Riders On The Storm

Sometimes I think we must be crazy. Last night we were a bit crazy as we tried to out ride a storm coming in. Why would we be out in a vehicle with a shelf cloud looming to the west and large drops of rain started to fall? To pick up a sewing machine, of course.

It all started with a mid-afternoon appointment that was long-awaited as Anna got in touch with me much earlier in the week to come on Sunday afternoon. She came to pick up the Viking 21, a real beauty in a unique cabinet that only had one owner that I wrote about in Generosity of Strangers. She was getting a gem and she knew it having done her research before she got in touch with me and continuing during her time to wait it out. It was fun to meet Anna and her dad, to demonstrate the machine, and show how it all fit back together.

After they left I finally had time to check local ads "just to see what was out there" and I spied a nice Singer 66 with decent decals, case, spoked wheel, and close to home. Cool. The owner sent me some more information and we tried to set up a mutual time for me to pick it up. We were doing all of this while I had garden vegetables roasting in the oven and I couldn't leave until they came out but that storm was rolling in. What's a body to do? We said we could be there in 40 minutes, 20 minutes for the veggies to finish and 20 minutes of driving time. Yes, we drove like the wind but hardly had any rain on the road and when we turned around and headed back home there had been rainfall, just not on us. We pulled it off! So what did I come home with? Here she is:

Singer 66 with lotus decals

A thorough cleaning was needed and she had a musty odor, but it was noted the wiring needed to be replaced but I had hopes of using her as a hand crank model. First a cleaning and here's what I found:

Box base with moldy yuck.

No wonder there was a musty smell! What is that? There were pieces of it in the needle bar area, too but I got it all out. A wipe down with Lily White Sewing Machine Oil (no need to waste the good stuff on mere cleaning) helped with the musty odor, too, but it was going to take some airing out to get her sweet smelling again.

Let's take a look at the wiring. The cord coming out of the motor, not original since this one has a spoked hand wheel so was probably a treadle originally, was quite good and the light cord was also good. Then I took a look at the motor block, the part screwed into the carrying case base that have outlets for the light and motor as well as cords to the foot control and the wall outlet. One end was badly frayed as it connected to the outlet screwed into the box base. Taking a look at the foot control shows it also had a bit of surgery so I removed it and found a decent substitute. This all looked much safer so I plugged it in and turned on the light: we had a glow! It needed a new belt and I had to laugh as I saw the one it was sporting was a common blue rubberband. It seemed to work so I might have to keep that in mind some time. Clean, safe, and ready to sew with a new needle....and she sounded terrible. I checked the feed dogs and cleaned out a layer of packed down lint and still she sounded too loud. I poked around in the bobbin area, added a bit more oil, and found another glob of lint but I couldn't pull it up and it simply fell through. I started her up again and now she sounded happy, or at least the beginning of happy.

How about those stitches? Not so hot either and she's from 1906 so does not have numbers on the tension dial. This takes much experimentation before the thread stops breaking and now I think the bobbin is a big part of the problem. I pull on the bobbin thread and notice it pulls out in jerks, not smoothly, so I take a look at how it is wound: very unevenly! I rewind the thread onto an empty bobbin so it is a decently wound bobbin but now it's way too tight as I pull on the thread inserted into the drop-in bobbin case. I reverse the way I have inserted it (you don't expect me to remember which direction it is supposed to go, do you?) and it seems even worse.It takes quite a bit of turning to get the bobbin tension screw to loosen up but I finally get it at a setting so the upper thread tension also works well. We have a stitch! A decent stitch! It is now sounding quiet, cleaned up, and stitching well so I can call it a day.

1906 Singer 66 all spiffed up

What about making it into a hand cranked sewing machine? Much to my disappointment, when I check to see how to attach the hand crank I see there is no motor boss, that threaded hole under the hand wheel where either a bracket for a motor or hand crank can be screwed into.

There is a hole but not for a screw to hold a motor or hand crank!

 Oh, that's right, this machine dates to 1906, before motorized sewing machines so there was no provision for a motor. This is a disappointment but it does work well and the case is pretty decent so there are many positives to outweigh this one negative. It's a back clamp foot style and I have more than one set of attachments and that is nice, too.  I hope to find a good home for her, even if she is around 110 years old. When you pass 80 years old you get to tell everyone how old you are and even get to brag about it. I'm bragging for this lovely Singer 66 with the lotus decals. Sew on!