The wolf is back with his family

It's been almost a week and our new addition Alfie the husky has returned to his original family. He is a lovely dog, but the lack of training overwhelmed us. Alfie is big - the size of a German Shepherd because he's a cross with Alaskan Malamute which is a giant dog. So when a…

“Who let the wolf in?!”

Meet our latest addition: This is Alfie, or Wolfie as I started calling him. A 4 year old Alaskan Husky - a cross of a Siberian Husky and an Alaskan Malamute. We think he's a little underweight, never been to a vet and never had any training, but did have a lot of love with…

The best stitch for blind hem

...is plain zig-zag. Why? Because it resembles manual blind hem most closely, and manual blind hem is, of course, the golden standard. Domestic sewing machines have come up with a variety of special blind hem stitches, from a wiggling attachment for straight stitch only machines, to fixed or programmable combinations of straight stitching or narrow…

Uneven stitching on Singer 66K – mystery solved

Here is the problem: uneven tension on my 1906 Singer 66K. Why? It goes up and down every 30 stitches or so. Weird. Annoying. Bah! 😤 But never fear - the mystery is finally solved, see updated original post. 😃

Living memory

During the latest clear-out at my mother's prompted by the imminent downsizing and having to move, she came across a stack of linens that she inherited from the clear-out of her late mother, some 20 years ago now. In that stack there were some old linen towels with faded embroidery, some fine but old lace…

Hopping with a back-clamping Singer 66K

My Singer 66K has back-clamping foot fitting and I don't want to convert it to low shank. 🧐 Whaaaat? Why? Ah, that is a topic for another post. 🤬 Yeah, I heard you. 🤭 This 1906 Singer 66K was made within the first half a year of production of this model in Scotland, and it…

The secret of Singer needles

No, it isn't top quality - that's no secret. 😁 Singer domestic sewing machine needles of type 15x1 (a.k.a. HAx1 or 130/705H) are actually different from needles of the same type made by other manufacturers, both needles of top quality and needles of "great value". Here they are - a Singer needle and a different…