More work from the special project

New Work pt.1 - selvedge denim, duck cloth, indigo linen

Been working 12-14 hour days trying to get things together for a special project.  If I can pull it off I'll write more about it soon.

Shirty Machines

I drafted a new work shirt pattern the other day, my first in about 8 months.  The pattern came out pretty well, but I had numerous machine problems.  It took far, far too long to construct this one shirt.  And in the end it didn't even  come together well enough to wear.  Feeling very much "not ready for prime time" this week. 

You can see some of the buttonhole machine problems in the images below.  The machine snapped its belt while I was using it too - kind of alarming when it happened.

After fixing the belt I discovered that the machine is missing a few parts.  Don't know if those missing pieces are why it's not functioning properly though.

Tack Buttons and Hand-Press

My hand-press arrived a few days ago.  Having done a few test buttons I see now why a foot powered press is preferable - you've really got to give it some force to set the steel tacks.

Rimoldi Serger

Got the old serger working today.  Very nice when machines function properly!

Tack Buttons

My tack button order from YKK came in last week.  There are a lot of choices when it comes to tack buttons - a half dozen choices for materials and several dozen finish choices.   It's taken about three weeks of going over options, and what I can afford, to come up with this order.  I'm pretty happy with the way they look.

Still need to get a hand press to attach them.  I've done the hammer-thing with previous jeans and ruined quite a few buttons that way.

Left to Right - tin finish, plain steel finish, ebony finish

Travel Kit, prototype #2

In between trying to track down hard to find, but necessary sewing machine parts, and performing tedious, but also necessary adjustments on my existing machines, I was able to squeeze in a little bit of sewing yesterday.  It's a rough prototype for a little bag that I'm working on as part of a work-trade arrangement to attend this years Firefly Gathering.  If it goes well I'll post more later.