Re: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines (long)
In a message dated 7/7/06 12:58:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: And I was in the fabric/sewing-machine/vacuum-cleaner store today and thought I'd better ask whether that statement was still true -- I spotted the leather belts hanging on the wall behind the repairman when I was halfway through asking my question, but it's good that I asked -- he said that nowadays they also make elastic belts to fit treadle sewing machines. Dear Lacemakers, Thank you, Joy. Although my conservation/restoration training focused on textiles, we need to remember that everything is subject to change based on the atmosphere in which it resides. In the case of old manually-operated sewing machines, leather or rubber belts will be affected (as time goes by) by changes in temperature and humidity. To keep the leather belts on my two un-electrified Singers from experiencing too much stress, I keep the belts dis-engaged and would treat the leather with special products that would keep them supple if I intended to use them. I use a dehumidifier in Summer and a humidifier during heating season in an attempt to avoid extremes for self and collections. While on the subject of unelectrified machines - I have wandered in and out of Costume Society of America events for years. At this year's symposium, I re-met a woman whose home I had visited some 20+ years ago. She and her husband collect old sewing machines and own more than I have ever seen in one place. Their home is large. Every room has machines of all makes and for all types of sewing, lace and embroidery purposes. This collection is well-known by certain groups, and I am not the only one who has seen this fascinating accumulation of evidence that there were machines made for specialist seamstresses and tailors to use when working for their particular clientele. Consider the fact that there was a variety of people who were customers in need of clothing. The expectations of these customers depended on class, culture, country vs. city, etc. For instance, in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, some wealthy people maintained a room in their homes for the use of the family seamstress. She would come to the home for a period of time each year, or each season, and prepare/mend household linens and clothing. She would also come to work for a family when a prospective bride was preparing her trousseau. Many books confirm this practice. Much skill and speed was expected of such a seamstress and her sewing equipment. For well over a century, students have been educated in specialty technical schools where they are taught the fashion business from end-to-end. They have been documenting both historic and current fashions in books, museum exhibitions, on stage, in motion pictures, etc. There are many more courses of study and books available on this subject than on lace and embroidery combined. It is important for members of this list (Arachne) who are collectors of lace and embroidery to learn how to read these products. That means close inspection of lace and embroidery to determine whether made by hand or machine. Thanks, Angela - for your informative articles. Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace Embroidery Resource Center - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines
Joy Beeson wrote: Those belts are still being made. And I was in the fabric/sewing-machine/vacuum-cleaner store today and thought I'd better ask whether that statement was still true -- I spotted the leather belts hanging on the wall behind the repairman when I was halfway through asking my question, but it's good that I asked -- he said that nowadays they also make elastic belts to fit treadle sewing machines. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather) west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. where it's sunny, but not too hot. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines
Domestic sewing machines were used for domestic sewing - plain sewing, seams and hems. Very few people had a sewing machine at home prior to the 20th century. Industrial machines, which were around in factories from early/mid 19th century *were* used (and designed for) embroidery. Brenda On 5 Jul 2006, at 22:29, Jean Nathan wrote: I endorse what Tamara says. Don't know Jeri's background, but I too come from a long line of weavers, tailors and dressmakers all in the East End of London (the poor part), and the emphasis was on making basic plain clothing, reusing the good parts of discarded clothes from the wealthy, hemming and binding sheets, blankets, and other household furnishings, and mending. Lace and embroidery were embellishments which had no place in the lives of those people. Everything was done as cheaply and quickly as possible to earn a few pennies for basic needs. Never heard reference of a sewing machine being used for embroidery until the early 1950s, and never heard of it's use for lace until very recently. Even when my mother bought a brand new Singer machine in the early 50s, the salesman's pitch was only for its utilitarian and money-saving uses. The instruction book didn't mention them either. My grandmother (born 1884) used to buy as many of the needlecraft magazines she could afford (she was earning pennies for errands and babysitting at age 10), especially when she was young, and passed some of them on to my mother. They were brown and falling apart when my mother died, but I looked at them all before binning them. None of the advertisements for sewing machines mentioned embroidery or lace. I assume they were pubished in the UK. Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brenda http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/ - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines
Angel Skubic wrote: I have an old singer treadle machine. I love it. It needs a new belt though...the other one just plain got old and dry... Those belts are still being made. Ask at any place that repairs sewing machines. The belt is held together by an S hook, and there is a notch in the drive wheel, so it's quite easy to take the old one off and put the new one on. It should require you to trim a bit off and poke a new hole for the S hook in the cut end to get a tight fit. Any good, sharp knife will cut the leather. -- Joy Beeson http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/ http://roughsewing.home.comcast.net/ http://n3f.home.comcast.net/ -- Writers' Exchange http://www.timeswrsw.com/craig/cam/ (local weather) west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines
Sewing machines that can do embroidery stitches are relatively new, although my mother's old (early 1950's) Necchi can do a whole lot of neat designs. But the Singer manual for treadle machines included instruction for making lace and embroidering with the straight stitch- only machines. Robin P. Los Angeles, California, USA (formerly Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - We all need to remember that when what we call sewing machines were first invented, much emphasis was placed on the features for embroidery and lace techniques, Are you certain-sure of that? I come from a long line of taylors/dressmakers (great-grandpa, grandpa, Mother, and myself before BL struck) who used sewing machines all the way from the push the wheel by hand, through treadle, to electric. And the sewing machine my Mother saw me use here (in 1977) -- which could embroider, make a buttonhole with a single click as well as overcast a seam -- was a _novelty_ to her. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines
Tamara's thoughts are about domestic sewing machines, and yes domestic embroidery machines do only date from mid/late 20 century, BUT industrial machines that could make fancy stitches go back a lot further. The Handmachine is recorded as early as 1829. That's the machine which has one 'master' needle, guided by hand, which operates numerous other needles on the principals of a pantograph. The needles have a centre eye and pincers each end to hold the needles. These machines could make very convincing copies of whitework embroidery. Chainstitch (Cornely) machines, based on hand tambouring techniques go back to early 19th century. Industrial lockstich (Schiffli) machines date back to the 1880s and were used for embroidery on lawn, net and also dissolvable fabric (acetate) to make chemical lace. Al that info is from a quick scan of Pat Earnshaw's Lace Machines and Machine Laces Brenda On 2 Jul 2006, at 06:59, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sewing machines that can do embroidery stitches are relatively new, although my mother's old (early 1950's) Necchi can do a whole lot of neat designs. But the Singer manual for treadle machines included instruction for making lace and embroidering with the straight stitch- only machines. Robin P. Los Angeles, California, USA (formerly Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Original Message - We all need to remember that when what we call sewing machines were first invented, much emphasis was placed on the features for embroidery and lace techniques, Are you certain-sure of that? I come from a long line of taylors/dressmakers (great-grandpa, grandpa, Mother, and myself before BL struck) who used sewing machines all the way from the push the wheel by hand, through treadle, to electric. And the sewing machine my Mother saw me use here (in 1977) -- which could embroider, make a buttonhole with a single click as well as overcast a seam -- was a _novelty_ to her. - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brenda http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/ - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines
Hi All, I have a copy of Singer Instructions for Art Embroidery and Lace Work and it is the Eighth Edition. It lists 1922, 1923, 1925, 1931, 1937, 1941, and 1948 as the years of the other editions. Subjects include Eyelet Embroidery, Richelieu Embroidery, Fancy Stitches on White Goods, Applique on Net, English Lace (Braid Applique), Brussels Lace, Teneriffe Wheels, Duchess Lace, Venetian Lace. The Chapters are arranged into 5 Courses of Study. I have a treadle machine, which I inherited from my husband's late aunt and if I ever have spare time I will try some of the Lace and Embroidery it demonstrates. I will certainly make time to read some more of it. I am interested in the history of the things I do and it was for that that I purchased this book when I had the opportunity. It is just amazing what you can do with just a treadle machine. I am sure that no one fully uses the capacity of the machinery they own, I certainly don't. Mary Carey Campbelltown, NSW, Australia From: Adele Shaak [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Adele Shaak [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2006 08:43:25 -0700 Tamara wrote: the early instruction booklets that came with machines. What's early? And, does anyone know how well those early combination machines sold? As opposed to the two -- independent (sewing and embroidery) -- ones? I think the book referred to was put out by the Singer sewing company. And, yes, it does refer to the use of a simple Singer straight-stitch sewing machine to do embroidery, not a specialized embroidery machine. Our local library has a copy of the book - I think it's called Singer Instructions For Art Embroidery and Lace Work - and it has been reprinted (Dover?). I don't know how early the original book came out, but the one I've seen was from the 1920's. So, how was the embroidery done? As I recall, you position your needle, put down the presser foot, and put the needle down through the fabric. Then you either (1) leave the needle in the fabric, lift the presser foot, turn the work around the other way, adjust the stitch length if you don't want a straight line of satin stitches but want them to widen or narrow, and take the next stitch back, or (2) raise the presser foot, move the fabric to where you want the next stitch to go in, put the presser foot down again, and put the needle down into the fabric and bring it back up. When you've repeated that several thousand times, maintaining even tension all the way, you've got yourself a nice piece of embroidery. The picture on the cover showed complicated curving whitework embroidery done in lovely even satin stitch. I can't imagine anyone not employed by Singer ever successfully accomplishing that level of work - or spending the time to do it - but I think a lot of women bought the book thinking it was all going to be very easy. (The Lace Work part of the title referred to the fact that after you'd done all your satin stitch you could cut out part of the background fabric to make cutwork 'lace'.) It reminds me of a fad that flowered for six months or so about 25 years ago - some sewing machine company hired people to tour around textile shows demonstrating how you could do cross stitch with the zig-zag feature on their sewing machine. You bought very small diameter double-pointed knitting needles. You laid them down on the fabric and zig-zagged over them with your machine, one stitch for each stitch on your pattern, then you turned the whole thing around and zig-zagged back again to create the other side of the cross stitch. Then you changed your thread to the next colour and did the whole thing again in the next colour area, and so on. The whole point was that you could do even cross stitch on non-evenweave fabrics. As far as I can tell, the demonstrators were the only people who were ever able to do the technique without breaking their sewing machine needle on the steel double-pointed needles. I knew people who bought the dpns but nobody who tried it more than once. It was tedious and frustrating. Adele North Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines
I have an old singer treadle machine. I love it. It needs a new belt though...the other one just plain got old and dry... Cearbhael -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of mary carey Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 4:58 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; lace@arachne.com Subject: RE: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines Hi All, I have a copy of Singer Instructions for Art Embroidery and Lace Work and it is the Eighth Edition. It lists 1922, 1923, 1925, 1931, 1937, 1941, and 1948 as the years of the other editions. Subjects include Eyelet Embroidery, Richelieu Embroidery, Fancy Stitches on White Goods, Applique on Net, English Lace (Braid Applique), Brussels Lace, Teneriffe Wheels, Duchess Lace, Venetian Lace. The Chapters are arranged into 5 Courses of Study. I have a treadle machine, which I inherited from my husband's late aunt and if I ever have spare time I will try some of the Lace and Embroidery it demonstrates. I will certainly make time to read some more of it. I am interested in the history of the things I do and it was for that that I purchased this book when I had the opportunity. It is just amazing what you can do with just a treadle machine. I am sure that no one fully uses the capacity of the machinery they own, I certainly don't. Mary Carey Campbelltown, NSW, Australia From: Adele Shaak [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Adele Shaak [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [lace] embroidery tool and sewing machines Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2006 08:43:25 -0700 Tamara wrote: the early instruction booklets that came with machines. What's early? And, does anyone know how well those early combination machines sold? As opposed to the two -- independent (sewing and embroidery) -- ones? I think the book referred to was put out by the Singer sewing company. And, yes, it does refer to the use of a simple Singer straight-stitch sewing machine to do embroidery, not a specialized embroidery machine. Our local library has a copy of the book - I think it's called Singer Instructions For Art Embroidery and Lace Work - and it has been reprinted (Dover?). I don't know how early the original book came out, but the one I've seen was from the 1920's. So, how was the embroidery done? As I recall, you position your needle, put down the presser foot, and put the needle down through the fabric. Then you either (1) leave the needle in the fabric, lift the presser foot, turn the work around the other way, adjust the stitch length if you don't want a straight line of satin stitches but want them to widen or narrow, and take the next stitch back, or (2) raise the presser foot, move the fabric to where you want the next stitch to go in, put the presser foot down again, and put the needle down into the fabric and bring it back up. When you've repeated that several thousand times, maintaining even tension all the way, you've got yourself a nice piece of embroidery. The picture on the cover showed complicated curving whitework embroidery done in lovely even satin stitch. I can't imagine anyone not employed by Singer ever successfully accomplishing that level of work - or spending the time to do it - but I think a lot of women bought the book thinking it was all going to be very easy. (The Lace Work part of the title referred to the fact that after you'd done all your satin stitch you could cut out part of the background fabric to make cutwork 'lace'.) It reminds me of a fad that flowered for six months or so about 25 years ago - some sewing machine company hired people to tour around textile shows demonstrating how you could do cross stitch with the zig-zag feature on their sewing machine. You bought very small diameter double-pointed knitting needles. You laid them down on the fabric and zig-zagged over them with your machine, one stitch for each stitch on your pattern, then you turned the whole thing around and zig-zagged back again to create the other side of the cross stitch. Then you changed your thread to the next colour and did the whole thing again in the next colour area, and so on. The whole point was that you could do even cross stitch on non-evenweave fabrics. As far as I can tell, the demonstrators were the only people who were ever able to do the technique without breaking their sewing machine needle on the steel double-pointed needles. I knew people who bought the dpns but nobody who tried it more than once. It was tedious and frustrating. Adele North Vancouver, BC (west coast of Canada) - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL
