveliest looking straight stitch you'll ever see!

I left my sewing machine behind in the US when I moved here, and I'd been really feeling like I needed one... so on Queen's Day* I spotted this machine and knew I had to have it. Martijn asked the woman how much she wanted for it and she said something along the lines of she was asking a lot, and then said 35€. I was so excited to have found such an awesome looking machine that I immediately said "YES." Martijn said we should've tried to haggle it down a little. We should have, but I still think I got it for a steal. Besides, he doesn't like haggling, and I think he wouldn't have tried to get it down anyways (he'll tell you otherwise though).

It had the original accessory box, foot pedal, and (Dutch) users manual. We did end up changing the plug end because the outlet I usually plug it into is grounded and recessed back into the wall and the original plug end wouldn't fit.

*Queen's Day (Koninginnedag in Dutch) is the celebration of the Queen's birthday here in The Netherlands. Everything that can be covered in something orange is and the entire country turns into a giant flea market. There are some good deals to be had if you search enough!

Strange bit of trivia: Queen Beatrix's actual birthday is in January, but she opted to keep the celebration on April 30th (her mother, Queen Juliana's birthday) since the weather is usually more pleasant and conducive to celebrations in April.

Vintage Thingie Thursday- Coat Rack!

This weeks Vintage Thingie Thursday is probably more of a "I surpassed vintage about 40 years ago Thingie Thursday."

This is the coat rack that was in the garden plot of Martijn's great grandfather. The really neat part about it is the garden plot actually was right by where our apartment building currently stands. The hooks have been replaced at some point during it's life, but it's a neat piece I think.

Any ideas on what to put on top of it? There's only about 12 inches between it and the ceiling and it's 5 inches deep. I'm up for any suggestions, it's a little naked up there!

Cobbler

This is a bit of a stretch for my "Vintage Thingie Thursday" post, but it's baked in a vintage JAJ Pyrex dish! It's a "June Rose" pattern put out by JAJ (the Pyrex guys in Great Britain).

Everyone seems to have their own method of making a peach cobbler, so I combined a few different recipes and here's what I ended up with.

3/8 cup butter, melted and slightly browned
1/2 cup brown sugar (1/4 cup brown sugar Splenda)
1/2 cup sugar (1/4 cup Splenda, or just leave it out if you use the brown sugar Splenda- it's really sweet).
1/2 cup self rising flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
6 nice fat peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced

For the topping:
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup oats (quick or regular, not instant)
1-2 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 175 C (about 350 F).

Pour the melted and slightly browned butter into a high sided baking dish. Mix the sugars, flours, baking powder, cinnamon and milk. Pour the mixture over the butter. Don't stir it together! Spread the peaches over the top of the batter (again, don't stir it together).

For the topping, mix the oats, butter, and brown sugar together until you get a somewhat crumbly texture. Sprinkle it over the top of the peaches.

Bake for 40-45 minutes.

This is good served hot or cold and it would probably be really nice with ice cream too! It works well with nectarines too.

"NEW" Sewing Machine!

I like old sewing machines. I have 3 (well, 4 if you count the one living at my parents... 5 if you count my overlocker... *coughs6coughs* if you count the modern machine my cute husband gave me).

I have a particular love for the older Viking/Husqvarna models. My first machine was a Viking Husqvarna, and one of the first that I learned to sew on was as well. I can't be sure if the first machine I actually sewed on was my mom's Viking or my grandma's Bernina (maybe they remember, but I sure can't). Anyhow, I'm blabbering...

I've had my eye out for my dream machine, but the only ones that I've found have been 200€ and as much as I love these machines, that's too much! In my searches, I've stumbled upon some interesting ones. My favorite was the one that advertised it was stuck in reverse, but that wouldn't be a problem since you could just sit on the backside of the machine and sew from there. I think it was pretty obvious that person hadn't had much experience sewing things.

My latest acquisition is this Husqvarna 6020, which was made sometime in the early to mid 70s.

She needed some love. So, in true husbandly fashion, the first thing that happened to her when I walked through the door was this:

This machine has nifty little cams that you poke into the back and then turn the knobs to the corresponding colors to get the patterns. The reverse button was sticking a little bit, and that was causing the pattern formers to not work as they should, so Martijn did his magic and got that taken care of. We also had a very blown up capacitor during this process, but that's fixed now too.

One of the best parts though, is in the case of this machine there was a slightly battered old envelope.

(text on the envelope says "Husqvarna Patterns for nice little presents.")

I want to make the little frog, I think he's hilarious.