I decided to finally sit down and make an actual project with my Singer 127 treadle machine. So I started with these quilted baskets. There is a learning curve to using a treadle, and this project gave me lots of practice with handling the machine, what with piecing and quilting the fabric and constructing the baskets.
This is a machine I've rarely used because it is in my foyer rather than in my sewing room upstairs. (I've never been able to convince anyone to carry it upstairs for me - and I don't have room there anyway.)
The Singer 127 differs from the 27 in a few ways: the bobbin winder is higher up and uses a rubber tire to run off the hand wheel. It has a button to eject the bobbin case, and an automatic tension release. It is the upgraded version of the 27.
This machine has a "vibrating shuttle" with a bullet shaped bobbin case and a cylindrical bobbin.
And winding the bobbin is very cool to see, if not a bit slow and clunky. You have to pedal a LOT!
Starting the machine takes a little practice, you first have to spin the wheel toward you and immediately start pedaling. If you don't time it just right, the wheel will sometimes spin backwards and mess you up.
It is kind of like when you drive a car with manual transmission where you have to let the clutch out and give it gas at the same time - not too much, not too little or it will stall out. But with practice it gets to be second nature.
There are some other challenges with this type of machine, but you figure out how to work around it. The stitch length and tension knobs aren't calibrated, for example, so you just have to turn them until you find the sweet spot and there is no way to "save your place." And there is no back tack, so you have to fasten off your seams in another way.
I Started with piecing, which is straightforward and no back tack is necessary
Then did straight line quilting, which is also simple and straightforward and doesn't require back tacking
Sewing it all together was the last step, and by that point I was getting more used to the machine. It handled well through the thick layers of fabric, batting and stabilizers. I was able do more precise sewing to make the handles - I was getting proficient enough to turn corners while sewing and also to do topstitching.
