Quilting Update - Going Analogue

I've titled this quilting update post 'Going Analogue', because this was the month that I bought and started using this old vintage Singer hand crank sewing machine. I bought it at a car boot sale near Norwich for £35, as I'd always liked the idea of getting a machine that you don't have to hook up to electricity. It makes it so versatile. Anyone for sewing in the garden or the shed? Maybe not during a heatwave, but when it's a bit cooler definitely.

It's not versatile in relation to the stitches it does, as it just does a simple running stitch, but to not have to be wired to the grid to use it, now that is a real analogue experience. In addition, I probably learnt to sew on a similar machine belonging to my mum and owning one myself was a lovely nostalgic proposition.

Anyway, one hot afternoon after getting it back to London, I decided to just have a play with it, get it threaded with some black cotton and just basically get to know it a bit better. Once I'd figured out how to thread it up and insert the bobbin, I couldn't resist trying it out and Oh boy, I was not disappointed.

My aim was to try to use it to complete the quilt I was making for the shed. I've been struggling with this on my electric machine, mainly because of the thickness of the quilt, which is made from a single duvet. The electric machine, I found, made it difficult to keep my stitching straight and without snags and puckers. I spent half my time unpicking and re-sewing each quilting row and it was very dispiriting.

I figured with a hand crank machine, I might have more control of both speed and accuracy and this proved to be true. I set to stitching one of the quilting rows with this machine and there was hardly a pucker. (Well, maybe the odd very small one) Better still, I did definitely feel that I had much more control over speed and the neatness of the row and moreover, the process was just so much fun. I ended up sewing almost 5 rows out of the 7 I had left to finish, but then I ran out of bobbin thread and needed to unthread the machine to use the reel on it, to top up the bobbin. I hadn't yet figured out how to fill the bobbin using the machine, so I decided to end the session there and do it another day.

The following day, I decided to carry on and managed to complete the quilting of the rows. I also then managed to pin some binding in place and now it just needs the binding stitching on, which I'll probably do by hand, as and when I feel like it. It's not the ideal weather to be working on a thickish quilt, but it feels super satisfying to make progress with it.

Here's a picture of the finished quilting on the shed quilt:

It's not perfect, but it's for the shed and doesn't need to be and the fact that I've recovered a quilt that I was no longer using and am putting it back into use feels resourceful. I'll post another picture when the binding has been stitched on.

My verdict on the hand crank machine is a positive one. I love using it and it has added another option to my sewing endeavours. I now can't wait to use it on much more simple projects that don't involve sewing through thick layers of fabric. For a machine that is over 100 years old, it was definitely worth the £35 I paid for it and it came with 5 bobbins and a couple of spare needles too, so that should keep me sewing with it for a good while.