Happy 250th Birthday America!

July 3, 2026
Celebrating the 4th by sewing patriotic themed blocks on my American-made Singer 301A!

The pattern is Star Salute, which was part the 2026 Liberty Box from Fat Quarter Shop. Fabric used is the FQ bundle that came in the box and the white-on-white background came from another quilter downsizing her stash. Binding will be a denim blue cotton from my inventory. The pattern includes an pieced backing option, which I’ve decided to do. It will include a large center star using leftover HSTs and white yardage, plus some light gray fabric I already have. In case you’re interested, the finished size meets the QOV guidelines. This particular quilt will most likely be donated to my guild’s Quilts for Cops partnership.

My 301A was made in Anderson, South Carolina in 1957. She came to me via the Florida Panhandle, where my niece found her at a yard sale for $125.00. She was farm fresh, but still had the original bobbin case, set of presser feet and foot controller in the trapezoid carry case. There’s no telling how long this sewing machine had been in someone’s shed or attic. Outside of a spa day, the most useful updates Miss Carmella’s received have been the acrylic extension table, stick on thread cutter, walking foot, and FW Shop seam square/seam guide duo.

After much experimentation this past week, I’ve learned how to compensate for the lack of an adjustable needle position to achieve a scant 1/4″ seam. The original presser foot in tandem with the seam guide consistently works the best for me. The secret for me is pinning on the left side instead of the right. It does feel awkward at first, but careful pinning means my seams match and no points on HSTs and FG are cut off.

And is case you’re interested, the acrylic extension table is from Taylor Made Tables and the stick on bee thread cutter is from Lori Holt. Besides an LED light bulb, the only addition was a set of matching crocheted spool pin doilies from a local maker.

Miss Carmella is ready to complete our quilt top over this July 4th weekend!

Enjoy the fireworks, food and fellowship while you stay cool in the heat!

Seam guides for vintage straight-stitch sewing machines

June 29, 2026

Lately, I’ve been working on my Silver Lake quilt, which is a fund raiser for the Virginia Quilt Museum. Pat Sloan sponsored a QAL earlier in the year, but I’m just now able to get to it. So far, I’ve pieced all the blocks on my Elna 450 using a scant 1/4″ seam allowance, as the test block using the full 1/4″ seam allowance came up a wee bit short.

Modern, computerized sewing machines have us spoiled. It’s so easy to adjust your needle position with 1-2 clicks to set it for a perfect scant 1/4″ seam allowance. Not so easy with a vintage, straight stitch sewing machine! You can’t move the needle, so you must compensate by moving the seam guide or by using a specialty scant 1/4″ foot.

With the way my Singer 301A was built, the specialty slant shank scant 1/4″ foot yields a full 1/4″ seam allowance. It’s not a fluke. I purchased the same exact foot from two different vendors and experienced the same result each time. More than one technician has told me that it’s just the way my machine was made. If I need a scant 1/4″ seam, I was advised to use the original presser foot and a seam guide.

So, what solution did I come up with?

I use a Seam Square from The Featherweight Shop as the measuring device to set any seam guide.

(1) If I am chain piecing or can pin parallel to the fabric edge, I’ll use the Seam Guide from The Featherweight Shop or a cute magnetic one I picked up at a local quilt shop.

(2) If I need to pin perpendicular to the fabric edge to match at specific points, I like to use the little stick-on guides from Guidelines 4 Quilting along with the Magic flathead pins from Taylor Seville. The guide is just high enough to act as the fabric bumper, while still allowing the pins to pass over. (A thin stack of sticky notes will also work).

I’ve also tried various 3-D printed slant shanks with snap on feet. If someone can design one with a slightly thinner shank, I’ll be happy to test it out for you.

Beating the heat

June 28, 2026

It may be steamy outside, but it’s nice and cool in my basement sewing studio!

Here, I’m adding borders to the bug fusible grid project we had in the Block Party (kids’ exhibit) booth at the quilt show. The finished quilt will measure 37″ x 43″ – large enough to donate to DFACS as a baby/toddler quilt. I found the bug border fabric during my bee group’s monthly sew day at Tiny Stitches. There was absolutely no question that it was coming home with me. This quilt is going to be so stinking cute!

The more I look at the quilt top, the more I want to add a third border to make it “sort of” fit the Fibonacci number patterns for quilt borders It would mean a 2-1/2″ medium green border to frame everything. Binding will the black check (already made borrowed taken from another project).

Miss Carmella (my Singer 301A) was happy to be out on my cutting table. She definitely let me know how she felt about being packed away for a few months! A little TLC (and a new bobbin winder tire) improved her mood immensely. Of all my vintage machines, she’s definitely my favorite for piecing quilt blocks. Learning the sweet spot for the scant 1/4″ seam seam has been a bit of a challenge as I like to sew with a 1/4″ foot with a flange and adjust my needle position, which I can’t do on this vintage straight stitch only sewing machine.