A few weeks ago, I reviewed the Singer Deluxe Monogrammer--one of my favorite vintage attachments. Today, we'll be taking a look at the Monogrammer by Singer, a smaller and more common slant shank attachment that comes packaged with a complete set of letters.
Read MoreThe two most common hook types are rotary hooks and oscillating hooks. Rotary hooks spin around 360 degrees while oscillating hooks rotate about 200 degrees before doubling back on itself and never complete a full rotation. For the vast majority of people, there is no practical difference. As a rule of thumb, rotary hooks are capable of achieving much higher top speeds because there is minimal resistance on the hook when spinning all the way around. Oscillating hooks on the other hand, need to reverse momentum with each oscillation, thereby introducing a ton more resistance and vibration
Read MorePrior to going vintage, I've spent more money than I'm willing to admit on many different modern machines. I've tried everything ranging from bare bones Singers, budget Brothers, mechanical Berninas, and computerized Janomes.
I remember feeling completely overwhelmed with machine choices when I first started getting into sewing. Like with most other purchases, I waded through myriad of reviews online. What I found was that even after countless hours of research, I'd constantly get sucked into feature creep--drawn by the allure of more stitch patterns and more automatic features. And while all of this sounds terrific in theory, I found out (the hard way) that I didn't need or even want these features in practice. In fact, sometimes, just having those extras can make basic functionality on your machine less practical to use!
Read MoreA while back, I reviewed the Pfaff 138--a highly versatile industrial machine capable of both straight and zigzag stitches. Today, I'll cover the Chandler 217, often considered one of the kings of versatility, this is one the most sought after industrials due to its amazing build quality and feature set. As a bonus, I'll be doing a comparison between the 138 and 217--two of my favorite industrials
Read MoreOne of the things I love most about vintage sewing machines is the incredible array of attachments available. The equivalent of tech gadgets of today, it never ceases to amaze me what these mechanical wonders of yore can accomplish with relatively simple mechanisms and extraordinary ingenuity.
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