Singer 201 (again)

It was a happy weekend even if it did rain all three days because I had plenty to do with new sewing machines and sewing on them. I spied an ad for a Singer sewing machine and a close up showed it was the beloved Singer 201. It was posted over an hour before I saw it so I didn't think I had a chance but I got an email back saying I was the first one! Delight, delight, delight! I set out on Saturday to pick it up and the owner said it had been her grandmothers but she had never even met her and only needed a sewing machine a couple times a year. Since it was in a cabinet that had been repainted blackish (antiqued?) she didn't want to move it one more time. But she did ask how much it was really worth since she got another six calls after mine and one person even offered to pay more than the asking price. She was good to her word and sold it for what she was asking but still wanted to know. As much as I wanted to be truthful, I hated to tell her it would sell for 3-4 times what she was asking. She said that was okay because it didn't have any value for her. Sigh. I hear this all the time.

Once home and looked over, I could tell it didn't have the power of my other 201's. With a potted motor (where it is up high on the back of the machine, looks more "built-in" than a low motor with an external belt) it is more work to look under the hood or trade out an old motor but I took the cover off and it was pretty clean in there and the wiring looked good. I took off the foot control and wired in a different one that I knew was working well. Well, well, it took off like it had somewhere to go! In the end I put a new cord on for the foot control as there must have been a break in the wire somewhere. Now she's all ready to go:

Singer 201 out of the cabinet

She's in pretty good shape and came with a great set of accessories:

Bobbins, extra feet, blind stitch hemmer attachment, buttonholer with extra templates plus a newly rewired foot control

I could put all of these things except the buttonhole attachment (but it has its own green box) in a nice basket for a complete set. The Singer 201 has level feet and doesn't need a cabinet so I think I will use the cabinet for another machine that needs one, like the Singer 15's I have. But first I have to empty out the cabinet. Here's what the contents looked like sorted out on the table:

How big was that cabinet?

The amount of thread was overwhelming but I got it sorted into wooden spools, polyester, keepers, those for other purposes. I don't know what "other purposes" but they all got sorted. Almost all of it was kept with very little that was trash, but there were manuals for a 201 and a Singer 99. There was a bobbin slide plate for a 99 also but no 99. Sometimes we just collect these things, like odd bobbins, but they all get put to use in my household.

This was a fun way to spend my weekend, along with making a new dress with jacket (all done but the buttonholes and dress hem), stripping the school cabinet, and finishing the stripping on the Franklin treadle. Okay, all three of these items needs a post of it's own so stay tuned. I might even model that new dress with the bright floral lining.