A new (Old) Sewing Machine

I bought myself a new sewing machine over the weekend. A nearby yard sale advertised an industrial Singer for sale, so I had to go check it out.

I had read up a little on different industrial machines and knew that one good thing about them is that you can always find parts, even for the older models.

This is a Singer zig zag machine, although it also does a straight stitch. Its about 25-30 years old. The woman I bought it from used it mainly for home decorating projects... drapes, slipcovers, etc. She was also an avid quilter. It came with the manual, a bunch of bobbins, and several foot attachments including a ruffler, all purpose, zipper, and feet for making 2 different size rolled hems. There are a couple others too, but I forget what they're for.
This machine is FAST even through several layers of heavy fabric and maneuvers beautifully around corners (ha, sounds like a sports car). I haven't had a chance to play around with it much, yet as its been a pretty crazy week (more details on that later), but I'm excited to try out the satin stitch for applique.

I still have one blank wall in the bedroom I'd like to get filled, but then I'll be back with pictures of the finished room.

Have a great week everyone and happy sewing!

Vintage Alphabet P, Q, R ~ Quilts

Its time for another Vintage Alphabet Party! This month the letters are P, Q, and R.

P is for Pottery. And since I missed Last month's letters of N and O, lets call these Ohio Pottery and cover that letter as well. :-).

A Roseville wall pocket...

And a Rookwood vase. Both are from Gram's attic and have an Arts and Crafts feel to them.

Q is for Quilts. These first two are from my grandma's attic. They were made by her Aunt Mary. First a Double Wedding Ring with mostly 1940's fabrics.

Look at this cute bunny print!
And the other is a simple 9 Patch with a pretty pink border.

The next is a tied BowTie quilt. Soooo many gorgeous 1930's prints! I could spend all day just showing all the different fabrics in this one. Here's a few...

But there is a little surprise inside this one. It was filled with another quilt! From the few fabric squares I can see it looks to be from the 1880-1900's. I saw indigo and cadet blues, madder browns, and some novelty prints like this clover and horse head.

The last quilt is a little different. It is also a tied quilt, but is made out of what looks to be fabric sample squares... Several different colorways of the same design. One side is made with all vintage linen fabrics, which actully goes really well with my newly reworked bedroom (I'll show you in the next post).

The other side is equally pretty with colorful cotton floral bouquet fabrics. Its hard to pick a favorite .

And R is for Rhinestones. (and again, since I missed last month's N, this also doubles as my Necklace post :-) )

Some of these pieces were given to me by my mother and others were found at estate sales. I just love a little sparkle!

Be sure to stop by the Etsy Cottage Style Blog to see more Alphabet collections starting with the letters P Q and R, or add your own to the link party.

New Vintage Velvets for Fall

I was thrilled to be able to buy more of these wonderful vintage cut velvet or sculpted velvet upholstery fabrics a couple of weeks ago. They are from the same local estate that the others came from. A talented woman, who did freelance upholstery work for years, had acquired many, many lovely fabrics. Her daughter has been working to clear the house and fabrics and was so sweet to contact me again. Some are large pieces cut from bolts, and others are swatch size pieces, which are great for wristlets and pouches, and many have multiple colorways.

There are cut velvets ( or raised velvets, sculpted chenilles, not sure of the correct term)...

printed velvets...

And my favorite, the multi colored floral velvets! Here are just a few...


I have 2-3 large bins filled with these types velvets as well as other damasks, brocades, and

matelasse. Needless to say, I've been busy sorting and hand washing these beautiful textiles and creating new wristlet and bag designs for the fall and winter seasons.

Have a great week and happy sewing, everyone!