Singer 99 is Dressed to the 9’s

Dressed to the 9’s!

In the weeks that followed my Singer 99 conversion, I accessorized a bit, then I took her to an all day sew. I usually bring a couple other machines with me, but I only used Joy that day. I marveled at her true portability, as I churned along. At first, I found myself looking under the table for the foot pedal, and laughed at myself. Once, I found my legs crossed, and told my friend, “Hey look! My legs are crossed! Can you do that?” and she mildly, said “no” Then she lit up and said “Oh my goodness! The light just turned on. That is truly a portable machine!” I smiled and said “I know, right? I can take her to the park and just sit and sew.”
Now, she wants one.
At that time I had only made a dust cover, accessory bag, and piecing tool caddy, with padded bottom [possible coffee cup mat] built in pin cushion, scissor pocket, and small pockets for tweezers, 6″ ruler, and poky stick.

 

Pretty cool stuff, considering I wanted to be able to carry her outside and have everything I need to begin sewing.
but then I went full out batpoop crazy, and made a custom Pack-n-Play for her!
I finished in time to take her for a test run at my local quilt shop aply named “Sew Crazy”

The hooks were added because I accidently ironed over the nylon webbing while pressing the panel on, and got some black goo on the red panel. After thinking about remaking the panel for a tenth of a millisecond, I decided to hide the marks with hanging hardware! I don’t know if I will ever need to hang anything here, but no one has to know that I didn’t intend to have them.

Please notice the position of the word “Singer” in the appliques.

 

I did not want a bag that I would have to lift her out of to sew, so I made sides that drop down.

Beauty unfolding!

I ran out of velcro for the side pocket flaps. I don’t have any idea what I will put in these pockets, but you can’t add them later, so here they are.

 

In case you can’t tell just how much I obsessed over this, here are the features:

The end pieces contain pockets with print matched flaps on the inside [of course], and print matched sleeves on the outside for the webbing straps to go through because I do NOT like spending $12 /yard for fabric and then having black straps run across the top of  it.

The front drops down, and is made to hang over the table. It has 3 pockets with a print matched flap. The flap is held closed with velcro, because these pockets will be upside down when she is all packed up.

The back is designed to hold patterns, paperback books, or quilt blocks, and also has a print matched flap. This flap also has a velcro closure, but will be right side up, when she is all packed up.

Then we have a shape matched bag for threads, bobbins, and portable battery operated light. I designed this to fit the exact shape of her throat where it will travel with her. I used an invisable [teeth covered] zipper so as not to scratch her when I slide it in place.

Then I needed a way to have the tools I always use handy, so I made this tool cozy with pin cushion, scissor pocket, and little pockets for a ruler, tweezers, and poky sticks.

[See those little red scissors? They are made by Fiskars, and cut thread really well. They only cost $1.49! Look for them in the school supplies [not sewing] section next to the crayons. I buy them in colors to match every sewing machine I have.]

There is a flap on the back to put her foot down on, and hold it in place for travel.

More velcro to hold her secure.

The front has her name in fussy cut applique.
The back as an outline of her in fussy cut applique, from a template I made.

If I learned one thing from this, it’s that the ‘stick on’ velcro sucks!!!! If you have any,  throw it away! Now!

Really!

I’ll wait . . . . .

Is it gone?

Ok, good.

So what will you use to hold the velcro in place while you sew it?

Something that will make it stick where you want it, but also be able to sew over it without gumming up your needle?

Temporary basting spray! Yep!

Here are the rest of my tips for sewing velcro:

Use a walking foot! I was lazy, and left my walking foot on, and it worked better than any of my past velcro sewing experiences! Skipped stitches anyone? Not with the walking foot. I’m telling you, it was awesome.

Cut the pieces to fit before spraying them. Then lay down the ones you will sew first, because you don’t want the pieces in waiting to get too dry. I used freezer paper for any overspray.  Spray them, then place on fabric, finger press, and sew them down.

Next, spray your matching pieces, and lightly place on top of the sewn ones.

Then carefully close the flap, and if it looks good, press with your hand.

Next, carefully lift the flap, using your finger tips to seperate the pieces so the unsewn ones stay stuck to the fabric. Now, you are ready to sew those down.

I had so much fun, I may velcro EVERYTHING!

um, as soon as I get some more.

That’s it for this week! I am off to work on another quilt now.

#DressedToTheNines #PrintMatchObession #PackNPlay  #SewingWithVelcro

 

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