New space

Lately I've been working on re-arranging the basement. I have my sewing area down there, and my husband has an area where he does projects. I thought we could use our space better, and make a new and better space for the kids to play, if we moved things around.

My spot is done. Here it is!

I don't usually keep my machines out of their tables - I did it just for this picture. I kind of love it, though, seeing all those old machines out and ready for work. I'd love to host a treadle workshop sometime...if only my house was bigger (this is actually less than 1/4 of the basement of my 900 square foot house).

This cabinet came with the house. The previous owner was a school custodian, and this looks an awful lot like cabinets I've seen in schools' science labs around the district. I absolutely love it.

This is what the rest of the basement looks like. I'm going to get a tablecloth with a flannel backside and tack it up over the shelves. I'll FINALLY have a design wall! Oh, and the shelves will be covered too.

I cleaned out my old corner of the basement and I've started setting up things for the kids there. I feel sentimental, which is silly, considering that I'm just on the other side of a shelving unit from my old corner. However, I'm really excited about what my kids' new space will look like!

Like I said, my house is around 900 square feet. I share it with a husband, three kids, and three cats. It's cozy and we have to use every inch well, which is why I'm so glad that I have my own space in the basement for my machines and my sewing. I feel really lucky. I also think it's good for my kids to see someone modeling how rewarding it can be to make things by hand and follow creative pursuits.

This past weekend we had a rummage sale. We did fairly well. I had the White Rotary in the garage and for our rummage sale I dragged it around onto the porch so I could sew while watching our merchandise.

It was really nice! Later I moved the machine into the basement and put all of its drawers in. Now it's ready for regular use.

Right now in between working on machines and arranging my space I'm also working on a quilt for my cousin. I'll have to post pictures soon...it's just a patchwork quilt but I think it'll be really pretty!

White Family Rotary

I've been having some luck with sewing machines lately. Today I gave away my Davis Honeymoon and Bradbury machines to someone who will get more use out of them. It makes me feel not so bad about picking up yet another treadle, even though I just got that New Home this week.

But this one was free...someone on Facebook was just looking to give it away. It was meant to be!

This is my new White Family Rotary!

The woman who had it actually bought it at a rummage, and used it up until a few years ago. She kept the manual, an extra belt, and the attachments. She even kept the oil can!

The cabinet is so pretty. I can see why people love White cabinets.

We took the machine and drawers out to transport the machine, so I can't wait to get it all put back together. It's going to be beautiful!

This will mean some re-arranging of my current machines...my sewing space can only hold so many machines. However, I'm sure we can slide it in. It's a beauty!

Welcome home, New Home

I always peruse Craigslist. I have an app that lets me search my local Craigslist and the Craigslist listings for one town over, and it's part of my nightly routine to do a search for sewing machines.

So when I saw a New Home in a parlor cabinet for a mere $20, how could I resist? I didn't know much about New Homes, but the price was right for me to find out.

It turns out that New Home was a pretty interesting company, and the machine was pretty cute!

This is the treadle mechanism. I was kind of sad when I picked it up because there were no cabinet drawers to rifle through, but over in the corner there was a mix of sewing junk and dust, and there were two long bobbins lurking in there. Score!

You can also see the original finish. Beautiful.

There was a name scratched into the oil pan, and below it is written "RR #2." I wonder who it belonged to...

This was the cabinet when I picked it up two days ago...pretty good, but kind of grungy from living in someone's basement for years...

And this is how it looked yesterday. It still has flecks of white paint all over it, but the finish is much improved. I washed it with Murphy's Oil Soap and went over it with Howard's Restor-A-Finish. 

The machine head will still take some tinkering and oiling before it'll sew easily, but I'm really pleased with my new machine.