Old is New

Meet the newest addition to my sewing room, a Singer 15-91 from the 1940's.  I'm calling this little beauty, Belle.

For the past 10 years, Belle was  hidden in her cabinet because no one in the house knew how to use her.  Her original owner chose to sell her along with the house they shared, so Belle was left behind.  The vintage loving new owner gave Belle a place of prominence as a pretty table to place vases of flowers on and now that owner is moving.

Imagine my delight after months of researching for just the right new member to welcome into my sewing circle, on finding Belle.  Her first owner was definitely a keen sewist because not only was Belle in fantastic shape for her age, but she has a number of special attachments.

Here she is with the zig-zag attachment.

Keen as I was to test Belle's abilities, I made a wee sampler of some of her zig zag capabilities (jotting down settings will make successful repeats more likely to happen ;o).  Call it fun with a purpose.

Having always had an electronic sewing machine, I had never experienced using a buttonhole attachment that worked using cams. 

 Belle, went right to work on making gorgeous buttonholes!  I'm so smitten with her.  I sought her out to be used specifically as my quilt piecing machine, but am delighted to discover she is capable of much more than great straight stitching.

I have more attachments for her and many ideas of projects I will make using them.  Chances are I'll be sharing some soon.   First things first though, I put her into action making an improv style piece to be used to recover the padded stool that came with her.   How fun to make a modern quilting project using a vintage machine!

I'm pretty sure that Belle is not going to find any vases of flowers on top of her, anytime soon!