Church of Craft

Description

I live on an island in Alaska, and the person who built my house planned on using it as some sort of hunting or fishing lodge, but ultimately the zoning doesn’t allow that. The result is that there is a strange second kitchen on the middle floor that is a perfect multipurpose craft room. On Sundays I have friends over for “Church of Craft” where we all bring projects and work around the big table while the kids play.

I’ve taught 4 or 5 kids to sew on my 1958 Featherweight, on that kid-sized table. My littlest is starting to outgrow that setup but is still a little small for the grown up sewing table. Excuse the mess on the work table- I was taking a break from sewing up some panties out of some big scraps of silk jersey left after I made a work dress that had to be placed just so on the pattern.

Other than my serger, I’ve never had a new sewing machine. I love my vintage machines, and am known for being the home for lost and wayward sewing machines. A traveling Singer salesman must have come to town in the late 50s, because I’ve acquired and restored 4 Singer 401 & 501s, the slant-o-matic rocketeers. I have the 401 and a 501 and have passed two more 501s on to new homes. I’m always on the lookout for these old machines; they’re workhorses and are very rarely beyond repair.

I feel so lucky to have enough space to have both my serger and my sewing machine set up at the same time, and a nice big drawer that 3 out of the 4 can fit in if I ever want to put them away. I’ve been sewing a lot of leotards for my little gymnast over the past year or two, and sometimes I think a more modern machine might be better suited to the more modern fabrics I’ve been using.