Back to My Pen & Ink Sketch – Vintage Sewing Machine

It was back in February that I shared my work-in-progress sewing machine pen & ink sketch. I finished it a few weeks ago and I wanted to wait until I posted my three-part series on my sewing conservation adventures to finally post this completed sketch with my vintage machine.

I knew I needed space to capture my machine and I created my initial sketch across two pages in my art journal.

I sketched this over a few days in my studio. I used my artist creative license to capture what I wanted. I tried to sketch the basic shapes and I ended up sitting in front of my machine and seeing different angles each day. On paper, some areas appeared to be the correct perspective while other areas captured another. I decided to just go with it and this ended up being a unique sketch for me.

Since I was using my creative license, I decided to leave out a few details and just use a wash of color. I left out the details in the oval brass logo. I also left out the “Singer” brand name over the light housing.

To bring a bit more life to my sketch, I did add in the some bright golden ink to represent the decals around the sewing machine bed and to give a pop of color. My machine shows faded silver and gold decals and my creative license allowed me to show a brighter yellow swirls of color.

As I was creating the initial sketch, I forgot to center my machine across the two pages. To fill in the blank space on the right side of my page, I added a few spools of thread.

I enjoyed using Thunderstorm for the blue/black wash on the body and the bed of my machine. Instead of using a dull black ink color, the underlying inky colors of Thunderstorm added quite a bit of personality to my sketch.

Pens: TWSBI GO with Stub 1.1 nib. TWSBI Swipe with Stub 1.1 nib. Platinum Preppy with 02 Extra Fine nib.

Inks: Robert Oster Thunderstorm, Blood Rose, Steely Days, African Gold, and Melon Tea. Van Dieman’s Inks Morning Frost. DeAtramentis Document Grey.

Journal: Stillman & Birn Beta softcover A5 (5.5″x8.5″) 270gsm

Journal Cover: Lochby Field Journal A5 waxed canvas in Brown

Still Life: Singer Featherweight 221 vintage sewing machine (1938)