I noped out of making my own bias tape for masking by cutting strips of an t shirt and stretching them out for semi janky, but still perfectly functional ties.
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Totally works, and bonus for being softer on the ears!
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It “helps” that I have extremely limited energy for anything right now combined with high need for masks so finding something that would work with the least amount of effort possible was important.
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We’ll see how my attempt goes this evening, but I do have a few t-shirts that need retiring!
Question: what is the dark metal piece indicated by the screwdriver in this photo? It does not match the diagram for what should be associated with the bobbin case in the manual for my machine. This is a singer Stylist 413, for the curious.
ETA The pictures in the manual make it look like that shouldn’t be there at all.
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Meanwhile, the treadle is much happier with oil.
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That’s the machine my grandma has! It sews beautifully
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I also have that machine! Well, it’s at my parent’s house. It was the very first machine I learned on, from my grandmother. I BETTER BE GETTING IT YO. 
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It does! It’s a model 66, and singer made about a zillion of them.
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Also we lost power again this afternoon ( still lots and lots of tornado repair along my road so probably related), and it kept sewing…
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I have a similar machine I want to get up and running some day!
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They are remarkably simple machines. Also, a lot of the guts are brass, which helps with rust issues.
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Folks, I DID IT! I made bias tape!
What a pain in the ass. Please don’t look too closely, you’ll see the jagged edges.
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Looks great to me!
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Imma bump this in hopes someone (@Ckni27 ?) will have seen something like that dark metal piece before. I’m 99% sure it’s been added to the machine at some point after it left the factory, and I don’t know why. (Darn, you still have to click to see the picture.)
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I saw your photo but I have no idea what it is without being able to play with it. It might be some kind of add on to the bobbin case or something for the feeding of the fabrics? Wa the machine ever used for any kind of specific application where someone might have needed additional functionality?
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Thanks. That’s my best guess. This machine is a thrift store purchase, so I’m not sure. I’m gonna take the piece out and see what it looks like under there. I need to get it out to get my epically stuck thread loose, anyway.
In working on cleaning/oiling at, I did discover the last time it was serviced was in September 1987! 
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I’m going to pull a sewing machine out of my closet over the weekend and see if it’s any good. Currently trying to think through old clothes in the house to see if there’s anything I could repurpose or if I need to order fabric in order to do anything more than a face mask.
I’ve asked my sister if she’ll be a guinea pig for me – she’s smaller than me so I won’t have to use quite as much fabric if I try and make her a skirt.
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