Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Chainstitchin'

Made some fun little patches for the Berlin Bazaar this September.

To make things interesting (and fast), they're all freehand, single-line designs.


Pretty cute!

Darnin'

Finally spending some time on the Consew 207.

Repaired my first total-crotch blowout:


Using a lightweight interfacing to keep things in place.

Let there be crotch!

And here's is a knee repair on Jenny's jeans:



Got a bunch of T24 and 27 spun poly and poly-cotton thread from A&E for darning -- including this indigo-dyed D-Core. Turns out you can order directly from them. $50 min. Nice. :)

Singer 201

Maude Vintage gave me a beautiful Centennial 201 this summer. Thanks, Sabrina!






201-2 subclass = potted motor.

 Needle range of 9 to 21. Not bad, 201. Not bad.

Housed in a cool Art Deco cabinet with awesome spring-out foot pedal and table support.


The insulation was falling off the original wiring, so I had to replace it. Not too hard: just measure the new wire with the old wire and remember where everything goes.

Here's where the power cord plugs into the motor/light/pedal wires. The original wiring had nice little terminal eyelets. I soldered the new loops a bit so they'd keep their shape.

 Plugs.


The new insulation was quite a bit thicker and stiffer than the original. Had to trim it down to fit.

 Recently got a really sweet automatic wire stripper, btw. :)

Foot control cover.



The hardest part was getting the drawers out to access the old wiring. There's stop/lock tab there on the left, next to the rail, that you can open with a paint stick or long slotted screwdriver.


Lock it down.


Machine-lift assist, and a bracket for a bottle of oil down there on the right.



This machine is great a sewing lightweight material. So far, I've used it to make a mess of bug bags for a local lab and sew a pocket back on some pants.

Monday, December 18, 2017

Float Your Boat

This spring, some friends and I made a cardboard boat, Catface Meowmers, for the annual fundraising event for the local food bank -- Float Your Boat. It carried four people across a small lake at the Bass Pro Shop, and, while we dumped (or "tumped" as some people would call it) at the finish line, I consider it a great first try.

We didn't put too much thought into the design, instead opting to copy a canoe -- bad call. While fast, the boat lacked torsional stiffness, which made paddling a real mother. And the seats raised the center of gravity, exacerbating wobbliness. More effort was spent keeping the boat from tipping than paddling.

The double-ply bike box needed a lot of tenderizing before cooperating. We eventually starting using drywall screws to secure the skin to the ribs while the construction adhesive dried. That worked pretty well.

Improvised rear end. Can't get the cardboard to bend? Add a transom.

So many hours. So much fun. :)

 
Ready to roll.

At the race:


These were the fastest boats -- two-person, flattish bottom.

Though, this Mickey boat hauled some ass.

The KOPN boat was a scorcher.

That black dagger was the fastest.

This boat suffered the worst fate: the non-start taco.


Ouch!

The kids heats were pretty great. Which way? Doesn't matter!

 Spectacular designs, spectacular disasters.

 General badassitude.

The comedy.

Our race:


Getting hung up at the start.

Flipping at the end. That crosswind! Well, it's not Float Your Boat if you don't get wet.

Goodbye, Catface Meowmers.

Next time: I think a giant surfboard is the way to go.