Kenmore Sewing Machine Maintenance. Quilt Binding From Cotton Shirt. 5.27.2021

I may give in and buy inexpensive cotton sheet to back the blue brick pattern quilt.  Meanwhile, I made the binding, which will complete the quilt edges, once I get to that.  

This was a previously owned XL cotton long sleeve shirt.  Kind of a medium weight fabric  There is no apparent outside/inside, or I can't see the difference.  The dark spot is just a water drip from the steam iron.  

It was a simple process.  Wash / dry the shirt on warm / hot setting to preshrink and thoroughly clean. Thrift store shirts can have a musty scent, so I add color safe bleach to the was water, which seems to fully  cleanse the fabric.  I remove the pocket first, so the weave can shrink and needle holes vanish.  Starch, iron.  Cut seams.  Cut into the longest 2 1/2 inch wide strips possible.  Sew shorts strips together into one long strip, with 45 degree angle seams.  The angle reduces bulk when sewing on the binding.  Iron, and it's done and ready.  I needed about 26 feet of binding.  This shirt gave that, using the longest strips, with a bit left over.  Not much.  

Ning bought this sewing machine for me at an estate sale. It's in good condition. I downloaded the manual, which was online. Following the manual instructions, it was easy and straightforward to clean and oil the machine. One screw on the bottom is stuck, so I accessed that inside area by removing a panel on the end.  I applied some penetrating oil to that screw, maybe it will loosen with time.  It's nice, the casing has a door that opens to expose the sewing head for easy maintenance and light bulb replacement. I found LED light bulb replacement that I'll install when it arrives, for brighter light without the heat, although the existing incandescent isn't bad.

This sewing machine is pre-digital bells & whistles, can be home tubed-up, has a nice solid feel, and sounds like a good solid sewing machine. I hope it lasts a while - it's a lot of fun to use.