Treadle On Bulletin Board

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Dick's "Hand Iron"

 

Here are pix of what I have always called a "hand iron" and what I thought was being referred to as a "pressing stick". I think the principle is the same in either case. My Grandma, who, in the parlance of her time "took in sewing" used one of these . This one is heavy laminated bamboo. They can obviously be made of anything that can be shaped such, but real heavy woods are nicest. I just like the feel of them. They do a great job of quickly pressing a seam you're going to do something with, without having to go over to the ironing board, and they open seams nicely, too.

Dick

 

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Spools and Shuttles Quilt

Here is the Spool Block quilt that I made for our the mystery quilt (long since revealed) that has been in the Cave of Mysteries all these years since 1999. The blocks are often arranged symetrically to produce the traditional Spools Quilt, but can also be arranged as showen here to make Spools and Shuttles:

 

This one can be a bit of an optical illusion... the spools are the background, seen vertically, the shuttles are the background seen horizontally. If you choose, you can also regard it as a kind of super, super simplified "rings" quilt and knock one out quickly for a wedding gift.

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Dick's Bobbin Stand

OK, I desperately needed a break from what I've been doing, so did a little woodwork. Here are two VS bobbin holders I did in a wood called Katalox. Very dark brown and extremely close to Ebony in hardness, hence i didn't spend a lot of time on the finish. These guys are just a "let's see what happens and what it looks like" prototype. Not sure if I want to make a bunch of them or not. To do them in nice woods would be spendy and labor intensive to get a nice finish. Fun though, and effectice (IMHO). Might be practical in a softer wood. Have to see what I feel like (today has not been good) and how my time goes. Anyway, here's what home made VS bobbin holders look like:

12 bobbin stand
6 bobbin stand
6 bobbin stand in drawer
This one is an 8... just happened to be that long. It is made of olive wood. Fun to work because it smells like you're in an Italian restaurant!

The exotic woods are heavy and the holes are drilled to less than half the depth of the wood, so these things are pretty stable.

If you make one, a couple of words of caution, the natural inclination is to use a 3/8" drill. It makes a hole that fits. However, use two sizes larger. If you get a moist season or put it in a damp area, the wood will swell some and make the hole smaller. I used 13/32". Also, leave enough space between the holes. The spacing control is not the size of the bobbin but the size of the human finger.

It occurs to me that my 3/4 treadles both have only one drawer. The single line holders seem better suited there. The double row would be fine in a treadle with multiple drawers where you can organize things more.

Captain Dick