Sew down memory lane

I promised pictures of my newly acquired sewing machine, so here goes:

It's a Janome 672, a mostly metal mechanical machine (that explains the weight), and comes with 22 pattern cams (which you'd change for a variety of different stitches - modern machines would already have those different stitches built into them and changing a stitch would require no more than a turn of the dial/press of a button^^).

Purple-pink dials where stitch length, width, and needle positions are adjusted.










 Adjusting tension.













When it comes to a new sewing machine (not necessary brand new, but new to the user), I like giving it a good run-through testing with the type of sewing that I do most of the time - which means, it must be able to complete a couple pieces of garments, prolly a quilt, and a couple of bags/purses satisfactorily, in order to earn that precious spot in my very limited sewing space. I've decided I wanted to make the Husband a couple of business shirts to kick start the testing process. I've never made men's shirts before, in fact, I've never made anything male before. And as I went along gathering sewing supplies for Project HBS (Husband's Business Shirts), I was reminded of the good ol' times when I was still little (nah, I was a teenager then, hardly what anyone would consider 'little' ;D) and tagged behind my mom when she went shopping for sewing supplies^^

This old shop in Ang Mo Kio is where you can find those coffee pots that Grandma used to brew morning coffee in, and traditional claypots. (Can't attest to the quality of the claypots, I've not tried the ones available now to compare them to the ones of yesteryear.)







And I found this there! :P Great for pressing pieces of fabrics, if only the legs come crossed instead of horizontal... (My dad made one for my mom many, many years ago, and it is, obviously, lost in the numerous times we've moved in recent years.)

Another old shop in Ang Mo Kio selling sewing notions and craft supplies (Tulip crochet hooks, reasonably priced yarns, cross stitch patterns, embroidery threads, etc).









I brought the Husband to People's Park Complex to choose the fabrics that he prefers (cos' we all know he's a fussy man yea :D), and I'm all set to draft and sew :P

Pictures! (I'll spare you the gory details of the WIP...)

The guy from the fabric shop gave me what's remaining on his bolt of blue fabric (free!) cos' he couldn't sell what's left after cutting my required yardage (ie barely enough for a lady's short-sleeve shirt, and definitely not enough for a guy's shirt), however it seemed as if I could have another short-sleeves shirt for him from the fabric after cutting the long-sleeve, though it's not quite conducive for tucking in... ^^;; (You know, half an inch here, 3/8 of an inch there...)

Halfway through sewing the short-sleeves, the light bulb in my machine fused and I've got to pull out the solar-powered LED work lamp to see what I'm doing... I'll say I don't like the light on the machine so much, it heats up fast and the side plate is hot to touch since the body of the machine is mostly metal.

Completed the short-sleeves shirt yesternight, fitted the Husband, and other than being a wee bit shorter than what I would like if I have just an inch more fabric available, it fits him rather well^^ No button holes as at time of post since no tailoring/alteration shop that I asked today would help me sew button holes, and my machine can't do automatic button holes - it's manual using zigzag stitches... Which I wouldn't mind so much if it's just ONE button hole. But for 6-7 button holes? No way, I can't live with inconsistent button holes, especially in a contrasting thread ← the Husband requested for decorative contrasting button holes.

Collar for the long-sleeves - ripped out the first one cos' I didn't like the height of it... (I really should stop overthinking and spare myself the extra work = = But I do really like this one better!^^)

Umm, 80% completed with half-done sleeves^^ Okay, no, let's put it at 70%... it still doesn't have button holes! (and the hemming...)














Conclusion:

Has the machine passed the shirts test? Hmm, not quite.

Straight stitching, it does fairly well. Beautiful straight stitches, not good enough to give the industrial Juki a run for its money (I know I'm not comparing apples to apples, but the industrial Juki is the only machine I played with long enough to do a comparison - the other Singer that I own, don't get me started on that one...), but good enough that I won't nitpick.

Reverse stitching, not so good. Mainly cos' reverse stitches are done by pushing a knob on the stitch length dial (that's the second dial from the top in the first picture, if anyone's wondering), and if I'll be honest with myself, I don't like pushing that knob, so much so that I resorted to lifting the presser foot lever to do my back stitching instead of pushing that knob.

Light bulb. Fused within half a day of use. It's an easy fix, but I just had to go what-the... And the heat.

Hemming through some layers of fabrics and interfacing (not thick at all, at least not in my books...), not good at all. It refused to move the first couple attempts at hemming the short-sleeves shirt. Changed a foot, forced it through, and it finally did its work.

Button holes. Hmm... ... ...

I'm liking the weight and stability of the machine (being mostly metal it holds its weight rather well), and the quality of straight stitches. But that's about it. I might test it out with a simple purse after I'm done with the shirts, but I'm leaving out quilting the double wedding rings quilt - I'm not so sure that it'll quilt beautifully, and this is supposed to be my wedding quilt (didn't have time and the right machine to complete it for over a year... = =) so I'm not gonna risk it.

I learn from working on this machine that I really do want and need a Juki F600 (dual LED lights! How awesome for failing eyesight like mine!) and/or Juki TL-98P. They'll be a wonderful team, I'm sure.