At the beginning of July I posted some Unfinished Objects for a group challenge in a quilting forum on Ravelry. I did finish a couple of things:
Jon's quilt got done about a day before his Birthday, and was happily gifted on time. It was pieced on the Singer 66 I wrote about last time I got a chance to blog.
And I finally finished the insulated shopping bag:
The bag has a quilted lining, and was totally sewn on my Davis New Vertical Feed treadle sewing machine.
The Davis NVF is a pretty amazing machine, quilters love it for binding, but it is great for anything with many layers - the types of things you usually need a walking foot for. Why, because the needle moves the fabric, there are no feed dogs. This technique apparently is used in many industrial machines, but as far as I know the Davis Vertical Feed is the only one for home use that operated like this.
Here is a video link showing the unique action:
So the layers don't slip as you stitch. Some other bloggers have written about this machine and done a great job, so instead of re-inventing the wheel go read Jennigma's blog or Dragonpoodle studio.
If you get the lust for this machine as I did after reading about it, here is a great guide to identifying the Davis models. http://www.kelsew.info/domestic/davisvfmodels.html The thing to know is that the New Vertical Feed, the one with the trefoil design on the bed, is the only one that takes modern 15 x 1 needles. It also is a shuttle machine, but there are bobbins available for it.
Lots of links here, but no pictures of my baby, here is the photo from when I got her:
As you can see she was in great shape, I haven't done any of my usual spa routines on her, just some basic oiling and a little citrus oil on the cabinet and I have been busy sewing. One of these days I will spend some time really cleaning, and take pictures, and play with the attachments and share it all. But right now the sun is shining in the studio and I have a fall quilt project I want to get started on.
