Necchi Mira BU

 

Mira was manufactured in Italy in 1954 and is my first sewing machine purchase of 2011!  She was delivered to my door complete with manuals, accessories, wonder wheel, cams, extra needles, bobbins, two spare light bulbs and an automatic needle threader.  After a good cleaning and oiling, Mira sews absolutely gorgeous, precise stitches.

 

Look how pretty Mira is.  The stitches under her presser foot were made using the marvelous wonder wheel with cams.  The top thread is red and bobbin thread is lime green.  I'm very impressed with the excellent stitch quality with very little tension adjusting. This machine is super easy and fun to sew with.

She has six cams to make 12 designs.  The two steel rods connect the wonder wheel device to the needle position lever and the stitch width lever.  The wonder wheel is powered exactly like a bobbin winder and gets pushed up against the hand wheel.  As the wheel turns the steel rods move the needle position and stitch width levers back and forth to sew the pattern.  I'm impressed with how well this works.

 

Not shown in the photos but included in the accessory box are a straight stitch needle plate and a needle plate that covers the feed dogs.  

The green lever  is pushed down to drop the feed dogs for darning or free motion quilting.  The feed dog mechanism works the same way as my Necchi Lelia.

 

The automatic needle threader works as well or better than any of the modern ones that are attached to the sewing machine.  Mira wears high shank feet, uses standard steel class 15 bobbins and standard needles.

The straight stitching, zig-zag and satin stitches around the outside were sewn with the wonder wheel disengaged.  I'm very impressed with the satin stitching as I was adjusting the stitch width while sewing the seam.  The picture below shows the wonder wheel without a cam and disengaged from the hand wheel.

 

This manual was printed in June 1954.  It is complete, well written and easy to follow.

This little package contains a piece of nylon thread that looks like fishing line with knots tied in it about every inch and instructions for cleaning the upper thread tension disc with it.  In the past, I used dental floss for this purpose.

Has anyone ever sewn with this scary looking foot?  It is used to make ruffles.

I'm so delighted with my Necchi Mira that perhaps I'll sew my man's shirt with it in Peter's sew along next month.  This is a sneak peak of Shannon's wedding gown!  ~dancing around the room with glee~

For more vintage treasures please visit Colorado Lady's blog.

Merry Christmas 2010

 Sleepy Lily. No tinsel on our tree because the dog eats it.

From my house to yours, I wish you Peace, Joy and Much Love at Christmas and always.

Flannel PJ Pants, Christmas Dinner Napkins, Potholders & Oven Mitts

 

I sew a piece of folded bias tape on the back seam.

 The seams are serged.  Two more pairs to make before Christmas.

 

The blue napkins were serged using a rolled hem.  The red ones were serged, then the serged edge was folded over and hemmed. The corners were mitered and bar tacked using my Pfaff QE 4 (Big Bertha).

 

 

The green potholder was free motion quilted and the outside edge was serged.

 These potholders double as oven mitts!

  

 

 

The blue potholders and oven mitts were sewn on my Singer 15-91 (Pearl) then serged with my White Superlock 2000.

 

 

 

A little Christmas sewing going on.  Happy Saturday all!

Snow.. snow and did I mention more snow?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photos of my back yard were taken from my patio doors.  The front yard while standing on the front door steps with Doug yelling "close the door."  We are definitely having a white Christmas in Brandon!

Christmas stockings

In 1989 I made these Christmas stockings

The white satin fabric on the toes, heel and cuff of the boys' socks was left over scraps from my wedding dress.  I didn't have enough white scrap for the girls so I trimmed the cuffs with lace.  The sequenced names were sewn on by hand.

In 2004, AJ joined the family the cuff, toe and heel for his sock is left over satin from Shannon's high school grad dress. 

Jason's wife Karyann joined the family in 2007 when I was making tablecloths, so those white scraps were used to decorate her sock.  In 2010, Véronique made socks for her family in my craft emporium. I actually bought one metre of white polar fleece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used my Pfaff QE 4 to make the name tags then Véronique appliqued them on.  

To make these socks we cut 4 pieces of 100% cotton Christmas fabric and two pieces of 100% quilt batting.  Put right sides together and one piece quilt batting on top sew the sock together leaving the top side open.  Turn right sides out and press.  Then free motion quilt the front and back of the sock.  Applique the polar fleece heel and toe on.  Next with wrong sides together, topstitch along the edge around the sock leaving the top  open.  Make bias tape about 1/2 inch wide and about six inches long.  Fold the bias tape in half with the folded part down pin the raw edges of your bias tape inside your sock on the back seam.  Make cuff 5 inches wide and long enough to fit well around the outside of your sock.  AJ's sock is 17 1/2 inches around so I made the cuff about 18 inches wide.  Polar fleece has a bit of stretch to it so it is easier to fit.  I usually pin the entire cuff inside then mark where it needs to be sewn to fit the top.  I also fan the seam allowance out so the cuff is bigger around the bottom.  Names can be printed on with fabric paint or permanent marker or sewn on by machine or hand sewn sequence. 

Enjoy!