Removing 15-91 from cabinet (#40) for servicing (including power cord / foot pedal)

Last November I realized my 15-91 was overdue for servicing (maintenance, internal cleaning, oiling and minor adjustments). Since I have not yet gained the confidence to do my own maintenance and internal cleaning (beyond cleaning out the bobbin area), I figured I should take it into a store.

My father-in-law had it serviced before giving me the machine so this was the first time I was arranging to do this myself. I found a store that was able to service the machine, and the night before I was planning to drop it off I decided I should gather everything I would need (bobbin, bobbin case, screw tool) and remove the machine from my cabinet. Something that should be straight forward, right?

Steps for removing the 15-91 from the cabinet (#40)

I would recommend before trying to pull out the machine to remove the bobbin and bobbin case and set them off to the side. Otherwise as you move the machine it is possible that the bobbin case and bobbin will fall out, and roll somewhere inconvenient. If you are planning to take the machine into a store for servicing, remember to bring the bobbin and bobbin case with the machine.

Unplug the 3-pin terminal plug from the machine

I apologize for all the dust…

Unscrew the hinges that attach the 15-91 to the cabinet. There should be 2.

Lift out the machine

Great, the machine is removed. But wait, what about the power cord and foot pedal??? You will notice the size of the 3-pin terminal plug prevents you from pulling the cord through the cabinet in one direction. And the foot pedal prevent you from pulling the cord in the other direction. The hole in the metal plate is simply too small.

I had no idea how my father-in-law handled this previously but typically when a shop services a sewing machine they request the power cord and foot pedal to be able to run the machine. And I really didn’t want to carry the cabinet with me into the sewing shop just for the power cord.

I went to google. A lot of the initial results just covered how to remove the machine, not really mentioning anything about the power cord. Or covered how to dismount the foot pedal from cabinet (instead of using the knee pedal). Or vague references to removing the power cord with no details covering what that exactly meant.

I even checked the adjuster’s manual for the 15-91 but it mostly covered the machine itself, not the cabinet.

Then I started getting into results that suggested rewiring? I couldn’t quite make sense of that. One of the nice things about having 15-91 is the ability to self-service the machine. You can open and adjust the machine easily yourself. Rewiring just didn’t seem to fit into that self-service vision.

What was starting to make more sense was all those vintage singer machines with cut (or missing) power cords. People had likely grown frustrated with trying to remove their machine from a cabinet, and in a rage just cut the cord. BUT I WAS NOT READY TO ADMIT DEFEAT.

So I turned the cabinet upside down trying to evaluate what my options were.

Steps for removing the power cord / foot pedal for the 15-91 from the cabinet (#40)

Before we start I would recommend sliding your foot pedal out of its case/holder. Since its a tight space, the more room we can give ourselves to see and maneuver, the better. It might be a bit sticky but the food pedal should slide out out of its holder.

Now what is important to note is that the cable is passing through a hole in a metal plate that helps hold up the 15-91. There is no way to push the cord with the 3-pin terminal through the hole. Which means the only path forward is to remove the metal plate from the cabinet. But how?

If we look closely we can see there are screws holding the metal plate into the cabinet.

Now at this point you might be tempted to go straight to those screws and start unscrewing them (like I did). BUT WAIT. You will quickly realize that while you can easily remove one of the screws. The other one is very hard to reach. And even if you can manage to reach it, there is a third screw you can’t even see that you will not be able to reach due to the spring mechanism being in the way.

Yes, this means you will need to remove the spring mechanism to reach the screws. Take a close look at the spring mechanism.

While I’m not an expert in springs, it looks like we have a torsion spring. I’m not entirely sure what to call the part on the left (perhaps an anchor?) but it is helping to hold the tension in the spring and you can see the spring is inserted into it. You can’t see it from this angle but there is also a very long screw passing through this part through the entire mechanism. As we travel to the right, we of course have the spring, the hinge of the metal plate that our cord is passing through, a washer, and then finally a nut. The screw passing through the entire mechanism has been tightened by the nut. Which means we need to undo the nut to take this apart.

Based on my own experience, I found using a 15 mm ratchet worked well for a nut of this size. Be aware as you are loosening the nut that the tension in the spring will be released (and could be released quite suddenly). Since the entire cabinet is upside down, we don’t need to worry about the metal plate being released (once the tension is gone) and hitting us in the face. Another reason to do this with cabinet upside down…

Keep in mind that when you have to put this all back together you will need to add tension back to the spring by tightening it before securing it in place. If you don’t, then the metal plate won’t have any tension helping to hold it up.

Once you remove it, you should have the anchor (?), spring, washer, nut, and long screw. Put them aside in a safe space.

Now that the spring mechanism is out of the way, we can clearly see all three screws holding the metal plate in place! It will still be a bit tight but much easier to unscrew them with the spring mechanism out of the way.

Before you get too excited, make sure to set aside the screws in a safe place. And viola, now we can pull out the metal plate, with the foot pedal, 3-pin plug, and power cord. Is it slightly embarrassing to carry the power cord and foot pedal with a metal plate + hinge into the sewing store? Yes, it is (the owner had a good chuckle). But far better than having to carrying around the cabinet or give up bringing in the machine to a shop for servicing.

Once I got the machine back, I had to do all these steps in reverse. As I mentioned earlier, it is key to add tension back to the spring before screwing it in place. Another pair of hands can be quite useful to assist with this.

Now can this knowledge be applied to other types of cabinets? I’m not sure as I only have experience with cabinet #40. But I would definitely recommend if you are having similar problems with your cabinet to turn it upside down and check what you have going on down there. It is not necessary to rewire the machine just to remove the foot pedal and power cord from the main sewing cabinet. It might just require removing some additional parts from the cabinet.

Quilt #4: Crosstown Buzz

I started working on this quilt in April 2021 when I first picked up Urban Quilting by Wendy Chow. Her book was one of the first quilting books I ever bought. When I was searching for books online I was immediately drawn to her modern patterns and bright colors. I decided to try my hand at the throw version of ‘Crosstown Buzz’ in a green and pink color palette. At this time I was shopping mostly from Pins and Needles so I picked out the Tiger Lily collection (Paintbrush Studio), a shetland flannel in a russet herringbone (Robert Kaufman), and a solid in the color Willow (Kona). I also picked up Aurifil 50 weight thread in Light Peony and Medium Spruce (2437 & 2885).

Initial fabric picks pulled from Pins & Needles

The first cuts of my fabric selection

While it was the 2nd quilt I had ever started, it was the first quilt I was making for myself (rather than giving it away). But because of this, this quilt ended up getting deprioritized in favor of the baby quilts I was making in 2021/2022. Then of course, when everything was put on pause while I was dealing with health issues, this quilt was left in a partial state.

Picking up this quilt was quite intimidating for several reasons. Mostly because I had to reckon with my old mistakes when trying to finish this quilt. Here is a quick summary of my past sins:

1) Due to the amount of pieces needed, I had try to cut my strips and triangles in bulk but hadn’t developed the techniques at the time to successfully cut it evenly and consistently.

2) I had not sewed all my seams with the same seam allowance. Which made my flying geese triangles smaller than they should of been.

3) While I had completely pieced half the blocks and squared them up before abandoning the project, there was still half the quilt to finish piecing. And for a 72 x 72 inch quilt that is not insignificant.

So I already knew walking back into this project I would need to do some aggressive cutting to try to keep things square and that I was going to have issues with my triangles lining up.

In Oct 2023, I started trying to orient myself to where I had left off in the pattern so I could pick up the rest of my pieces and make up the second half of the blocks. As I predicted, I ended up having to cut off quite a bit to square them up.

Once I had all the blocks completed, the next challenge was getting all the blocks to line up. I quickly realized that I was going to have cases where two halves of the triangle were not going to line up and that there wasn’t really much I could do about that.

By this point it was Nov 2023 and I was nervous about trying to feed this quilt through my 15-91 for the actual quilting part of the process due to the sheer size and I was also beginning to have issues with my thread snapping while quilting on my 15-91. Despite my attempts to adjust the tension, I was unable to solve the problem. So while I was arranging for my 15-91 to be serviced, I decided to take the opportunity to try out a Pfaff Ambition 620 at my local quilt shop.

I stitched in the ditch of the blocks using Light Peony as my bobbin thread (for the backing) and Medium Spruce as my thread for the front. The blocks are quite large though in this pattern, hence I was worried that the quilt spacing wasn’t dense enough. So I decided to add some hand stitching in 8 wt Acorn Thread’s ‘Maple Syrup’ (Trailhead Yarns) around one triangle in every block.

This kept me busy for a month or so and finally in Jan 2024 I was ready to tackle the binding. I ended up keeping the solid fabric in Willow (Kona) for the binding and machine sewed it to the front with my 15-91 (which had returned from servicing by this point). I finished the binding with hand stitching in the same 8 wt Acorn Thread’s ‘Maple Syrup’ (Trailhead Yarns). As I worked on the binding, I found a few places on the front where I failed to catch part of the binding due to misaligning my binding layers. Which led to me having to hand repair a few spots.

Hand stitching around a triangle

Hand stitching the binding to the back of the quilt

Repairing part of the binding

After a round in my washer and dryer, I did my final inspection for loose threads and weak spots. All I found was a few more spots on the binding that I had to hand stitch. Below is the final result!

I’m still struggling to figure out how to photograph quilts that are as large as this one. Short of hanging it from the ceiling, I’m not sure what else I can do.

It is a big relief to finally finish this quilt. And now that it is done I can comfortably move on to new things. I’m still trying to decide what my next quilt should be but I think I will take a break from triangles for a little while.

Update + Quilt #3

I’ve been on a somewhat long and unintended hiatus. My last post was in January 2022 although the last time I was really actively and regularly posting was August 2021. It is not as though I wasn’t thinking about quilting or Singer 15-91s. Over the last two years I was occasionally buying fabric, patterns, and sewing equipment. I even had a grand plan to go over all the different sewing feet you can use on a Singer 15-91 and film demonstrations of it. But of course that didn’t happen.

Health-wise I had things going on that made it difficult to set aside time to quilt (or even blog about Singer 15-91s). I was often too tired and all my projects gathered dust. And then, when I started to feel better about six months ago, I was busy planning for a wedding. It wasn’t until very recently that I pulled myself together (and stopped staring guiltily at my fabric stash and quilting supplies) to actually work on one of my abandoned quilts. Part of the this was driven by the fact I had a coworker with a new baby and I wanted to gift a quilt to them. Another reason was that I had signed up for a class on hand quilting a binding and needed to bring in a project far enough along to practice on in class.

I think I’m in a better place now to post more actively here. I will first focus on wrapping up my abandoned projects and then transition into new Singer 15-91 content.

Quilt #3

Speaking of abandoned projects, I have just finished one. It is a long overdue baby quilt that I originally started for another baby. But after a year, it seemed like I had missed the window of opportunity to finish it and gift it. When another coworker recently had a baby, I decided I need to revisit this quilt and complete it. So eager was I to get this quilt at the door that I forgot to take good photos of it. I only have a few snapshots from my phone.

Mostly the front of the quilt with the back folded over. The top group of colors is repeated at the bottom.

Stitches from hand binding showing up on the back of the quilt

I followed the pattern ‘Angelos Mini’ from Southwest Modern (by Kristi Schroeder). As you can see it is somewhat similar to a diamond pattern although it is more like stacked rectangles. In terms of color, I picked Kona cotton colors (Sunny, Avocado, Snow, and white) mixed with a vibrant salmon corduroy and patterned blue and green fabrics. The back, which you can see folded over in the photos, is a Tula Pink cotton (specifically Wildflower in Snapdragon). I’m aware that some people have strong opinions that baby quilts should be pastels and neutral colors, but I think these colors came together in such a fun way. The corduroy also added some nice texture.

I didn’t do anything fancy with the quilting technique (just diagonal lines) but a fun part of the quilt was the binding. Recently, I learned 5 techniques for hand stitching and it was fun to apply one of them to the binding using Acorn Hand Dyed Threads (by Trailhead Yarns) thread for this particular project.

I did have some difficulties with the pattern though. Despite following the instructions, somehow the border strips were too short for the top quilt and I had to cut back some of my pattern at the top and bottom. Additionally, despite using color catchers, I also had a brief scare about color transfer when I washed the quilt. After seeing some yellow staining, I ran the quilt through the washer about three more times to remove it. All the washing though resulted in some weak points in my quilt top to come undone (specifically seams between two triangles). And I had to hand bind those weak points in two places. On one hand, it is better that I caught this now before sending it. Since this is a baby quilt I expect it to be washed often and these weak points would have been eventually exposed. Catching it now means I can reinforce those areas so the quilt can last longer. On the other hand, it is a bit of a disappointment that after all that hard work my quilt came apart a bit, and I have to put some visible mending on the front before gifting it.

I feel like every project I’ve done so far is a bit of a struggle in terms of piecing together the quilt top. If it isn’t cutting inconsistent fabric pieces, then it is inconsistent stitching which leads to things not lining up properly. Or sometime falling apart as in this case. While I’m sure I am improving since I first started, I still feel like I’m falling a bit short. Which is why it is one of my goals to really improve my piecing work.

One of the things that surprised me was my enjoyment of using hand stitching techniques. While it does take a little more time, I thought the hand stitching on the binding was very aesthetically pleasing despite me being a beginner and my stitches not being completely straight or even. I’m looking forward to doing more of that type of work.

I also really enjoyed using corduroy. It took a little bit of consideration to make sure I was cutting and piecing the grooves/wales (in the fabric) in the same direction, but having that texture in the finished quilt was amazing. I’m looking forward to using it in more projects (as I have a pile of corduroy sitting in my fabric stash).

Quilt #2: Fancy Fox

For my second quilt, I decided to do a Fancy Fox pattern (by Elizabeth Hartman). It was initially intended as a birthday gift but it turned into a Christmas gift… I like a lot of Elizabeth Hartman’s patterns but chose this pattern as it seemed one of the easier ones. And the foxes are undeniably cute.

As you can see above, I’ve started to use a quilting journal (from Patterntrace on Etsy) to keep track of my projects. I do wish the fabric section was a bit bigger since I like to list all the fabric colors, but overall it has been a good way to log my quilts. It is also a great way to review the work I’ve done, especially when it is something I’ve given away. While this is labeled ‘Project 3’ in the journal, it is the second quilt I’ve actually finished. Project 2 is still in progress.

I decided to go with the 80 block version (twin sized) of Elizabeth Hartman’s pattern. Which meant A LOT of cutting. And A LOT of piecing. And A LOT of ironing. The only thing that got me through all 80 blocks is how cute the foxes are (and a new blade on my rotary cutter didn’t hurt either).

I’m not sure if it was due to inconsistencies in my cutting or sewing, but I had a lot of difficulty keeping the fox blocks the same size. I had to do a significant amount of trimming to make sure I could fit the blocks together when sewing the strips of blocks together. It means my final quilt is actually a bit smaller than twin size due to how much I trimmed down.

I was also worried about the final layout of the foxes. I didn’t want clumps of certain colors. I ended up having someone help me with the layout (a second pair of eyes really help with this!). When it came to the batting I pulled out my big roll of batting (ordered from Dinkydoo). Is a roll of batting excessive? Maybe. But if you are planning multiple projects that will use the same batting, it might ultimately be cheaper and easier to order a roll of batting (as it was for me). It also meant I didn’t have to piece together multiple pieces of batting for this quilt.

I decided to go with a large diamond pattern to quilt the layers together. Besides the aesthetic, I was also looking for a quick quilting pattern to make sure the quilt was done by Christmas. Since none of my rulers were big enough to draw the lines across the quilt, I used a laser level cube to help guide my lines. I drew them in chalk marking pencils (Roxanne Quilter’s Choice bought from Quilters Cupboard Uxbridge). My one complaint about those marking pencils is I constantly have to sharpen them but it is better than disappearing ink when working on a large project. Next time, I think I will just buy a chalk stick.

For the top of the quilt, I decided to use Blood Orange Aurifil 50 wt thread (#2245, I used it in the piecing as well) to contrast with the gray background. For my bobbin thread (the back of the quilt), I used Gray Aurifil 50 wt threat (#2625). To fit the quilt through the throat of the sewing machine, I had to roll it. I was expecting some trouble due to the size of the quilt (even rolled), but it wasn’t too bad since I have a table behind my quilt that catches the quilt (i.e. prevents pulling on the fabric from the weight of the quilt falling down). There was only a few moments I needed someone to hold the end of the quilt (when I had excess fabric on the left side of my sewing machine).

For the binding, I used the same gray background fabric. After attaching the binding to the front, I had a bit of trouble cleanly sewing it on the back. If I had to do the binding over again I would be a bit more careful about the binding width (make it more consistent) and pinned it more securely while sewing. I would have also taken a bit more time doing the hand stitching around the label. Unfortunately I was under a time crunch and had to get the quilt out the same day in time for drop off Christmas presents.

For the hand stitching of the label, I used some Sew Fine thread gloss (satsuma scented), Acorn Premium Hand Dyed Threads by Trailhead Yarns (Butternut), and sashiko needles. I would not recommend sashiko needles for this type of work. I’m not sure if it was the stiffness/material of the label or something else, but I actually had two sashiko needles break on me while I was trying to sew this label on the quilt. The label itself was from EverEmblem, and the only complaint I have about it is that the color faded a bit in the wash. I’m curious to see how the label holds up long term. I actually sewed the label up to the batting layer of the quilt. I did this so the hand stitching wouldn’t show up on the front of the quilt. It took some practice to correctly gauge the depth of my needle.

This was also my first time using Acorn thread. The thread itself is 8 weight, and I have had some difficulty finding sewing needles that I can thread with that size (hence my attempt with sashiko needles). Despite that though, the color of the thread is gorgeous and I’m excited to try the other colors I have bought on other projects. While hand quilting can be time consuming, it can be a nice touch. And hand quilting can be mixed with machine quilting if you don’t feel like completely hand quilting a quilt. For the thread gloss, while it is not a necessary product, it can make hand quilting easier. It coats the thread to protect it from fraying and tangling, and makes the thread stiffer (i.e. easier to work with). And I would be lying if I didn’t say the scents are a big part of the appeal of using thread gloss (there is a variety of scents of satsuma doesn’t appeal to you).

I am aware there is a debate about washing quilts. Washing quilts will give them a crinkly look (although you can minimize that by pre-washing fabric). Personally, I don’t mind the crinkled look and it has been important to me to make sure the quilts I’ve given out are clean (one was for a baby and the other a toddler). I also think it is a good way to test the integrity of the quilt (as a quilt for a child will likely have heavy wear and tear). After I wash and dry a quilt, I examine it for tears and loose threads. For this quilt, I ended up having to wash it twice since the chalk marks didn’t completely disappear in the first round of washing.

Quilt #1 Update 2

I realized I never finished posting about the baby quilt I made for a family member (part 1 here). I did actually finish the quilt! Some notes below:

Front - I had some trouble around the dimensions of my piecing blocks. I had to cut many of the blocks down. It’s actually resulted in pieces smaller than what the pattern called for but I don’t think its noticeable.

Backing - the animal panel wasn’t quite as wide as I needed so I cut out strips of the blocks and resew them together to fit the size of my quilt better

Quilting - I did a clamshell pattern with a walking foot. Jacquie Gering actually covers the technique of how to do this with a walking foot in her book ‘Walk’. If you look closely at my quilt, you can see some of my lines for the clamshell pattern are a bit rough but it isn’t noticeable farther away (thankfully). This pattern ended up giving a nice effect to the finished quilt.

Binding - I ended up cutting the binding on the bias and I think it was the best decision given the pattern.

On to other quilts! I think in the future I will wait to post any new quilts until I’ve completed the project in full.

15-91 Cabinet # 40 (incl. support arm repair)

As you may of noticed in my other posts, my 15-91 came with a table that it sits in (and a matching chair). I wanted to know more about this table so I first began with the ismacs.net site.

Above: Singer Cabinet (plus chair) when open

Left: Singer Cabinet (plus chair) when closed. Machine is actually tucked in under the table when in the closed position

First thing I learned is that these tables are actually called cabinets. And that there are only 6 cabinets for the 15-91 listed. My cabinet is clearly the #40 cabinet. There are two versions of this cabinet but it looks like I have the standard #40 cabinet since I don’t have the curved legs that indicate the Queen Anne style. There is frustratingly little detail though on this cabinet on the ismacs.net site. For example, it doesn’t mention anything about the years this cabinet was produced or the cabinet drawer. The accompanying chair isn’t even shown! When I look at the page for the #40 cabinet (Queen Anne Style) in comparison, it does at least show the chair and mentions the drawer. I can also surmise from the description that other singer models were used with this cabinet in addition to the 15-91. See below for some features of the #40 cabinet I have.

Edit: Adding some extra resources I found on the #40 cabinet

• Blog post where the author did some neat updates on their #40 cabinet to fit a modern machine. Includes some research they try to do on their cabinet:

• Another blog post where the author looked at advertisements for various singer cabinets. The #40 cabinet is towards the end of the post.

Above: Cabinet drawer that pulls out. When I asked about the metal piece in the cabinet (on the far right side of the drawer) in https://www.quiltingboard.com/ forums, they mentioned that they thought it was to hold an oil can (to oil the machine).

Left: Chair/stool that came with the cabinet actually has space underneath the cushion to store items.

You will notice on the right side of the photo that there is a pedal. This is actually a knee pedal and when i push against it with my knee (when I’m sitting at the machine) it will run the sewing machine. Similar to a foot pedal. The harder I push with my knee, the faster the machine goes. It took a little while to get used to using it but I actually like it quite a bit.

I was somewhat resigned that I wouldn’t learn anymore about the table however I noticed right away when I got the machine + cabinet that there seemed to be a problem with the table. If you look at my photo below, you notice on the left leaf of the table, there is an obvious slant towards the ground. I was concerned about this because 1) I was worried the leaf would break off if I put any weight on it, and 2) It somewhat hampered my quilting (the weight of the quilt caused it to start sliding off towards the left).

When I took a closer look in the area under the sagging leaf, I noticed a suspiciously sized space. A perfectly sized space for a support arm? Closer examination under the table, revealed a screwed plate that didn’t seem to serve any current purpose on the machine. Perhaps a left over piece from the support arm?

More research was needed. Some wandering on the internet brought me to the https://www.quiltingboard.com/ forums, who confirmed that not only did some cabinet models have a support arm, but that it automatically springs out when you left the leaf??? Well now I have to fix it. I took up the suggestion in the forum to buy a singer support arm on ebay. While I waited for it I read PAPPP’s Rambling where they try to fix their #42 cabinet support arm, hoping I might understand the mechanics of this arm a bit better.

Now this was my first mistake. And to spare you from making the same mistake I did, I will tell you why. What I SHOULD have done first, before ordering any parts, was remove the current screw plate and examine the part to see if it aligned with the sold part. Because as it turns out, there are different types of singer sewing machine cabinet support arms. Something I found out the day my part arrived when taking off the screw plate to replace it.

On the left is the older screw plate. On the right is the screw plate with the support arm I ordered. As you can see, the top two holes seem to align however the bottom hole clearly does not. Also the hole for the pin (top far left) doesn’t align quite right.

Now if you are like me and order the wrong part, you can try to make this work. I was able to screw 2 out of 3 of the screws in, however the automatic swing out feature for the support bar when I lift the cabinet leaf wasn’t working. And I couldn’t push the support arm under the table when the leaves of the table are closed. While I didn’t know the exact mechanics of the support arm, I suspected this had to do with the ‘pin’ under the table and the fact it didn’t align with the hole on this new screw plate.

I suppose I could have left the cabinet alone at this point. The leaf was now supported and I had a level surface to sew on. BUT NO! I was determined to get this cabinet properly fixed so I went back to ebay (I blame my engineering background). Now luckily for me, there was a part number on the original screw plate that came with the table (Simanco 136259). When I looked up this part number on ebay I was able to find a support arm. When I scrutinized the photo it did look like it aligned more closely with my original screw plate (compared to the part I previously ordered). I went ahead and ordered it (and ignored my significant other’s grumbling on how unnecessary this all was).

Eventually the part arrived and it… sat on my sewing table for 4 months. My excuse is that life kept me busy, but I was also not excited about climbing under the cabinet to try to screw in screws, without stripping them, in a tight space (my first time doing this when installing the wrong support arm was terrible). I FINALLY built up the courage today to install it.

It was surprisingly… straightforward? All the holes aligned and I was able to screw in all 3 screws. The pin fit perfectly into the remaining hole in the screw plate and I screwed in the spring (see below for how the spring is installed - I installed the spring before for the first support part I ordered, but I thought it might be helpful to include a reference photo this 2nd time).

And now for the moment of truth. Does the support arm work? See for yourself:

(I apologize in advance for the video quality. I’m using my phone and I’m often taking videos without any assistance)

Success! Finally my saga with the cabinet support arm can come to a close. Thanks everyone who helped me out! And if you happen to need a singer support arm that doesn’t go with a #40 cabinet and live in Canada… let me know! Otherwise this extra support arm I now have is just going to languish in my sewing room.

Finding Canadian businesses (shopping for fabrics, thread, etc.)

One of my greatest struggles when I first started quilting, is trying to figure out where to buy fabric, thread, needles, etc. Especially during a pandemic when going in person to stores was often not an option. It meant I had to shop online, and when I first began looking I was often dissatisfied. Either I was running into USA suppliers (which meant I might have to deal with duty tax), lack of selection (Etsy - Canadian side), or big brand names (like Fabricville). While I don’t have anything personally against brand names, I wanted to support smaller businesses. I also felt I had a better chance of getting higher quality items if I shopped at smaller places.

I did eventually stumble across some Canadian small businesses and have decided to create a list of them to not only help you, but hopefully direct more support to these businesses (especially since a few of them were hard to find when doing general google searches). I will be adding some personal notes on my experiences with each store. The only thing I won’t talk about is a store’s ability to keep items in stock. Since COVID has impacted supply chains and interest in certain hobbies, I’m not really sure if its fair to judge any of the stores on that.

As a side note, it you do plan to buy fabric solids online, it might be useful to get a color chart since colors on the computer screen are not always easy to judge. I personally use a Kona color chart and have it hanging up on my wall to help me pick out colors more accurately when buying Kona solids.

Businesses I’ve bought from (listed in no particular order)

Pins & Needles Fabrics

Vancouver, BC

https://www.pinsandneedlesfabrics.ca/

Instagram (@pinsandneedlesfabrics)

Pins & Needles Fabrics is one of the first stores I stumbled across and I’m really glad I did. They have a great selection of curated patterned fabric and I have never been disappointed when ordering fabric from them. In fact, for my first quilt I got all my patterned fabric from this store (Bright Rules and Animal Kingdom from Paintbrush Studio). And the fabric they stocked from the Tiger Lily Trail collection has inspired my second quilt. Pins & Needles Fabrics sells fabric by the half meter. You won’t find them stocking solids however they do give the option of shopping from the Trend-Tex warehouse using their store code (I haven’t personally tried this option). They also sell 50 wt Aurifil thread although they don’t carry a lot of colors. Depending on their supply you may also find some precuts/bundles available. Shipping is free over $150, below that and you will pay a $15 flat rate.

Keystone Modern Creative

Winnipeg, MB

https://keystonemoderncreative.com/

Instagram (@keystonemoderncreative)

In all honesty, I buy a lot of my Kona solids from this store since they have a good selection (although to be clear, they carry more than just solids). Fabric is sold by the 1/4th meter. I absolutely LOVE the color selection they have for their Aurifil 50 wt threads. They sell color builders where you can buy three spools of thread covering three different shades of a color. I would also recommend taking a look at their notions. I’ve found things I didn’t even know I needed like a bobbin storage ring, machine cleaning brushes, quilter’s balm, etc. They seem to also have a decent selection of patterns and hand sewing supplies. Shipping is free over $150, below that and you will pay anywhere from $9.99 to $16.99 (possible exception is bolts, it looks like those might have separate shipping rates).

Dinkydoo

Pitt Meadows, BC

https://www.dinkydoo.com/

Instagram (@dinkydoofabrics)

This store is the first store I’ve ever bought in bulk from and they made it so easy! Fabric is otherwise sold by the yard. I should mention that on their solid fabric bolts sales, their sale prices do seem comparable to other stores (however their batting bolt sales are one of the best I’ve ever seen). For example, as of writing this post, Dinkydoo is advertising a 15 yard bolt of Kona Wood Rose for $154.99 and Keystone Modern Creative is advertising 14 yard bolt of the same fabric for $134.39. Now that doesn’t account for possible shipping differences, but the reason I’m even bothering to bring this up is because I’ve noticed that Dinkydoo is more aggressive with advertising in social media and newsletters than some of the other stores, but that doesn’t necessarily always mean their prices are better.

With all that being said, they seem to have a really wide selection of fabric (solids and patterns), batting, patterns, types/colors of thread, notions, etc. I particularly like their solid fat quarter bundles and I should note they are the only store I’ve bought from so far that have a point rewards program. Shipping is free over $199, below that you will pay $11.99 (not clear if this covers bolts, although with my pre-order of a batting roll I experienced no shipping costs).

Piece Fabric Co.

Grande Prairie, AB

https://piecefabric.co/

Instagram (@piecefabricco)

Piece Fabric Co. doesn’t seem to have a physical storefront, but considering they established in 2020, it makes a lot of sense why they only have an online presence at the moment. Despite being a newer store, I’m pleasantly surprised by their selection. For example, I think Piece Fabric Co. is the one of the few shops I’ve seen carrying Aurifil 12 wt, 28 wt, and 80 wt thread. And while they are not the first shop I’ve seen carrying high quality flannel, I think the selection is quite good for the store’s size. I was also surprised to see the wide selection of Kona fabric this store carries (as well as offering orders on 15 yard bolts). Fabric is sold by the 1/4th yard (and a 10% discount is offered when ordering 1/2 yard or more). Shipping is free above $200, below that it is a flat rate of $15. While Piece Fabric Co. is not unique in regards to sending custom notes in their packages, I do think it should be mentioned that there were some nice touches in their packaging. For example, each cut of fabric had a sticker mentioning the name/collection and amount of 1/4th yardage.

Like Pins & Needles Fabrics, I think Piece Fabric Co. strikes a really good balance between have a great selection and having a small enough inventory that you can comfortably wander through it without getting overwhelmed. There are a couple stores on this list that are so large, that unless I’m checking out a specific subsection of the store, I’m only going to shop at if I have a fairly good idea of I want. Whereas, with the Piece Fabric Co. I definitely enjoy exploring the website.

The only thing I can find to complain about is some aspects of the website design. For example, I personally would prefer the item icons to be smaller so I could see more items at one time when scanning, and the Collections drop down menu seems to pushing some of the collections way down from view.

Woven Modern Fabric Gallery

Somewhere in B.C.?

https://wovenfabricgallery.ca/

Instagram (@wovenfabricgallery)

Like the Piece Fabric Co., Woven Modern Fabric Gallery also seems to be an exclusively online store. I actually came across this store quite by accident on google while I was looking for fabric by Charley Harper. While this store doesn’t seem to have a lot of inventory when it comes to notions and threads, where it really shines is when it comes to carrying high quality fabric from collections/designers that you may not find elsewhere. And their website has the nice feature of being able to sort fabrics by color or style. Shipping is free above $150, below is a flat rate of $15.95 (however subscriptions have free shipping). FYI, I did have to pay for my subscription with PayPal but that may be specific to the subscriptions.

Fabric from Charley Harper subscription

Quilters Cupboard

Uxbridge, ON

https://quilterscupboard.ca/

Instagram (@quilterscupboard.ca)

To be honest, one of my first impressions of the Quilters Cupboard website was that the design and user interface was a bit out of date. And their fabric inventory was (and still is) confusing to me (they only carry 3 Kona cottons?). BUT DON’T BE FOOLED. There are things I’ve found here that I’ve had trouble finding at other places. My Westalee low shank ruler foot? Found here. My low shank quilting ruler? Found here. If you are looking for a specific type of equipment or tool, I would definitely recommend checking out this website. While I’ve never tried shopping fabrics or threads at this store, they do seem to have an okay selection of Aurifil thread (although colors outside of 50 wt seem to be very limited) and unlike some stores they do offer many colors in the smaller spools. Shipping is free on orders above $75, below that is between $6-$15.

In terms of customer service, I did have trouble getting in contact with them on one of my orders although there was ultimately nothing wrong with the order. On another order the item was out of stock despite it being listed as available on the website, however they did order more of the item so I still got it, I just had to wait a little longer than expected.

Businesses I haven’t bought from

Funky Monkey Fabrics

Watford, ON

https://funkymonkeyfabrics.com/

Instagram (@funkymonkeyfabrics)

I’ve never bought from Funky Monkey so I can’t really speak to any experience with their store, but I feel like it would be unfair to not mention them at all just because I haven’t bought from them. Looking back, I’m not entirely sure why I haven’t tried them. They seem to carry a decent selection of Kona solids as well as some fabric designers that I like. The only thing I can think of, is that when I first came across them, I was looking for Aurifil thread (Funky Monkey Fabrics doesn’t carry Aurifil, mostly focuses on Gutermann). And many of the patterned cotton fabrics featured on the front of the Funky Monkey Fabrics website was more funky than I was looking for (if that makes any sense). Now that I have a better idea of what designers I like and what I would look for, I think I will revisit Funky Monkey and give them a try. I will also keep an eye on their Color Master fat quarter bundles when they are restocked. Funky Monkey Fabrics sells fabric by the 1/2 yard. Shipping is free above $200, below that is flat rate shipping of $10-$14 (if you choose Canada Post). They also have a rewards program.

As a side note, Funky Monkey Fabrics’s website seems to have a unique compare feature to compare fabrics.

The Fabric Snob

Riverton, MB

https://www.thefabricsnob.com/

Instagram (@thefabricsnob)

I first noticed this store in my social media advertisements this last week. And like Funky Monkey, it seems a bit unfair to not at least give them a shout out for existing despite never having shopped at this store. In terms of first impressions, I find The Fabric Snob’s website aesthetically pleasing to the eye, although I don’t really like how the navigation bar of the website is set up. Where I think The Fabric Snob stands out a little bit is how it features box subscriptions. Now, other stores have monthly subscriptions of fabric (and I’ve also seen thread subscriptions), but Fabric Snob more prominently features its sew essentials box (project based), stash stocker box (FQ bundles), and mystery packs in the navigation bar. It even sells past subscription boxes (instead of just categorizing them as regular projects, pre-cuts or fat quarter bundles). For their notions, they seem to carry a lot of EverSewn products. In terms of threads they seem to be exclusively carrying Gutermann, and their cotton solids seem to be exclusively Pure Elements. They sell fabric by the 1/2 meter and shipping is free over $200 ($14.99 flat rate below). The Fabric Snob has a reward program.

In all honesty, I’m not sure if I will shop at The Fabric Snob in the near future. While the Fabric Snob carries some designers I like, it doesn’t carry either Kona solids or Aurifil thread. For me personally, I tend to shop Kona solids because I have a color chart to help guide me, and I like using Aurifil thread. Realistically, that means there would have to be a designer/collection that I would really want, that I can’t easily get elsewhere, for me to shop The Fabric Snob. And on top of that, with the current navigation, it is a bit difficult for me to organically explore if they have fabrics I would like that I’m not aware of. I do think the store has a good eye for curating fat quarter bundles and has one of the more well stocked mask making supply sections I’ve seen. So it might be worth a glance if you are looking around for a fabric store or a subscription box.

Quilt #1 Update 1

The first quilt I’m working on is a baby quilt for a family member. I already had some fabric from Paintbrush Studio’s Animal Kingdom Collection and I decided to pair it with the Zoo Dwellers pattern from Andy Knowlton. For piecing thread, I’m using 50 wt. Aurifil cotton thread (2805 Light Gray Turquoise) . I am still not sure if I will use this color for the actual quilting part but I will have some time before I have to decide.

As you can see above, I’m done with the cutting for all the piecing work (although I still need to make the binding tape and cut the backing). I will say the first thing that has made me nervous is the fact that this pattern calls for cutting out long white strips of fabric. I’m a bit worried that these strips aren’t completely square since I couldn’t cut them in one cut (too long for my table), I will have to keep an eye on my quilt blocks as I construct them and make sure they are square.

In terms of time, piecing is actually going pretty quickly even though I have to pause often to iron out all the seams. I think I will be able to finish the front of the quilt in the next day, although I haven’t tried sewing in the long white strips yet…

15-91 Threading the Needle

Threading the 15-91 (and your needle)

Like with winding your bobbin, I think the 15-91 manual actually does a decent job of describing the process. I’ll include some extra photos though for reference to help you out if you are struggling. Plus, there are a few tools you can actually use to pass the thread through the needle, and I personally wouldn’t have figured that out without someone showing me.

Thread the Bobbin Case

You can start by loading your bobbin case with a bobbin and pulling the thread up through slot and hook under the spring (see pg 15 of the manual)

Sliding the thread up the slot on the bobbin case

Hooking the thread under the spring

Put bobbin case under the needle plate

Once you have threaded the bobbin case, you can add it to its spot under the needle plate. However, you won’t be able to pull up the bobbin thread through the plate until you have threaded the machine.

Follow pg 10-11 to thread the upper needle. As you can see from my photo, I should of risen the take-up lever before trying to thread

Now before you try to pass the thread through the eye of the needle, you should know there are tools that can help you. Take for instance the needle threader pictured below. You can actually use it to pull the thread through the needle (see below).

Needle threader

Push needle threader through eye of needle and place the thread in between the wires that you pushed through the needle eye

Pull the needle threader back and while you do that you will see the thread being pulled through the needle eye

Voila! You have threaded the needle without minimal effort! Now that you have threaded the needle, you can pull up the bobbin thread. Just turn you balance wheel to move the needle. As the needle goes down it will pick up the bobbin thread. And as you raise the needle you can see a loop of bobbin thread which you can then pull out.

Quick tricks and adjustments

I was originally going to create a separate post for this topic but I realized if you are like me, and are threading the needle on your 15-91, you are probably ready to start sewing and testing your stitches. Therefore, it is probably more helpful to cover some of these adjustments now, rather than covering them later. Also, I discovered a neat trick on how to cut the thread on your machine without using scissors!

Adjusting stitch size (and how to go in reverse)

You adjust your stitch size by using the lever shown here. It is in number of stitches per inch, so for example if you want your stitch size to be 2mm and you know there is ~25mm in an inch, then you will need about 12 stitches per inch. You can also use a thumb screw to “lock in” your stitch length so if you are switching back and forth from reverse, you don’t have to keep track of what your stitch length is. Simply raise the thumb screw to whatever stitch length you want to use, and tighten it.

Going in reverse is pretty simple. Just raise the lever up all the way.

Adjusting Pressure of Pressor Foot

If you want to change the pressure on your presser foot, just adjust the thumb screw shown in the figure as V. Increase the pressure by turning the thumbscrew so it drops. If you actually want to change the height of your presser foot, there is a way to do it but it is a bit involved.

Adjusting Thread Tension

I haven’t tried to adjust my thread tension yet but it may be necessary depending on what thread you are using (as mentioned in a previous post). There are two places you can adjust the tension: the needle thread tension and the bobbin thread tension.

It shouldn’t be necessary but if you absolutely need to, you can also disassemble your needle thread tension (mentioned on pg. 24)

Cutting thread on the Machine

When I first started sewing on the 15-91, I remember grabbing the scissors to cut the thread connecting the fabric to the machine and thinking, “Man, this is going to get old really quickly.” Good news is there is an easier way! First, credit should be given where credit is due, and I wouldn’t of realized this trick without watching this video demonstration on the 15-91. I was actually researching what are the thread limitations on the 15-91, so I didn’t pick up until my third rewatching that he was actually using a part on the machine to cut the thread instead of scissors.

I tried to film it for you but its hard to film one handed; you really need both hands to cut efficiently on the machine. You can try skipping to 8:35 in the video demonstration if you want a look, but if you look closely at the manual, you can see on the thread cutter on pg 18.

To the left you can see the thread cutter marked as U. The manual describes lifting the fabric back and to the left, but it doesn’t mention that you actually need to pull the threads up to the right and on the thread cutter.

Pulling the threads against the thread cutter. If you want to cut the threads, continue to pull the threads against the thread cutter until they slip through it and cut. After I took this photo I realized I could rotate the thread cutter, so the position I have it in now actually doesn’t require me to pull up the thread so far up to the right.

Other Adjustments

There are other adjustments you can do on your 15-91, such as lowering the feed dogs, but I think what I covered above would allow any beginner to get started on their 15-91.

15-91 Winding the Bobbin w/ thread

I actually think the 15-91 manual does a decent job describing how to wind the bobbin, but I decided to write about my experience and include some more reference photos if you are struggling like I was.

Loosen the stop motion screw

The first thing you want to do is loosen the stop motion screw on the balance wheel. If you are looking at the manual, you will see this described at the end of pg 12. You do this so that when you wind the bobbin you aren’t also engaging the needle on the machine (unless you want to wind the bobbin while you are sewing). You only need to loosen the screw a little bit, until you reach the point you can turn the the little metal wheel. As with the screw, you don’t need to turn the metal wheel that much, only until when you move the balance wheel the needle no longer moves.

Bobbin and Bobbin Winder

The manual doesn’t describe adjusting the bobbin winder until pg 14, but I feel like is a useful thing to do before trying to actually wind the bobbin. Doing this will help make sure the pressure for the bobbin winder pulley is appropriate and will actually wind the bobbin.

Now that the machine is adjusted appropriately, it is time to pick your bobbin. As I mentioned in my 15-91 bobbin and bobbin cases post, make sure your bobbin is not bent or deformed. As you turn it, you will notice there is a notch in the side of the bobbin case. This is important because it will align with a notch on the bobbin winder.

Now that you have inspected the bobbin, go ahead and follow the manual’s instructions to place your thread and bobbin on the machine. When you bring up the thread to the bobbin you will want to thread it through a hole of the left side from the inside and make sure the bobbin is placed on the bobbin winder with the notch lined up in the correct position. Press down the bobbin winder latch against the bobbin.

Now, if everything has been done correctly you should be able to press you pedal (or in my case, my knee pedal), and the bobbin will start to wind with thread. If you are like me, you may end up having to go back and adjust the bobbin winder if you bobbin isn’t winding. Or you can manually roll the bobbin winder pulley a few turns to see if that helps to create enough pressure for the bobbin to begin to wind. Below are some videos, where after some troubleshooting I was able to successfully wind the bobbins with thread.

Some challenges I ran into is that some of my thread spools were a little light (made of plastic), so they had a tendency to rattle off the spool pin if I didn’t hold them down lightly. Also when the manual suggests breaking off the end of thread after a few coils are wound on the bobbin, take that advice. I ended up regretting it when I didn’t do it and my thread end spun out of my hand and wrapped around the bobbin.

If you notice your bobbin winder latch is hot after winding your bobbin, it might be an indication that the pressure is too high and that you need to adjust the bobbin winder again.

ALSO, don’t forget after you finishing winding your bobbins, to tighten your metal wheel and stop motion screw on the balance wheel. Otherwise you will have trouble sewing later on.

15-91 Needle plate

When I first got my 15-91, I realized I might have a problem. You see, I noticed there was no markings on my needle plate that I could use as guide to make sure I was sewing 1/4”, etc. And considering all my quilt patterns specified sewing a 1/4” seam… I took out my ruler hoping I could use the pressor foot as a guide, but no luck, the pressor foot was only 1/8” in width on the right side.

My mother suggested using painter’s tape but I ended up deciding to go check out etsy. To be clear, I think tape is a FANTASTIC idea, I just figured I couldn’t possibly be the first person to run into this problem.

Sure enough, I found someone selling a needle plate with measurements for the 15-91 on etsy and promptly ordered it. It took 10 days, but it has finally arrived!

Removing the old plate was fairly straight forward. I just used the tool that came with the machine to remove the screws from the old plate and pulled it out. The only awkward part was trying to find room for my hand to remove the back screw. As the needle plate seller recommended, I cleaned out the edges a bit before putting the new plate in and adding the screws back.

The new needle plate seems to fit well although you will notice it is not precisely in the same position as the old plate. The most important thing though is that the feed dogs are smoothly raising and lowering without any issue. And the for the final test, I took out one of my quilting rulers to check the distance from the needle to the measurements on the plate.

Perfect! Not only does the needle plate fit, but the measurements are accurate.

Choosing Needles (Quilting)

Needle Size

Needle packaging often implies that the weight of the fabric you are sewing dictates your needle size. I.e. the lighter the fabric, the smaller the needle size, and the heavier the fabric, the larger the needle size. There is some truth to this, if you are working with a delicate fabric you probably don’t want to use a huge needle. But the reality in quilting, where you are mostly working in cotton, is that your needle size is driven more by the type of thread you are using. Specifically thread weight.

Now to be honest, after writing about thread weight in my Picking Out Thread (Quilting) post, I had hoped that I would never have to talk about thread weight ever again. Researching thread weight was THAT painful. Unfortunately, it is difficult to have a conversation about needle size without bringing it up.

The rule of thumb is that the lower your thread weight (and thicker it is), the bigger the needle you will want to use. When using 50 wt. cotton thread, Jacquie Gering in Walk recommends a 80/12 needle. Ashley Nickels in Free-Motion Quilting 101 agrees, however she also mentions that for a finer cotton thread like 50 wt. Aurifil, a 70/10 needle might be more appropriate.

Needle Type

There are different types of needles. My quilting books don’t discuss this topic much and I’m not sure why. Perhaps like many things in quilting, needles are a very personal choice. Based on my research, if you want to try to pick needles to use for quilting, here are your main options:

• quilting needle (not to be confused with hand quilting needles) - slightly rounded needle that can pass through multiple layers of fabric and can also be used for piecing

• universal needle - slightly rounded needle, general purpose

• sharps (now known as microtex) needle - sharp needle, can be used with high thread count fabric as it pierces the fabric, rather than pass through it

• top stitch needle - sharp needle with a double sized eye, used with heavier fabrics and/or heavier threads. Superior Threads has a video on this needle.

Again, there is no one advice fits all when it comes to needle types for quilting. You may want to pick up some different types initially to try out, and figure out what works for you.

How Often Should You Replace Needles?

There isn’t a standard answer to how often you should change out the needle on your machine but I’ve seen estimates as low as after 5 hours of continuous sewing, and as high as after 8 hours of continuous sewing. Everyone does universally agree though that sewing with a dull needle is bad news. Your machine has to work harder at piercing the fabric, you fabric can get damaged, your stitches can skip, etc. Considering how inexpensive needles are, its an easy investment you can make into your machine and sewing project. If you are like me and wondering how to dispose of sewing needles, there are some ideas here. Personally, I think using a sharps container is probably the best method, although I’m guessing the tape method is probably easiest for most people.

15-91 Needles

15-91 machines use class 15 needles (i.e. 15x1 Needles or Singer 2020 needles). This is a very common type of needle and can be found on other machines (this can be attributed to Singer’s early dominance of the sewing machine world).

Binding Tape

Example of a quilt’s binding. The binding tape is the strip of green fabric with white polka dots.

After writing Quilting (the basics), I realized that binding tape probably deserved its own post. Since I’m not working with binding tape yet myself, I’m not going to explicitly talk about how to make binding tape or how to attach it, but you will see a lot of my references do go in more detail as I try to explain what is binding tape, and all the different options for binding tape from a quilting perspective. When I get to the point where I’m actually making binding tape for my quilts, I’ll make posts more specific about the process of making binding tape.

What is binding tape?

As mentioned in my previous post, binding tape is strips of fabric used to finish the edge of your quilt (i.e. the binding). The strips can be cut out of fabric cut lengthwise, crosswise, or on the bias. Binding tape cut on the bias, is also known as bias tape. You can buy binding tape in a store, or make it yourself.

Single Fold vs Double Fold

One of first things you will need to decide when it comes to binding tape, is if you want single fold binding tape, or double fold binding tape. If you are making you own binding it will affect the width of strips you need to cut, and if you are buying from a store, you risk getting the wrong width if you don’t know what you want. In very basic terms, single fold binding tape is where the edges of the fabric are folded towards the middle. Double fold binding tape has the edges of the fabric folded towards the middle and its folded in on itself. Blueprints for Sewing has a helpful diagram if you are having trouble visualizing.

For me personally, this is the point where most blogs on binding tape lost me. Because I look at images of single fold binding tape vs double fold binding tape, and ask myself, isn’t double fold tape just folded over single fold tape? When I sew single fold tape onto the edge of my quilt and then fold it over to sew on the other side, doesn’t that just become double fold tape?

I spend a few frustrating hours searching the internet, trying to understand the difference. And then I hit youtube. It is there that I realized that the difference between single fold tape and double fold tape isn’t so much about how it is made, it is actually about how it is sewn and applied to the quilt (or whatever project you are working on). You see, for single fold binding tape when you sew the tape on one side of the quilt and then flip it over to sew on the other side, you do it in a way that the binding tape will only show on ONE side of the quilt. You can see that demonstrated by Melly Sews here. With double fold binding tape, you sew it in a way where you can see it on BOTH sides of the quilt. Treasurie demonstrates this here, in two different methods for double fold binding. Since I don’t have great examples of single fold vs double fold bindings lying around, I grabbed some from Well Sew to help you understand if you are still confused.

Single Fold: As you can see here on the Well Sew’s shirt, the binding is hiding the raw edge of the shirt fabric, but the red binding is only showing on the “right” side of the shirt.

Double Fold: Well Sew is showing the front and back of their project here. You can see that the binding is not only hiding the raw edge, but appears on both sides

Understanding this difference makes it more obvious why in the quilting world, we talk more about double fold binding than single fold binding. Putting aside any aesthetics of how you want your quilt to look, if you expect your quilt to be heavily used, then a double fold binding is the better choice. A single fold binding is far more susceptible to wear.

Binding Tape: Why direction of fabric matters

As I mentioned above, binding strips can be cut out of fabric lengthwise, crosswise, or on the bias. I think Village Bound covers this very well in their blog post on binding tape. In summary though, if you are looking for binding tape that can stretch (i.e. around rounded corners), then binding tape cut on the bias (i.e. bias tape) is the best choice. If you care less about stretch, then lengthwise or crosswise cut tape would be your other options. There are of course other considerations when creating binding tape:

• If you are trying to avoid fabric waste, you might go with crosswise cutting (or a very carefully planned bias cut)

• If using a patterned fabric (like stripes), your choice of fabric cut for your binding might be more influenced by the direction of the pattern. Shelley Hong uses some examples from Polly Danger to illustrate how differences in how you cut striped fabric could really impact what the finished binding tape looks. I couldn’t find the original Polly Danger source so I’m linking you directly to Shelley Hong.

Binding Tape Width

How wide you want your binding to be on a quilt is a bit of a subjective question, but from what I’ve seen, a lot of quilting books will give you instructions on how to make a double fold binding from a 2.5” strip of fabric (FYI it will result in a different version of the double fold, but it is still a double fold as discussed by Clover and Violet). It is then sewed to the quilt with a 1/4” seam allowance, which give you 1/4" wide binding on the front, and a little larger than 1/4" binding on the back. If you want to adjust the binding size to be wider in a quilt pattern, you will have to be mindful of not only how much more fabric you will need, but consider if any of your quilt blocks on the front will get cut off by the border.

Picking out thread (Quilting)

When it came time to buy thread for quilting, I decided to order 100% cotton 50 weight Aurifil thread. Almost all of my quilting books had recommended 100% cotton 50 wt, and I didn’t question their advice. And the particular shop I was ordering from, only sold Aurifil thread. As I began to wander into the quilting forums and blogs though, I realized that this wasn’t a universal rule that everyone was following. So I’ve decided to revisit why 50 weight 100% cotton thread is often recommended for quilting, and why some might use different types of threads. And, if there are any special considerations when picking thread for the 15-91.

Thread Material

100% cotton thread seems to be highly suggested in quilting due to the following:

• It is soft

• It has a matte finish (so it blends in better)

• It does not stretch

• It can withstand heat (from pressing with an iron)

• It is more consistent if you use same type of thread as quilting material (which is typically cotton). Consistency is important because for example, if you wash your quilts, different materials could shrink differently

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room to use other types of thread. For example, if you are using a quilting material that isn’t cotton, it probably makes more sense to use a thread that matches that material. If you are trying to go for a very thin thread but still want it to be strong, it might make more sense to use polyester (although there is the potential that over time, the polyester thread would cut through cotton material).

Now, while I originally wasn’t going to talk about “high quality” cotton thread, I think it would be hard to close this section out without mentioning it. In the eyes of the quilting community, quality of your cotton thread does matter. It matters because “high quality” thread

• Is more tightly wound and smooth which means it isn’t as lint prone (thus your machine is less likely to get clogged up), and your seams will lie flatter and be prettier

• Is stronger and less prone to breakage

So if you have the money and are planning to use cotton thread, you should try to buy “high quality” cotton thread. It is kinder to your machine, will contribute to a quilt that lasts longer, and will give a nicer effect to your quilting work. Some of the brand names that you will see thrown around when “high quality” cotton thread is mentioned are: Aurifil, Gütermann, and Mettler. There are probably more but those are the most common ones I have seen.

Thread Weight

When I first starting researching about thread weight, I thought this would be a very simple topic. IT IS NOT. I’m beginning to understand why the quilting books just told me what to buy rather than try to explain thread weight. Part of the problem is that thread weight terminology is specific to cotton thread (which is often used in quilting), and this is a more US centric concept (for historical…. reasons). It is known alternatively as cotton count, and internationally not everyone follows this system. Sewing life goes into some detail about this, but essentially what you need to know is that while thread weight corresponds with thread size, it isn’t the same thing. Thread weight in this instance is referring to the length of thread you get from one pound of cotton. The general rule of thumb is that the lower the thread length (i.e. thread wt.), the heavier the thread (and likely the thicker the thread). Adding in some additional complexity is that when shopping for cotton thread you could see 50/2 vs 50/3 thread. These are not the same threads. One is a 2-ply thread, and the other is a 3-ply thread. The 3-ply thread is thicker. If you see 50 wt. on its own, it could be 2-ply or 3-ply. Confused? I certainly am. Looking back at what I bought for quilting, the website doesn’t even list whether its 2-ply or 3-ply. I had to look at the threads themselves and my larger spools are marked as 50/2 while my smaller spools are just marked 50.

Quick Note: While I don’t want to add to the confusion, I do want to quickly mention TEX / V classifications for thread weight since it comes up below on considerations for the 15-91. I would recommend checking out Superior Threads and Sailrite, but the short summary is that TEX is an alternative standard meant to create consistency internationally on thread weight (the higher the number goes, the heavier the thread). V classification is typically used in the US commercially for twisted, multi-ply bonded nylon and polyester thread. And apparently quilters are ruining it for everyone because they love the weight standard? Anyway… I tried to find a chart for you all that directly compared TEX and cotton count thread classifications but this is the best I could come up with.

But let us get back to why 50 wt. in particular is often recommended for quilting. 50 wt. thread seems to get recommended a lot simply due to the fact that its a good middle ground between having too thick of a thread vs too thin of a thread when sewing your quilt layers together. Also 50 wt. thread can be used across the entire quilting process. This gets brought up because you can actually use a smaller thread when you are piecing (i.e. as small as 80 wt.) if you want to try to get flatter seams on your quilt top. But 50 weight is still small enough that you can piece with it if you want to, and that saves you from having to switch out your thread or buying different thread weights.

Why would someone use heavier/lighter thread than 50 wt.? When I revisit my quilting books and read them a bit closer, some of them do touch on this topic. For example, 40 wt. is often cited as a good thread to use not only if you want your thread to stand out a bit, but also if the quilt will get heavy use. If you are going for a “soft” effect, or you want your thread to disappear more into the fabric, you might chose a 60 wt. thread.

Does it matter if it is 2-ply or 3-ply? Research suggests that there is not a straight forward answer to this question. If you are buying high quality thread though, it seems like 2 ply is sufficient due to the strength of the thread. If you want your thread to stand out more, you can use a 3-ply thread.

Thread Considerations for the 15-91

When it comes to the 15-91, they are pretty tough machines. As long as they are in good working order, you should be able to use it with a wide variety of thread. You will only begin to hit the limitations of the 15-91 at TEX 90 / V92 thread. Your machine can technically do it, but it is not recommended to go above TEX 70 / V69 thread.

Credit also must be give to Suzy Quilts because they mentioned something I hadn’t even thought about, which is that some threads are labeled as quilting threads but are actually meant for hand quilting. The thread has a special coating and you don’t want to use that thread in your machine. While I haven’t seen discussion in the vintage community specifically on this topic, I’m guessing its a pretty safe bet that if it sticks to the metal parts of a modern machine, that it is also bad news for the 15-91.

The only other consideration for the 15-91 I could come across, is that you might need to adjust the tension in your lower bobbin holder and/or in your top thread tension depending on the weight of your thread. Larger thread might also mean you need to get a larger needle.

Felt pads for thread spools

2022-01-24 Update: As someone who uses Aurifil thread on the 15-91, I though I should mention that sometimes you may encounter cross wound threads like Aurifil (as opposed to stacked threads where all the thread is spun parallel to the spool). You can identify a cross wound thread by the zig zag pattern in the wound thread. This thread is the best used when fed from the top of the spool (i.e. a horizontal spool holder) rather than the side of the spool. You can ran into tension issues otherwise. All that being said, I haven’t had issues using Aurifil on the 15-91 (which has a vertical spool holder). The only thing I’ve added to my machine is a felt pad below my thread spool to reduce friction. If you are having tension issues using cross wound threads on a 15-91 or you would just prefer to have a horizontal spool holder, it is possible to find a horizontal spool holders to attach to you machine.

Also if you need felt pads and live in Canada…. I have a surplus.

Quilting (the basics)

If you are new to not only quilting, but sewing, the quilting terminology can be overwhelming (it was certainly a lot for me to figure out). It also doesn’t help, when people use the same words but don’t necessarily mean the same thing.

For example, when someone mentions quilting, they could mean an activity that encompasses all of the following:

• Piecing

• Basting your backing, batting and front together

• Sewing the backing, batting, and front (i.e. sandwich) together

• Adding the binding to the edge of the quilt

But sometimes, when someone says quilting, they are just talking about the process of sewing the backing, batting, and pieced front together (i.e. you are quilting the fabric). You can further break that down into specific techniques like stitch in the ditch and free motion quilting (FMQ). But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s back up and break down this terminology.

Piecing - Cutting out fabric and sewing them together into quilt blocks

Batting/Wadding - A layer of insulation between the fabric layers that gives warmth/weight to your quilt. It can be made out of polyester, natural fibers (cotton, wool, etc.), or a blend of polyester and natural fibers. There are pros/cons to each material so its something you might to research a bit before picking batting for a particular project.

Basting - Temporarily attaching the three layers of your quilt together (pieced front, batting/wadding, and the backing) so you can sew them together. Some of the most common methods is using pins or spray.

Quilting (the layers together) - Process of sewing the backing, batting, and pieced front together to permanently secure the layers. If you want to, you can use this as an opportunity to add another design element to your quilt based on how you sew the fabric layers together (i.e. color of thread, size of your stitches, the pattern you are making with your stitches, etc.)

Feed Dogs - Metal teeth that come up through your needle plate to help feed your fabric through the machine at an even speed.

Walking Foot - If you are looking up how to quilt, you will see walking foots come up a lot. You don’t actually need a walking foot for piecing, you can just use your standard presser foot. It’s when you want to sew your quilt layers together, that you will probably want to use a walking foot. Technically, you could just raise the height of your presser foot to accommodate the thickness of your quilt when sewing, but you would really have to work at making sure all the layers of your quilt are being fed through the machine at an even speed. A walking foot takes out that work for you by gripping the top layer of the quilt and moving it at the same speed as the feed dogs that are moving the lowest layer of the quilt

Stitch in the Ditch - A method of quilting, where you align your stitches on the quilt to be in the seams (i.e. ditch) of your pieced blocks on the front of your quilt.

Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) - A method of quilting where your needle can move freely in all directions. You achieve this by using a darning foot (also known as a free motion foot) like a ruler foot. It allows a lot of freedom in the type of design you can create when quilting together all the layers. You will notice that there seems to be a sharp division in the quilting community on whether or not you should lower your feed dogs for FMQ. I haven’t tried to FMQ yet, so I can’t really give a personal opinion on this. Although based on what I’ve read I’ll probably leave my feed dogs up anytime I want to do a design with straight lines. For designs with circles or a more free hand style, I’ll have to try it both ways and see which I prefer.

Ruler Foot - a type of darning foot that can be used in Free Motion Quilting. It is a popular foot to use because you can use it with quilting rulers, and I don’t mean the rulers you use to cut fabric with, but rulers like this.

Long Arm Quilter / Long Arm Quilting - The first time I came across the term Long Arm Quilting, it was in Wendy Chow’s Urban Quilting book. Long Arm Quilting is where a long arm sewing machine is used to quilt together your fabric layers. It’s called long arm because, well, the machines have a really long arm. There are different types of long arm sewing machines, but a lot of the machines I see online, in a professional context, are machines where the quilt is laying on a frame and the machine (not the quilt) is moved on a track to sew the quilt together. I was initially a bit interested in a long arm machine but a quick google search made it obvious how expensive these machines are, and why we don’t see them a lot outside of a professional context. A Long Arm Quilter, as you can probably tell by the name, is someone who uses a long arm machine to sew together quilts. If you don’t want to quilt together the layers of your quilt yourself (either because you don’t have the time, or you are looking for a specific design), you can actually pay a long arm quilter to do it for you. If you want to see some examples of the work they do, just head over to instagram.

Binding tape - Used to finish the edge of your quilt, they are sewn together strips of fabric made from fabric cut lengthwise, crosswise, or on the bias. Binding tape cut on the bias, is also known as bias tape. Now, there are different reasons why you might cut your fabric for binding tape in those specific directions, but I’m not going to get into that now. I would recommend checking out Village Bound’s blog post on it. You can make bias tape yourself, or buy it from a store. It can come in different widths, and can be single fold or double fold. Binding tape is also used outside of quilting.

Yard / Fat Quarter / Fat Eighth - These terms are describing different lengths and sizes of fabric. A yard is 36”x44”, a half yard is 18”×44", a fat quarter is 18”×22" (i.e. a cross cut of a half yard), and a fat eighth is 9×22". Now, to be clear, while a fat quarter is the same amount of fabric as a 1/4th yard of fabric, they are different shapes. Same with fat eighths vs 1/8th yard. I.e. when you are talking in terms of yards, the width of your fabric is almost always going to be 44” wide, but fat quarters and fat eighths are going to be half of that, i.e. 22”. I should warn you that outside of the US, you may run into fabric being measured in meters, rather than in yards. Now a meter and a yard are actually close in length, but it is something to be mindful of based the your pattern you are following and where you are buying your fabric.

Selvage - An edge of the fabric that is tightly woven to keep the fabric from unraveling while being stored. I only mention this because when you order fabric, you might get fabric with a selvage and you are going to want to cut that edge off before you use it.

In summary, while this isn’t a full list of quilting terminology, I hope it helps those of you who are new to the field. I would recommend if you are interested in techniques on how to sew your quilt layers together, to order books specifically on that topic. This is because a lot of the quilting books out there are more focused on providing quilt patterns, and don’t actually cover much of the process of sewing together all the layers of your quilt. They are still great books, they just aren’t going to be focused on that topic. I would suggest picking up Jacquie Gering’s Walk if you are looking for a book. I really like how she has laid out her book, and that all of her designs can be created with a walking foot. For FMQ, I don’t know if I have a book yet that I would strongly recommend. I’m currently reading Ashley Nickel’s Free-Motion Quilting 101 book, but she doesn’t talk about how to use ruler foots with quilting rulers.

For those of you looking for more specific 15-91 information in regards to quilting, don’t worry, I’ve ordered a walking foot and a ruler foot for my 15-91. When those come in, I will write more 15-91 focused posts. And yes, if you want to lower your feed dogs on your 15-91, there is a way to do that, I just haven’t had to yet, so I haven’t written about it.

15-91 Bobbins and Bobbin Cases

Earlier this week I was looking at ordering an English version of the 15-91 manual for reference from Etsy (as I mentioned earlier there is a free online copy, but I like working with a paper version). The listing also advertised some bobbin cases and bobbins. While I didn’t necessarily need these things, I also figured it wouldn’t hurt to have some extra on hand, so I went ahead and ordered them. I was not prepared for the seller to come back to me and mention that she had both 11 o’clock bobbin cases and 1 o’clock bobbin cases, and which would I like to have. It had not occurred to me that there might me more than one type of bobbin case, and I wasn’t sure at first which I would need for the 15-91.

Class 15 Bobbins

Before we get to the bobbin cases, lets talk briefly about the bobbins themselves. 15-91 uses class 15 bobbins. This appears to be standard across all the Singer Series 15 machines. And not only that, class 15 bobbins are one of the three major bobbins used today. They are available in both plastic and metal. I have seen some in the vintage community recommend metal over plastic, but that seems more due to personal preference rather than any issue with using plastic bobbins on the 15-91. You may also see slightly different styles in class 15 bobbins (i.e. holes vs solid as you can see in the photo below).

Bobbins that came with my machine

One important thing to note for the 15-91, is that if the sides of your bobbin are warped (i.e. not perfectly parallel), you will struggle to wind the bobbin with thread. I speak from personal experience, as my partner’s parents and I spent a solid 45 minutes trying to figure out why we couldn’t wind the bobbin before we realized the problem was the bobbin itself. So I definitely recommend to check the bobbin first if you are having issues before assuming something is wrong with your machine.

15-91 Bobbin case

The bobbin case is what holds the bobbin in your machine while you sew. On your 15-91 you should be able to see it (or at least see where it should be placed if it isn’t already there) by sliding open a metal panel by the needle plate. If you are having trouble seeing it and are on a sewing cabinet, you could also lift your machine up.

Location of bobbin case when machine is lifted up

Bobbin case when removed from machine

When you remove the bobbin case for examination, you can see that there is arm sticking up towards the left. It is the position of this arm that determines if your bobbin case is 11 o’clock or 1 o’clock. In this case, this is a 11 o’clock bobbin case and as you probably have figured out by now, only the 11 o’clock bobbin case will work on the 15-91. When I check the comparison chart of the 15 series, it looks like this 11 o’clock style is unique to the 15-75, 15-88, 15-89, 15-90, 15-91, and 15-125 machines in the 15 series. Because of this, you will want to make sure you are getting the right bobbin case for your 15-91 (part #125291).

15-91 Dating the Machine

As I mentioned in my previous post, you can use the serial number on your machine to try to figure out where/when you machine was manufactured.

I was told by the family that my machine is from 1936 but I was curious if I could actually verify this date with the serial number. I already know from my previous research that the 15-91 was manufactured from 1930 and 1956, and that the ‘JB’ prefix on my serial code indicates it was made in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu , Quebec between 1936 - 1948. I should make a quick note here that a lot of singer documentation online around serial number prefixes does not use the city name Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu but instead uses St. John’s. I’m not sure why this is, perhaps due to some english translation that happened at some point? But the city is actually called Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

I first checked the manual that came with the machine to see if there might be some sort of publishing date that could clue me in on the date of manufacturing. No such luck. Next, I scoured the internet but was unable to find any breakdown of serial numbers by year for the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu factory. The best I could find was this that mentioned that the prefix is followed by 6 digits starting at 000001 up to 999999.

Serial Number

Looking at my serial number, it is much closer to 999999 than 000001 which casts some doubt on the idea it was actually manufactured in 1936. I suppose it's possible that the machine was manufactured in 1936 and not assigned a serial number until later, but I think that is a bit of a stretch considering how high the serial number is. It is much more likely that this machine is actually from the 1940s.

If I also consider what I know about the previous owner, I think the 1940s makes more sense as well. She was only 16 in 1936, which seems a bit young to not only have her own personal sewing machine, but one that was brand new at the time. That is assuming she was the first owner of the machine, which is honestly not entirely clear. I only know from the family that she had the machine for a very long time and used it up to her death.

Additionally, there is the fact that the family’s primary language is French and mine is English. There could have been some information lost in translation. Perhaps they only meant to say that the machine model is from 1936, not necessarily that this particular machine was actually manufactured in 1936.

Regardless though, whether my machine was actually manufactured in 1936 or sometime in the 1940s, it doesn’t take away my enjoyment of the machine. It is still a 15-91, and one that appears to have been well taken care of by the previous owner.

History of Singer & 15-91

Even if you have never sewed, you might have heard of Singer before. It is a company that has its origins in the 1850s in the USA. And it DOMINATED the sewing machine world. I’m going to focus specifically on the history of the 15-91 but if you want to know more about the company and why it dominated the market, I’ve included some links in the resources below. If you have time, you can also read up on the founder, Isaac Singer, who seems to have led a wild life that at one point involved keeping up multiple separate families that didn’t know about each other….

15-91

The 15-91 is part of the 15 Singer series which was started in 1879. The 15 series is notable not only for how long it was produced, but the number of variants over the series. Technically, Singer stopped manufacturing the 15 series in the 1950s, but you will find clones being manufactured even today (if you are interested in the clones, you can learn more here). If you want more technical details on all the differences in the model 15 series, this is a good resource: Singer Model 15 Comparisons

The 15-91 was manufactured between 1930 and 1956. It has a potted electric motor (introduced first on Singer’s 101 in the 1920s) which is you can see noted in the diagram below. What I find interesting however is that despite the large amount of 15-91s produced and their popularity today, there doesn’t seem any mention of them on Singer’s own website, even in historical terms. In fact, most information I have found on the Singer 15-91 is by going through information put together by vintage sewing machine enthusiasts.

As with many things old, you can now find a lot of resources online for the 15-91 including the manual. There is also an online guide for 15-91 cabinets, which is how I found out I have the No. 40 Cabinet (Queen Anne Style).

If you have a vintage Singer machine, and want to learn more about it, I would recommend using this International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society Guide. You can actually learn a lot from the serial number, including where it was manufactured.

For example, my serial code starts w/ JB. J stands for the manufacturing plant St. Johns (Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec) which verifies what I was told by the family. And JB serial codes were issued from 1936 - 1948. If your machine is also from St Johns you can find more information here.

Resources

Singer Corporation

How Singer Won the Sewing Machine War

Singer History Timeline

Isaac Singer

Interested in more 15-91 Content?

Check out my Singer 15-91 content page that currently lists all the 15-91 specific content on this site.

The beginning...

Back in November I decided that I should pick up a new COVID hobby to keep me busy in the dark winter months. Quilting attracted me for a number of reasons: color, pattern, detail, design. Plus, I could make a bunch of quilts to scatter around the house so that when the cold Canadian weather set in, I would have something to snuggle with.

The only problem was I didn’t have a sewing machine. I contemplated buying one for Christmas early, to avoid the Christmas rush. But my partner convinced me that before sinking a bunch of money into a machine, that I could use one that his family had, to make sure I actually liked quilting. I decided to humor him and agreed, and we asked the family to take it into the repair shop to make sure it was in good working order.

Now, at the time I wasn’t in a huge rush for the machine. I didn’t have any of the notions, so I didn’t mind waiting a bit. However as we neared January, I had started to amass a small collection of fabric, thread, rulers, quilting books, etc. Right as I was about to bring up the sewing machine again to the family, COVID restrictions increased and all nonessential businesses were closed. This meant even the repair shop was closed.

I spent the month of January anxiously waiting for the shop to reopen, and realizing that this quilting hobby was going to be more complicated than I originally thought. You see, I had been reading my new quilting books that walked through different patterns and had noticed a distinct lack of coverage on how to actually quilt the final layers together. This is actually its own technique called Free Motion Quilting (FMQ). Another round of books had to be ordered.

Finally, COVID restrictions were eased and the machine made its way into the shop. Within a couple of days it was ready. Apparently, no repair was necessary and all was needed was a good cleaning and oiling.

Now I had seen the machine briefly before it was taken into the shop and was aware it was a vintage Singer machine, made in 1936 about 20 miles away in a local factory and had been in the family a long time. This made me a bit nervous because I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to use (and I’m essentially a novice to sewing), and it wouldn’t have some of the features associated with newer machines (i.e. automatic thread cutter, needle threader, etc.). I had also heard though that vintage Singers had a reputation of being well built machines, so I was open to trying it. Plus it came with its own desk that was rather adorable.

The long awaited day arrived this last Friday and I was able to place the machine next to the work station I had set up. It has come with all sorts of bits and pieces that I must sort through, but it does seems in good working order. I’ve been able to thread it, wind up a bobbin, and do some test runs on old fabric.

I’ve also find out that this specific Singer is a 15-91. Thankfully, this machine does seem to have a fair amount of documentation online so I’m hopeful that I won’t have too difficult of a learning curve. But we will find out…

2021 Update

I originally created this website to discuss and explore coding projects. But as you can tell by my blog history I’ve been neglecting it a bit… I suppose that is to be expected when you go from unemployed to working, buy a house, and are trying to keep up with life’s busy schedule. While I haven’t given up on personal coding projects, I have started a new quilting hobby and it seems a shame to not document the process. And at the end of the day, it seems like the best place to document a personal passion project is on a website I already have built for that purpose!

For those of you who are here only for the coding content, I’ve split out the two blogs so you don’t need to venture into my sewing and singer machine struggles. Unless you want to of course!