Sewing Boning Channels with My Heretical Sewing Machine

I bought a sewing machine. Gasp! I bought an old sewing machine; a Singer 99K from the 1950s to be exact. Short history of the Singer 99 series machines: they were first produced in the 1930s as a portable machine (at 30 lbs), made of cast iron and the electric ones used a belt driven exterior motor. The first series controlled the stitch length using a tunable dial, the second series controlled the stitch length using a settable toggle, and the third series allowed for a reverse stitch function. I have the third series. 

The thing is heavy, loud, and the peddle is like that of a car. I love it. There are YouTube videos of people sewing through multiple layers of leather with it. I don't need that level of intense, but multiple layers of the heaviest linen buckram will do. I used this baby to sew boning channels, which it did like a champ. Added bonus, the stitches are not as nice a modern sewing machines, so they look like the stitches of an experience hand sewer. 

Unfortunately, you can't use linen thread on a sewing machine, but you can get 12 wt. cotton thread, which is very similar to 50/3 linen thread in weight and durability. That is what I used. You will need about 3/4 of a spool of 12 wt. cotton thread to do a set of fully boned stays.

The thing that I like about this machine is that unlike modern sewing machines, the lock stitch that is formed is completely symmetrical on the top and bottom of your fabric, which means I can sew with the linen canvas upwards and still create a perfect stitch on the exterior fabric. That is exactly what I did. 

After looking at the boning patterns on original garments, I simply drew the boning channel lines on the linen canvas using a quilting ruler and a pencil. After that, I sewed all the channels at 10 stitches per inch on the linen side, and turned the stays over to reveal perfectly sewn boning channels on the exterior fabric side. 

After that it was a matter of stuffing the channels, cutting off the excess canvas, and folding over and whipping the edges to finish each piece. I could have done the whole thing in a long afternoon, but it took a few evenings to do.