Back Ease: another fitting secret no one bothers to mention

I have made another crucial fitting discovery along this years long journey of botched, ill fitting garments. I felt like I had almost worked out my issues but for some reason, my clothes were still turning out uncomfortable, especially my drafted ones. My button down shirts dug into the fronts of my arms whenever I raised them, and my less stretchy t-shirts were so tight across the back and shoulders I couldn't stand to wear them.

I think I have worked it out. BODICE BACKS NEED EASE! WHY IS THIS SUCH A SECRET? This is ESPECIALLY important if you have bad posture. The only mention of this I have seen anywhere is in Nancy Zieman's fitting book (90's edition) and even then it's a casual reference. You'd really think that fitting experts like Patti Palmer would mention it in her many volumes on the subject. In fact, most fitting references I've seen tell you to fit the back with no ease (CB on spine, sleeve seam at your armpit crease).

I learned this by doing a test. I tried on a home made button down, set in sleeve blouse with the sleeves seams removed from just above the armpit to just below the shoulder seam and noted how much gap appeared between sleeves and bodice. I determined 1" was needed at the notch area of each shoulder and installed some gussets. When I tried on the altered shirt, the digging into my front biceps was gone. I could hunch my back and raise my arms without discomfort.

Doing the math, I found that the shirt was 14" wide before the alteration, for a finished with of 16" afterwards. Nancy's book says that standard back ease for wovens is 1 1/2". My back width at armpit creases is 13 1/2 (measured with shoulders slightly rounded). Add them together and you get 15.  However, I have bad posture, so I'm happy to add the extra inch across the back. It doesn't add any noticeable bulk or wrinkling and it makes my shirts comfortable. Before this breakthrough, I didn't know a fitted shirt could even BE comfortable. I should do some more testing to see if the extra inch is actually necessary. This was my first try in a trial and error process.

In the past, when I've tried Nancy's method it has not worked out for me and I think this is why. I originally thought the problem was because I am so much smaller than anyone she probably had in mind, but now I don't think so. The only way to know is to do it again.

Amazing thrift store find

...or so I thought. Meet the newest member of the family:

This is a Viking 6440 ca. 1978. I found it at the local gold mine with manuals and all accessories for 25 bux. It actually didn't have a price on it so they took my offer. Apparently people will pay upwards of 300 for these things in the right circumstances. I've never had a Viking before and this one was seized. After I got it moving, I discovered that the phenomenal number of plastic parts inside ALL needed replacing. And I thought 70s Singers were bad.

So after spending quite a lot of money for these absurdly expensive parts, I still couldn't make it work right and was really tired of dicking with it. It is unpleasant to work on and things don't seem to work the way the service manual says they will. I kept posting questions to the Viking yahoo group and finally a former Viking tech offered to fix it for me for a fee. I send it to him and got it back today. He did a great job!

Now that it's working, I must say, it is an excellent machine. It's simple to use and the stretch stitches are very precise; that is to say that when the stitch reverses and the needle is supposed to penetrate a hole that has already been punched, it goes precisely back into that hole, unlike my Singer 920 and even my computerized Pfaff. It also has a low gear for added punching power. I have seen them described as "able to punch through steel".

I think the best part about it is that it is a mechanical machine with a true 3-step zigzag. Most just give you a dotted wavy line which does not stretch. I've popped plenty of stitches on seams made of this supposed stretch stitch. Now I understand why Viking fans like them so much. Having said all that, with all this plastic, it will only be around a few more years. Parts are still available now, but that's not likely to be the case much longer. Future proofing is a big deal to me.

And check out that neat custom cabinet insert. I got it for 25 bux from a place called Shopjoya.com. It had a price sticker on it for something like $69. You can barely see it in the photo because it's completely clear and not scratched up yet.

66 tweeks

Here's a neat trick if you have a back clamping 66. A lady in Florida sells locally machined adapters to put on your presser bar that enable it to accept low shank attachments, including articulated ones like buttonholers.

 

Here it is on the machine with a straight stitching foot attached:

 The thumb screw is long and sturdy. Here it is with my blindstitcher:

It is installed by removing the back clamping collar and replacing it with this adapter. The original screw is used to fasten it to the bar. I'm not going to publish her email address, but you can find her contact information at TreadleOn under "lindalu".

I have a cheap hand crank I was going to use with this machine. In fact, I had not planned to put this machine back in the treadle base. I bought a handmade wooden display base for it to sit in for hand cranking and I was going to leave the converted 306 in the treadle. I decided I didn't like the 306 enough to waste the treadle on it after the restoration turned out so well, and I thought I could put the hand crank on the 306 to use with the original spoked wheel off the 66. I even went out and bought some brown paint for the wheel. Wouldn't you know it, the spoked wheel is larger than the original solid wheel and the hole in the motor boss wouldn't line up with the hole in the hand crank. I decided to put it on the 66 anyway so here's that mod:

So now I can treadle or crank. Neither method adds any drag to the other to speak of. I always liked the idea of a hand cranked machine, but having finally tried it, I'm not too keen. You have a lot of control over the machine, but not a lot over the sewing. I'll probably take it back off.

I've noticed from working with really old machines that the introduction of plastic gears and rubber belts in the 50s and 60s caused a decline in quality that was far more severe than I thought. There are machines over 100 years old that are still gliding silently away, as smooth as the day they were made, and then you have machines like my Futura 920, where something tears up literally every single time I use it. Even though that machine is 40 years old and well made by today's standards, there is no comparison between that machine and my grandmother's 15-91, about 20 years older. The only plastic on that one is a little bakelite here and there. I'll take bakelite over plastic any day. It may be brittle, but it doesn't rot. I saw on the sewing machine episode of "Secret Life of Machines" where manufacturers would destroy trade-ins to get them off the market because they never went bad. Then they discovered plastic. And then in the 70s came the holy grail of obselesence, electronics.

66 is finished!

The day I thought would never come has come! The 66 is finished and operational! I can't believe how after 102 years, it's still such a pleasure to use. So quiet and smooth and precise! And I also can't believe how well the restoration turned out. It was truly an amateur operation and quite the learning experience. It's not something I see myself doing again. Now without further ado...

Can you see the very obvious scratch I made with a screwdriver blade?

You can see the uneven printing of the decal. These are the original cover plates. They are pitted but usable.

An early rear clamping shank. I managed to find a set of attachments for it but I may replace it with a normal shank so I can use buttonholers and and other articulated attachments with it.

I had to replace this upper thread guide because I thought it was a friction fit and ended up damaging mine. It is NOT a friction fit and is sometimes necessary to use glue.

And here it is back in the skanky table it came with.

Now about the budget. Let's just say it's blown. And then some. I ended up buying a new balance wheel because I wanted the shiny chrome and I couldn't do it myself on my old one. As I said in the previous post, I had to buy new bobbin area parts. Here's why:

Just like sandpaper

Let's see...in addition to copious amounts of painting supplies, I also bought new etched covers and a stop motion knob. A new belt...decals...plating kit...We're probably looking at $300 easy. I guess that's not too far out of line with one in good condition but those usually come with a decent table. I hate that the decals don't have that sparkle like the original gold did, but I guess that's my only complaint about the whole project.

Well, that's all folks. I can put this one to bed. I wanted to show more photos, but I didn't want to make this post too photo heavy, so I made a web album. You can view it here.

Parts are plated

Plating went well with the electroless plating kit I got from Caswell. I was apprehensive about getting one shot at it and screwing it all up, but that wasn't the case. The process is virtually fool proof and if something does go wrong, it can be fixed. Unbelievably, nothing went wrong during this process. Unfortunately, however, the quality of the plate is dependent upon the quality of the surface before plating. That is, a polished surface will get a mirror finish, while a rough one will get a dull finish, and any flaws are still visible. Makes sense.

Here are the results:

You can see in the close ups how the condition of the part affects the outcome.  You can plainly see all the pits and flaws. The plate is too thin to hide flaws but thick enough to cause tightness during reassembly. Some of the tolerances are so small, I had to get creative during reassembly. I actually did this weeks ago and have been reassembling the machine over the past month.

The hook is badly pitted and I doubt will be usable. It isn't smooth in the slightest. And the bobbin case has a sandpaper like texture that would not buff away. It was virtually useless in the machine because it would grab the thread rather than letting it pass over. I've ordered replacements.

Here is a close up of the assembled bobbin winder and stitch length knob:

The stitch knob turned out beautifully because its finish was relatively undamaged. The toothed wheel of the bobbin winder still had most of its mirror finish, although pitted, and it is shiny and smooth after plating. All the silver parts in this photo have been plated.

The machine is back in the treadle base now and I'm just making final adjustments and waiting for the replacement parts. Overall, I'm quite pleased with how this project is turning out. I was expecting it to look more amateurish than it does, even though it is certainly amateurish. It actually looks quite good and stands up fairly well to inspection. I'll be making a final update and cost recap once the job is completed.

66 project not dead

Bet you didn't expect to see this again. Like anybody reads this anyway. It's got two coats of clear on it right now. I'm trying to decide if I want to risk polishing it or adding more coats or just leave it alone. The clearcoat is spray can automotive paint but it doesn't seem to be very durable. It already has scratches from a couple of light dustings while it sat waiting for my attention. It was in a protected location so there's no reason for the finish to have damage. Also, there are cracks in the paint where the vertical part joins the bed. I don't know if it's in the black or just the clear. I know they weren't there when I painted it last.

Anyway, here are the pictures I promised 20 months ago:

You can easily see the edges of the decals in the clearcoat. I would think the clear needs to be pretty thick to blend them in or stand up to actual use.

And here's a close up of those paint cracks:

I'm ready to plate the metal parts in the next day or so. One of the reasons this project got so bogged down is all the math to calculate the surface areas of all the parts and mix the bath. I have no idea whether I've prepared the metal well enough to make the new plate stick. I've done the best I can and we'll see what happens. On the plus side, it looks like I'll have a lot of solution left over, so I'll be able to do more parts than I thought.

New toys

I derive very little satisfaction from the digital age. That's one reason why this site is updated so infrequently. I'd much rather be actually doing things than writing about them. In fact, I am considering doing away with it all together. Anyway, I came to the realization one day that all the photos I've taken since abandoning my film camera are only as permanent as their file types. Yes, I know I can get prints of digital photos. What a pain. I remembered when we would finish a roll of film, drop it in the mail, and a week or two later, we'd excitedly examine our fresh prints. It was such a treat to get them in the mail and see how we did.

Hence my latest foray into unknown territory: a 35mm SLR, flash (not pictured) and lenses

Not knowing what an SLR is, I never understood why professional film photography was so good and my own pictures were mediocre at best. I don't care anything about art, but I'm learning about the mechanics of exposure and what the different lenses do and finding it all fascinating. I absolutely love the remote shutter cable. And so much more versatile and user friendly than my digital camera, which is pretty fancy in itself, although outdated by todays standards. Like I care.

I really regret not doing this years earlier. Especially before going to Japan. When I was there, I just bought disposables locally because digital cameras were still expensive then and I was afraid of damaging mine. The results were dismal.

I'm keeping notes of the lens and settings I used for each frame for when I get them back.