Sewing
The Machinery
I feel the machinery I have accumulated now is, for the time being, enough for my craft. For each of them I have lots of spares and consumables in my stock. From extra needle plates, needle holders, bobbin cases to hundreds of each type of needle, as all 4 machines use the same needle type. One briefcase I have full with feets for the Singers, it must be more than 100 of them, every special or interesting foot I come across, I have it. For the Chinese Leather Shoe Patcher I do modify feets in my own workshop, also for that I have everything 5 to 10 times as spare on stock and it is fun to create modifications.
As a mechanical Engineer, it is of course part of my Hobby to do regular service on each of the machines. Oiling every time they are used, and “small service” (opening needle plate and left side cover, take out the bobbin case and clean and oil the inside) and “big service” I do once a year (completely dismantling the machine and cleaning and lubricating everything). It is quite an advantage being a technician, when sewing is the hobby.
Singer Heavy Duty HD4432
This is my first Singer that I bought, and I love it. Even so it is not computerized, it is my favorite workhorse. It has 32 stitches and does exactly what I want. This machine sews thick material till the needle breaks.
Singer Heavy Duty HD6805C
This computerized Singer I bought because of it’s ability to sew text and letters. It has lots of convenient features and countless numbers of various stitches. However due to it’s computerization, it has also some kind of limits. If it get’s tough in thick material, it will simply go on strike (while the HD4432 will go on till it bangs and the needle breaks).
Singer Heavy Duty 14HD854 Serger
This Serger I bought and it took me more than 1 year till I opened the box and started to use it. I was scared of the 2 needles and 4 threads. But one day in 2024 I studied it and since then I love to use it. It sews with some noise, but nicely. I use all 4 threat coils the same color (so far have 4 in black and 4 in white). Once I figures out the sequence and path of each thread, it is a breeze to change it.
Chinese Leather Shoe Patcher
This very manual machine I bought in April 2024 out of couriosity, and as I wanted to sew my own slippers for use on the balcony. It is very simple, but still functionally fine. It is sometimes a bit of a challenge to handle the turning wheel (as it has no motor) and with the other hand to hold the sewing item in place. All things that you “set” at the other machines, I have to find out the trial and error way at this machine.
The items made
First I had to get textile material, so I took up “unwanted clothes” from within the family, then bought some from sewers who stopped during or after the Covid time, and of course for serious projects I also bought textile material from professional shops. So in the beginning, I just practiced straight sewing, the various seam types and how to assemble something. Even with some simple sounding items like a lined pouch, it takes sometimes a lot of imaginatary thinking: How do I attach the pouch handle when I make a French Seam (my favorite) so that in the end, the handle is on the top left side where the zipper ends, if closed …
Saucers
My first really useful and nice project was a number of saucers (about 20 of them).
I made them in a big variety of textiles and sizes. We have them everywhere in use, at home and in the office. They are good as they absorb the condensed water from cold drinks, as inside is material of a thick bathtowel. And once in a while, put them in the washing machine, let them dry and they look new again for the next few months.
Bottle Carrier
I did not like to carry 1 liter Kombucha bottles to/from the office with plastic bags, banging them against each other.
So one of the first projects was to make bottle carrier bags. Each for 2 bottles, with a vertical line of button holes in the middle so a cord can be inserted to pull and fix, so the bottles can’t touch each other. Height and size are ideal for two 1 liter bottles that we use for Kombucha (on the bottom 22cm x 10cm). Inside on the bottom is a rectangular plastic sheet so the bag can stand nicely. It is of great material, not lined, and with my favourite French seam.
Trolley Bag
People discard these trolleys, as the original bag deteriorates quite fast. I make new big bags for them, and so we use them regularly again.
As you see, the bag is reinforced with another material at the lower end, has a deep pocket at the side for the telephone, and has another large pocket at the front side. I made two of these and also these can be washed. At the bottom is a hard plastic board as stable flooring. All my blue bags have a hanger inside, so keys can have a secure location.
Half-Plate Pouch
You saw the ceramic plates, cut in half, in the Fermentation Section for Vegetables.
To keep them nicely and avoid them to get damaged during storage time, I created a pouch for them. A zippered pouch, 12cm deep, with 8 loose separations inside so the plates don’t touch each other. Stiffening material sewn inside for sides and bottom. And as you see, I like having lashes at the ends of zippers, these are strong enough to even carry the hole pouch on them. I love this design and look, a neat and nice home for the plates.
Scissor Pouches
I saw these and had to make such.
The left side is the first prototype, the right one is already a bit more advanced. Each is for 3 scissors. The left one has a rather thick padding material in between the two textile layers, while the right one has no extra padding.
I love the ability to be creative ….
Shopping Bags
These are the replacement of the former plastic bags for the weekly grocery shopping.
38 cm long, 38cm high and 18cm deep, not lined, with French seam and a big outside pocket. These two are sized ideally to fit in our shopping trolley. To differentiate them, one has a yellow and one a red decorative stitching on the top. All these I make with the HD4432.
I made 6 (!) more of these bags, 38cm long, 18cm wide and 44cm high. Now definetly don’t need any plastic bags any more, with 8 such big shoping bags. Each has outside a pocket of 28cm x 28cm.
New Life to an old Floor Mat
The floor mat to our kitchen entrance suffered from wear and tear, so I gave it a new life.
I covered it on both sides with recycled textile material and added an edge made of red fabric. Looks much more vivid than the dull old mat that is now enclosed inside.
Can Opener
You ever had the situation that you want to open a can or a bottle, but just don’t have anough grip to turn the lid?
For that purpose I made a series of “Can Openers”, a strong textile material, that has at one side a non-slip material sewn on. We have a few hanging at our kitchen area, and sometimes we need even two at a time, one to hold the jam jar and the other to turn the lid.
As most of my items, they have a good sized hanger to hang them for ready availability.
Salad Bowl Cover
To cover the salad bowl for the 30min it is waiting to be packed in boxes, we have to avoid any fruit flies to go inside the bowl.
For that purpose I made this cute Bowl Cover, with an elastic band, that fits nicely to the big salad bowl. With it comes the same material saucer, so the metal bowl doesn’t scratch the table.
Bowl Cradle
We love to eat soups. But usually, when they are served in bowls, they are boiling hot.
For this I created a number of such Bowl Cradles of different sizes. Holding them at the corners, and you can carry steaming hot bowls around with no problems. Safe and convenient. Between the two textile layers is a recycled towel layer. As usual, with hangers for hanging storage. As everything, of course these are all washable.
As we don’t use microwave, I could still use polyamide thread and needed not to go for 100% cotton.
Da-Bao Carriers
Da-Bao is food that you buy at food stalls to bring along for eating at home or office. We use them mainly to carry the daily fruits and salads from home to office.
For this purpose I used recycled Curtain Material and made two, exactly the right size for 4 pcs of the 1 liter glass containers we use for this purpose. They have big outside pockets and even a pocket for the chopsticks. No more plastic bags, and they nicely hang at the rear of the car seat.
Saucers for big bowls
For the big fermentation bows and water containers that we have around, I made a series of simple Saucers in varous sizes.
2 layers of recycled material, in between a layer of a towel, and ready are the saucers. Washable and made use of otherwise discharted clothe items. You can see from the finish, the smaller ones are the first prototypes, the larger one has already an a bit more professional look.
Headset Bag
As I always carry a headset with me for my Audiobooks, I needed a bag to hang outside the Rucksack that I always carry. Having the headset hanging outside without any cover caused the soft padding to deteriorate fast.
So I created this unlined bag. The main bag has a long zipper all across. Then I made in front an inserted quite big pocket with zipper. That inserted pocked with green inside goes all the way down and is for accessories.
To avoid that the bag pounces around on the outside of the backbag, I added in addition to the main top hanger also 3 more lashes so it can be secured.
Bag for Pad
I love this green textile bag with the yellow lining inside and the zipper on the top. It is very soft to touch.
The first one I made ended up too small, so I used that one for the power supply for the Notebook PC. This fits perfectly for my XiaoMi Mipad. The red vertical stitch is securing the soft padding inside, I was worried that may not stay in place, specially during washing.
Fancy “Bottle Carrier Bag”
This is what I made out of an old pair of Children Jeans. As we need lots of bags to carry Kombucha bottles, this was a good option for recycling pants.
I took out the front zipper and sewed all closed. I cut the legs off and fitted black round bottom pieces (from another jean). Then I added the carry straps, and the bottle carrier bag was done. Nice is that it is so deep that two even big bottles won’t touch each other during transport.
New Life to a pair of old Pants
Mona wanted to throw a pair of black pants out, more than 10 years old, thin material, she did not want to wear them any more.
She was pleasantly surprised when I gave them back to her in form of a shopping bag. If you have pants you don’t want to wear any more, but still kind of love them, this is a way to keep them in good use.
I took out the zipper, opened the leg part to have a deeper bag, and even added 10cm depth to the bag (you can see on the left lower side). To give the bag some special note, I added a yelow decorative stitch around the top edge. The original pant pockets can be used for the phone or keys, and it is a light good bag.
New Life to a preloved Jeans Skirt
This large, strong, bag made of a recycled Jeans Skirt, is my favorite. It was my first project to make a bag out of a former piece of clothing.
I have removed the zipper and have sewn it closed in the zipper area. I moved the button to the back of the bag, but kept the button hole in the front. So it serves as a kind of closure for the bag. Nice is also that the skirt pockets are still useable for keys or phone. It is a quite large and robust bag and I have it always rolled up in my Rucksack.
Cover Sleeve for Health Tracker
I have a Health Tracker from the Singapore Health Promotion Board to help to keep fit. However, on my left arm is already a nice Huawei GT4 Fitness Tracker, and I just cannot stand it to have another tracker on my right arm.
So I put this device in my socks around my ankle. But found out fast that the buckle for the band was not nice to my delicate skin. So I created a sleeve of a cosy soft flanel material with a stiffening inlay (the slightly darker material inside). Here I show two (one with Mona’s tracker). It wraps nicely around the leg and can be washed.
Sewing Utensils
A glance at my regular sewing utensils.
Most useful I find the sharpened chopsticks, for guiding material in the foot area. The needles and clips, the rulers and tapes, and the scissors and thread cutters. The scissors with the golden handle I got recently from our friend Irene Faber.
The long item with the needle in front (next to the 12″ black scissors) is my needle sharpener. Below is a red and a green marked needle container, in the red I put used needles before sharpening, and in the green are newly sharpened needles. Very useful are these black and the one white plastic strips (from packing material), they are so great for sewing at the edges of thin or soft material or over humps.
I do not have pictures of the many bed sheet repais and reinfocement. I made new Pillow Covers (envelope style, first project with the Serger) for our beds. I did repairs and alterations on pants … yes was quite a challenge to make pants 8cm tighter, but the result was good.
And from recycled curtain and canvas material I made nice covers for most items in the office and covers for the sewing machines.
I made pictures of most things I made … I will add as I come across them.
…. on my “project list” are further:
Wet bags for our wet clothes after the gym or swimming pool. Have the material and zippers already.
A big shopping bag to use as “cooler bag” I have in mind, with zipper and good insulation material.
Heavy canvas material Aprons for the workshop use in the office. Have the material already, still thinking of the right design.
Many more zippered pouches in various sizes and shapes, for all possible things to store, for use in my daily Rucksack or just for items like the TENS Massagers, water bottles and so on.
If you are interested in one or the other item, have your own size and material specifications but need somebody to do it for you, get in touch with me.
If you are in Singapore and have used items that you think would be nice “raw material” for recycling, please let me have it. Specially I look for denim or canvas items, curtains, pants and skirts etc … and if you like the idea of any of the above items and would like one made, let me know.
To my link collection of Ideas for future Projects
