New Home Light Running

The other day, I was digging through my parts bins for something to list on Etsy and came across a New Home buttonholer.

 I have never owned a New Home and probably never will so that buttonholer is excess.  The problem was with the configuration of the attaching point. Presser feet and other attachments are not attached to the side of the presser bar, they are attached to the bottom.

I have no machines with that particular configuration and had no way to test the buttonholer before sending it to a buyer.  Karma kicked in and what should walk through my door but a New Home Light Running machine!

A lady bought it at a flea market and left it with me to check it out for her.

I had to use the instruction manual to figure out how to thread it.

The machine is in very good condition, all I had to do was clean and oil EXCEPT the New Home Light Running uses the rubber-pulley-against-the-balance-wheel type of drive, not a belt drive.  The rubber motor pulley was hardened with age and had pieces chipped out of it and flat spots.  The machine sounded like the neighbor's Harley.  Miraculously, replacement pulleys are still available and cheap!

 I was able to put the machine into smooth-running, quiet operation in no time after receiving the new pulley.

The best part was that now, I have a way to test that buttonholer!

The problem is going to be needles, this machine uses a CC1221 needle considerably shorter than the standard 15x1 and that needle is no longer available.  Internet research told me that 206x13 needles can be substituted but the eye is in a different position.  I installed a 206x13 and had no problem with the sewing.  Further internet research tells me that a better substitute can be obtained by grinding down the shank of a 15x1 needle to make it the same length as the CC1221 needles specified for the New Home.  If the owner experiences any problems with the 206x13, I will grind down a few 15x1's for her.

Back to the buttonholer.  Before returning the NHLR to its owner, I attached the buttonholer and attempted a buttonhole. Even without the feed dog cover or interfacing, I got an acceptable buttonhole.

The Big Shirt

About a year ago, Kathie saw a Northcott Fabric Rep wearing a “Big Shirt” and immediately fell in love.  She bought the book and the fabric for one of her own, but there was one problem – although she is an experienced quilter, she doesn’t sew clothes!  Since I have made a few Hawaiian shirts and this looks like a Hawaiian shirt in cotton, I volunteered to do the sewing.  It's basically an oversized man's shirt with buttons on the opposite side.

  But this vintage sewing machine blog isn't about shirt-making. It also isn't about the Singer 603 I used to sew the shirt 

or the rescued-from-a-storage-shed Babylock serger that I used to finish the seams;

 It is about the buttonholes 

and the Singer buttonholer that accomplished that task.

There are several types of Singer buttonholers, some for straight stitch machines, some for vertical needle zig zag machines, and some for slant needle zig zag machines.  Since the 603 is a slant needle machine, the slant needle buttonholer was the logical choice. 

  I prefer the buttonholers for zig zag machines because the machine zig zag stitch does the work of forming the satin stitch around the buttonhole while the buttonholer only has to move the fabric in the shape of the desired buttonhole.  

Buttonholers for straight stitch machines move the fabric left and right to form the satin stitch and move the fabric in the shape of the desired buttonhole. I have never made buttonholes of the same quality using a straight stitch buttonholer.  At last count, I had about 17 straight stitch buttonholers but when I want a buttonhole, I use a zig zag buttonholer.

One thing to remember when using a buttonholer – ALWAYS START WITH A FULL BOBBIN!  2/3 of the way through my first buttonhole on this shirt, the bobbin ran out and I had to rip out 2/3 of a buttonhole and start over.  On most machines, that would be a problem but on a Touch & Sew with wind-in-place bobbin, it’s twice the trouble.

Anyway, here’s the finished product. 

Now that I have one under my belt, I might make another for myself (but with matching fabric).