The grand daughter's sewing machine

We did not do the best job of planning for our old age so we live on a modest income.  Not a complaint, just an observation.  So when Christmas comes around we operate on a budget.  I allocate a specific amount for each child and grandchild and like to make that allocation go as far as possible.  I had talked in a previous blog about buying a sewing machine suitable for our 7 year old grand daughter.

I found a factory reconditioned Singer Pixie for $14.99.  I couldn't believe my luck.  There was enough money left in the allocation to buy sewing scissors, spools of thread, a tape measure and stitch ripper.  I had some fabric so I made a bag for her to keep the notions in and also included some fabric I had.

Hence, her gift seemed much more than the other grandchildren's but moneywise, they were all the same.

Just got some pictures in my email of my grandkids in California taken today.  My grand daughter is still wearing the jacket I knitted for her late 2011.  Wow!  A worthwhile project for sure.

Some Christmas projects

Here are some of the things I made for Christmas gifts this year that I talked about in previous posts:-

My daughter and grand kids in England wearing their hats.  It gets quite chilly in winter in England.

Xmas progress

We (my husband does the leather staining) made the grandson's belt.  It turned out great but in my haste to wrap it and mail it I forgot to take pictures. Duh!

I finished the hats and neck warmers.  Just have to sew them up.  I will try very hard top remember to take pictures of them.

I also made a bag from fabric today to put some practice fabric and sewing notions in for our grand daughter for Christmas to go with the Singer Pixma.  I used the Brother XL 703.  It sewed beautifully.

I did overlocking on the seams and turned the top with a row of scallop stitch.  It was a simple job but it was so nice to have the different stitches.  Guess what? yep, forgot to take pictures again.  Double duh!!

Coasters are done and conditioned etc and need to be wrapped but I have already taken pictures of those.

So I think that's all the making I will be doing for Christmas.  Not bad to be done by the 12th, I am usually still going in a mad panic at this time so I am happy I have been a little better organized this year.

A quick update on the Brother XL 703 and gift making

I have finished the second set of leather coasters.  I am very happy with both sets.  (Pictures after Christmas).  We still have a leather belt to make for a grandson.  That will be this week's project out in the workshop.

At the weekend I started on the hats and neck warmers for our hunting friends.  I made a very nice hunter green hat on Saturday.  My husband said it wouldn't be any good for the hunters though as by this time of year the leaves have all turned brown and that's when they hunt.  Luckily, I have some lighter brown and tan yarn so I made a hat and a neck warmer yesterday and will make the same again today.  Then I will be finished making knitted gifts. Decided to forego on the mittens as I am running out of time. (Again, pictures after Christmas.  Don't know who reads my blog so don't need them getting a sneak preview).
I do now however have a nice hunter green hat.  That will be the first thing I have knitted for myself.  I will make a green and red pom pom for it and it will be my Christmas hat.

Now, back to the Brother XL 703 sewing machine.  It has been needling me that it isn't working.   I now have the manual so really wanted to get it to work.  No matter what I was doing to it though, it kept snapping the cotton and the fabric was moving to the right and getting scrunched up.  Was the feeder thing broken maybe and that was the cause?

Yesterday, after finishing knitting, I took another look.  I un-threaded the machine and ran the fabric through it and the fabric went nice and straight so it wasn't the feeder.

After a lot of testing I isolated the cause.  It was the lever that goes up and down that the cotton goes through before it goes down to the needle.  It had been pushed against the frame and was catching the thread and not allowing it to be pulled through and was snapping the cotton where it was threaded through the needle.  I pushed the lever away from the frame and amazingly it stayed there and is now sewing well.

I didn't get chance to try everything in the manual but I did try a few of the stitches and they worked just fine.  I am so happy happy happy.  After I am done with Christmas preps I will sit down and go through the manual and try all the different processes.  That will probably be a New Year project as I still have a ton of things to do for Christmas.

The blue stitching was done
on the brother XL 703

Been quite busy with Christmas gift projects

Since my last post on November 22nd I have been busy with Christmas gift projects.  I have knitted 5 ribbed stocking caps, three of them being for females have pompoms.  They have all turned out really nice.  I made them the same colours as the scarves I knitted for them before.

I have completed the set of leather coasters I had started on and am well on the way to finishing a second set.

I managed to get a Singer Pixie sewing machine for our youngest grand daughter.  It was a heck of a bargain.  A factory reconditioned one for $15!  I was so happy to find it.  Other used ones were going for $40.  This meant that I could purchase some additional spools of cotton, some beginner sewing scissors and tape measure etc. and still be withing budget.

So up to here all was good.  Then it went downhill:-

I have been obsessing about my sewing machines.  I couldn't stop thinking about the Pacesetter XL 703, which I have now discovered is 51 years old.  It is capable of doing all the fancy stitches I will ever need.  I spent days on and off looking for a manual for it online.  Eventually found one in the Brothermall online store.  $5 plus shipping.  I ordered it Monday and it arrived yesterday.  I read it from front to back then this morning went up and got the machine out again.  This time I took the covers off and oiled it.  I bought new needles, some for embroidery and some for stretch fabrics.  It says the reason for the top thread breaking could be wrongly threaded, blunt needle, too small needle for cotton, tension too tight, needle in wrong way, etc. etc.

I had the machine all oiled.  I changed the thread, adjusted the tension, put in one of the new needles (the correct way), threaded it as per the instructions (which is how I was threading it anyway) and it still snaps the top thread.

I am at a bit of a loss now but will keep on working on it.  The inside was immaculate so hopefully I can get it to work.

So after messing with that and having no success I decided to do some knitting.  I am making caps, neck warmers and mittens for our neighbours.  The same as I made for my husband. (see earlier blog). As they both hunt I thought I would make them striped in woodland colours.  Black, brown, green and tan.

Out came the colour changer.  I got it all set up with the 4 strand mast and refreshed my memory of how to use it from the manual.  Then set off to knit. The colour changer worked great but I couldn't get the correct tension on the mast and the yarn wasn't running freely enough.  I had it set on the lowest tension too.

The knitting had holes in it where the yarn was tightening up.  So it came off the needles.

By this time I was feeling a bit defeated.  I was not having a good machine day.

I came down, made and ate lunch and decided to blog about my grotty day.  I will go and sit next and do the stitching on my coasters.  No machine involved in that!

As I don't have the time to mess with the yarn changer I will knit the sets in plain colour.  One set in brown and the other in green.  They are father and son so they need to be different so they know whose is who.

So off to do my leather stitching, (no machine involved lol) and hoping for a better day tomorrow.