Metamorphosis of a Cecropia Moth- Created With a Vintage Straight Stitch Treadle Sewing Machine

With colorful thread and using only my trusty vintage straight stitch treadle sewing machine, I sit in my little cabin in the north woods of Minnesota, next to the warm wood stove listening to the winter winds howl and try to duplicate the beauty of nature. This beautiful Cecropia moth slowly emerged under my needle in the span of about 15 hours. I was able to pack those hours of stitching into a 36 minute video so I had to really speed up the video during the editing process and also stabilize it so it wasn't horribly jerky when viewed. This process makes it very hard to see that my hands are moving the hooped fabric to create each single stitch. Of the many of questions that I am asked about this type of stitching on a treadle sewing machine, the three most often asked are: What kind of foot do I use, what kind of stabilizer do I use and what about the feed dogs? I don't use any foot at all, nor any stabilizer and I completely remove the feed dogs from the machine which is quite simple to do on a vintage machine. Feed dog covers won't work as they hamper free movement of the hooped fabric and top along with bobbin thread tend to catch in them while stitching. The hoop needs to lie flat on the bed of the machine so as to move freely. I use only wooden hoops with at least one of the hoops wrapped with 1 inch cotton fabric strips. This will keep your fabric from slipping and loosening in the hoop as you stitch. I have found that plastic hoops do not work well as they tend to bend when when you tighten the fabric in your hoop and because plastic is slippery your fabric will become slack over time as you stitch. Your fabric needs to be drum tight in the hoop to have any success with this type of work, especially when no foot is used. This type of work can also be accomplished on any vintage or modern electric machine as long as you can control the speed of the machine. You will want a machine that can go very slow when needed and a treadle works perfect as you can control the sewing speed for every single stitch from very slow to fast and everything in between when necessary. I hope you enjoy my work and I have just begun to offer my creations for sale. Custom commissions are also welcome. I would love it if you would become a subscriber to my channel. Custom commissions are also welcome. Thank you for watching! [email protected]