W.I.P. Wednesday: Singer 66-16 Project | Baby Quilt | Toiletry Bag | For Pink Sakes Hop!

7:30:00 AM

Happy Wednesday morning, everyone! (are you happy? It's hump day! 2 more days left in the week. Okay. I'm scrambling here. IS IT FRIDAY YET?! heheh)

What's everyone been up to? Busy?

ME TOO!

Here we go! Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

1. Singer 66-16 Project (continued)
So I've been plugging along at fixing up an old 1941 Singer model 66-16. I've rewired the motor, disconnect the knee bar and wired a new foot pedal, repaired and rewired the light and the electric cord. (the other posts on this are {here})

Next on the list was to clean it up.

I ended up using a chrome cleaner on the front nose plate and rear cover plate. The rear cover plate was not original to the machine - I picked it up on eBay for $7. And it was in rough shape:

dirty nose plate and disgusting back plate


I'm still working on cleaning it up, but once I got most of the grime off I realized the chrome finish is completely gone on it, but it looks better than it did:
still needs more scrubbing
I just wish I had offered a little less for it than $7. Oh well.

Once the nose plate was off, I cleaned up the innerds with a bit of metal polish and cotton swabs/pads. I then oiled the bejeebers out of it. Again. And again. And again. Until all of the squeaks were no longer. The clean nose plate looks much better than it did:
all shined up! took my rings off just in case the chrome polish would wreck the gold

Then, I spent an hour giving it a damp cloth bath, removed the tape on the deck first by dampening it with a soaked cotton pad (being careful not to get any water in the inner workings...)
UGH! TAPE GOO!!
and then gently scraped off as much of the tape as I could with my finger nails.

Then, I used Goo Be Gone on the goo left behind. It didn't harm the finish or the decals (fewf!).

All cleaned up (the decals are immaculate on this machine, considering it's 73 years old)...unfortunately, the tape pulled the finish off of the machine (I'm not sure if you can see it here, but there are dull strips left where the tape used to be on the deck by the needle plate):
not sure if you can make it out, but see the dull strips along the needle plate? That's where the ancient tape pulled off the finish. :( My poor baby!
Dismantled the hand wheel and cleaned it all up:


So now, it's time to refinish the cabinet. Purists are going to hate me, but I'm going to sand the entire thing down removing the finish, re-stain the top, and paint & distress the body and legs.

I'm waiting until my mum visits in June to do all of this - it's going to be fun - in the meantime, my hubby has promised to bring it upstairs to the dining room for me so that I can start working at night while the kids sleep. EEP!

Wanna see her run???

2. Baby Quilt
My sister in law (SIL) is due in August, and I've just been informed her baby shower will be the last weekend in June. So! I must finish a bunch of projects for her and get them shipped off to Canada in time for the shower.

One such project is her baby's quilt. She really liked this quilt panel:


so I thought I'd incorporate it for her. I've been busy cutting triangles on my lap while the kids are in bed at night:


I love my June Tailor Cut 'n Press! (and excuse my Polar Bear pajamas hehehe)
...to incorporate as a border, and along the backside of the quilt. More on this soon.

3. Toiletry Bag
I'm making a cute toiletry bag for my SIL for her hospital stay when she goes in to deliver. She loves jewel tones, and I have this awesome Kate Spain print that I think she'll love. And, I made a pretty pink and black damask one too while I was at it:

I used my Therm O Web Fusible Fleece (LOVE IT!) on the backside of the outer fabric, and I quilted the damask one with a cross-hatch pattern and the purple one with FMQ (it's not perfect, but I'm still learning!):

I'll fill it with some hospital must-haves and include it as a gift for her shower!

4. For Pink Sakes Blog Hop!
My friend Anna at Life Sew Crafty is hosting an awesome blog hop for an incredible cause. Her mother in law has been battling breast cancer, and Anna's decided to create a quilt for the treatment center her MIL visits for her treatment.

I've created two pink blocks already for the cause, here's the second one (first one posted about a few weeks ago):
second block I've made - just a simple 4-patch with some charm squares!

...and have already received one from an awesome bloggy friend, and I'll send it on to Anna.

If you're interested in donating a block, here are the specs:
- any size over 4"
- must be pink!

You can either contact Anna and send her your blocks, or, you can contact me and I'll send your block on along with mine and other's to Anna in the middle of July.

Every block you donate gets you an entry into win some awesome prizes!

Here's Anna's {LINK} for more information!

If you've made it THIS far, good for you! I'm long winded. Heheh.

I'm having a giveaway and contest right now - wanna win $25 to Fat Quarter Shop? go {here} and read how to enter!

You Might Also Like

6 comments

  1. Erin, your machine is GORGEOUS! I'm so impressed with all the work on it that you've done yourself. I used sterling silver tarnish remover cloths successfully to remove tarnish from the face plates of my Singer Featherweights. As for the tape marks on the machine bed, the collectors on the Yahoo Featherweight group have recommended military parade gloss and carnauba car wax (NON abrasive type) to restore the sheen on the Featherweights and deal with pin scratches, etc. I think it's the same kind of finish as on your 66 since both machines were coming out of the same Singer factory in Elizabeth at that time. It may be worth a try. She hums like a kitty cat! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. you are certainly a wiz on machines Erin, all your hard work has paid off and you now have a real beauty to stitch with. Nice goodies for your SIL and her soon to arrive baby.Posting my block to Anna today, have done a pin wheel

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, a sideways sewing machine that is SEW cool! LOL, jk, she's looking good, I can't wait to see what name the hubby picks for her.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Test comment to show I'm not a 'no-reply blogger'!

    ReplyDelete
  5. My friend, who was a home ec major, used lemon extract to clean the machine. Gentle--and smells good. What a prize you have there!

    ReplyDelete

I ♥ to hear from you!

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment or for asking me a question. Rather email me? Reach out at sewathomemummy@gmail.com.

I like to email everyone back when they've commented - so if you're a no-reply blogger, make sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can share the love back atcha!