In Alignment

Isn't it wonderful when everything just lines up and the world seems straightened out? Just for a moment? That has happened many times for me and it happened again yesterday. On Saturday I bought a Kenmore 158-1980 with only the foot control, no accessories, but it's such a great sewing machine I figured I could fairly easily buy the cams, buttonhole attachment, and other bits and pieces. I even tried out cams from another machine to make sure the top-hat, or C-cams, would work and they did. Of course, buying each of those kits would be anywhere from $10 to $30 on Ebay but I'm patient and can wait for the bargain. The bargain came just the next day.

As per usual, I stopped at one of my regular thrift stores to find no sewing machines but there was a familiar light green box that I recognized as a Kenmore set of accessories. The top was just the plastic molded form, the regular lid was missing, that should have held a buttonhole attachment but there were no parts, just the formed plastic insert. But when I lifted it up there was a set of 21 cams in light green, top hat style, with a few miscellaneous screw drivers and other parts. These were going to fit the Kenmore 158-1980, I was sure of it. Even though I scoured the store for the rest of this set, especially the sewing machine that should be there, nothing else could be found. No price was on this box but it was taken in the back and priced it at $2.99. That's right, a mere $3 for the nearly full set of cams. I almost floated out to my car, I was so delighted.

Buttonhole set on left with lid, inset with cams underneath

The full buttonholer was from another sewing machine, just used in these photos for comparison. What I found at the store is on the right in the above photo

Opened up, buttonholer left with cams on right

What about the buttonholer? I can't quite figure out which model should be used with this sewing machine but I have two more sets to try out, having rejected two I have already tried.  But these things take time and I will come up with the right model, hoping it's one I already have due to a mistaken earlier purchase, as shown below:

Another buttonholer what might fit?

With every triumph there is a fall or fly-in-the-ointment so here is my next irritation/disappointment/fly.
The Singer 66 repaint is finally coming to an end with the final coat of clear. Almost. I keep having some areas that receive some overspray that does not go on thick enough for a shine but just a matte type of finish. I don't want this so I spray another coat only to have this happen in a different area. And it goes on. It keeps getting better though so I will keep trying and one of these coats will be the final one. Then I saw on Facebook someones vintage sewing machine repaint, with the exact same decals I used and the decals showed NO EDGE MARKS. What? Mine still show edges and I'm willing to live with this because I worked so hard on it and tell myself this was my first experiment. But theirs was perfect and I want mine to at least be better than it is. Sigh. So the Singer 66 is a bit of a disappointment all because I was comparing it to one that was painted by an auto-body shop. Of course it looked perfect! Oh well, the Pfaff 130 will have a different set of challenges but it will be better! I promise.