SIZE MATTERS! (Needles!)

Remember this sweet little lady?

I brought her home as a gift from my friend Elisabeth in December of 2018.

It was MAY before I really had the chance to dig in and attempt to bring her back to life.

And that was put on hold due to a missing spring that attached to the feed dogs below.

A part was located sometime in June, and then July hit and things went crazy with my schedule.  Until New Year’s Day.  I wrote about this last week, so this is the continuing saga of the oddly named C.G. HDW machine (Made by the White Sewing Machine Company.) and how she FINALLY got to sew!

And THEN – when I was eager to hook her up to a belt and get her running, I found that the one leather belt I had was too SHORT.  The black rubber tubing belt that I get from Lehman’s was too thick to pass through the belt guard of the balance wheel underneath the machine.  GAH!!

Do I have many treadling friends out there?

I hope this info is interesting/helpful to you!

The 3/16’’ tubing belt and connectors that I also like to use arrived from McMaster Carr.  You can also use aquarium tubing, but I am so happy with how quickly these folks ship.

Simply cut the tubing to length.  Things to love about tubing vs leather – NO HEINOUS STAPLE to contend with.  It's not going to stretch over time and need to be shortened like leather belts have a tendency to do. The tubing doesn’t slip when sewing.  If you’ve got the belt a bit too big at first, it is easy to trim off 1/4’’ or so and reconnect the ends.

The hardest part?  Getting that first end into the tube -

It’s just such a little deal!

But it can hurt your fingers while trying to work the first end in there.

I find that if I hold one end of the connector securely in a pair of pliers, I have much more control and strength.

Working the second side into the other end of the tube.

Because the tubing is stretchy, it is easy to get over the hand wheel of the machine and into the groove – and best of all, it passed the narrow belt guard test – YES!

And this is where size matters.

Know your machine, and the kind of needle it takes.

The top needle is a 15 X 1, standard size needle that we use in many machines, including our modern ones today.  This is the needle that was in the machine when I received it.

IT WOULD NOT STITCH.  I got birds nests with every try, thread breakage, you name it.

That sent me on an internet search for any information on White treadles as I didn’t have a manual and I had no idea what the problem could be.

This machine doesn’t take a 15 x 1.  It takes a Boye 20!  Look at how LONG that baby is!

And once we figured this out – Click to Play:

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A post shared by Bonnie K Hunter (@quiltville_bonnie) on Jan 3, 2020 at 2:28pm PST

 

A new needle in the correct size – MATTERS!

A new belt in the correct width – MATTERS!

And now the sweet C.G. HDW is stitching a beautiful seam.  She’s had quite the journey.  I’m thinking she needs to go live in the bay window in bedroom #2 at Quiltville inn!

Don’t you just love the SHAPE of this machine?  That round end is just too cool.

Which brings me to our next adventure!

I heard back from Jessica & the Shippenstitchers, and they are so excited!  They’ve chosen the first weekend of October as their dates.

Which means it is time to draw for the NEXT group!

Drum Roll Please!!!

Entry 32

THE STITCH MOB!!!

Jessica, I have sent an email to the address you provided with the available dates for your group.  Many of the dates also include the possibility of adding extra days and a workshop should your group desire.

Please choose your dates, reply to my email and we’ll work on it together from there to make things perfect for your group!

After the Stitch Mob has chosen their dates – those dates will be removed from the available list of dates and we will choose our next group.

This whole process is so exciting.  I woke up extra early this morning just because I knew I was going draw another group.  It’s like Christmas!

And there is more excitement to come – because you know what tomorrow is? 

(And evidently we are to Frolic down the center of the road!)

I’ll be spending much of today at my desk getting ready for tomorrow – and then there is that cutting sashing thing to get the Jack’s Delight quilt a bit further along in the asembly queue.  How about you?

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Vintage spiderweb quilt top, machine quilted by my friend Allison.

Today I am choosing extreme happiness. If I choose it long enough, it will become a habit! Are you with me? Choose happiness every single day.

Oh, that purple background!

I love life on the scrappy side!