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Restore Along Part 19: Getting Ready For The First Coat Of Primer!
Welcome back to our Restore Along with Julia and Tulip! If you need a quick refresher, here's the link to last week's installment.
Julia wants Tulip to shine when the restoration is complete, so before she tackles painting Tulip, she is going to practice her painting technique on Jill, the machine gifted to her specifically for this purpose from a fellow Featherweight enthusiast.
Before Julia paints Jill, she must sand every surface of the machine that needs a new coat. Today's work is all about preparing for the task of sanding. It is precise work and will make for good practice in its own right.
First, Julia drops Jill's thread uptake lever down so it won't get in the way. To do this, she removes a screw and uses a silicone plug she borrows from Tech Support's shop. The plug fills the hole and deeps it clear of paint. Julia tapes and fills other gaps around the machine as well.
Jill is missing a few parts. To be able to practice painting on a complete machine, Julia borrows the drip pan and pitted throat plate from yet another member of her collection. This machine is a 1953 partial Featherweight Julia has named "Q," having been a "ResQ" from eBay.
Along with several other parts, Q's previous owner parted out the motor, so Julia has installed a hand crank from The Featherweight Shop!
Next, Julia uses two screws from buttonhole feed dog cover plates to fill in the bed accessory holes. There is a little angled edge inside the holes with a Japanned finish that Julia will have to sand down, so these screws are the perfect fit to fill in and protect the rest of these holes during painting and sanding.
Tape and plugs aren't enough to cover up some of Jill's parts. Areas like the tension area, the unpainted area where the presser foot bar handle rides, and the bushings on the ends of the machine that don't have a finish on them are too hard to mask off entirely with tape. Julia uses a paint masking pen and paint masking liquid to deal with these areas.
In addition to the pen and masking liquid, Julia gets creative to help finish covering and protecting Jill's unfinished surface. Q-Tips, cardboard, blue shop towels, paper, and toothpicks help Julia finish the job.
Jill is ready to be sanded.
Julia makes progress on sanding Jill's bed and the front below the bed before calling it a day.
Soon it will be time for that first coat of primer. See you next week!
