Treadle Madness

I get these crazy calls from people wanting to know if I would like/take their family treadle sewing machine. The answer is usually "NO" but I made an exception when friends from church said after their move into a house they couldn't fit this item in. Since they would deliver it I figured I could find a way to sell it for them. They want the proceeds to go back to our church but that also means I'm willing to donate my time: I'm up to 3 hours already and it is not done yet. But I'm having fun so here's what it did and does look like:

Treadle base before cleaning, missing drawer knob.

Singer 66 Red Eye before cleaning

Singer 66 Red Eye before cleaning, obviously!

These photos don't give it justice but take it from me, it had been stored in a garage for many years. As I started to clean with Go-Jo, a new method I saw demonstrated at the TOGA ten days ago, it was in good shape with decals somewhat intact, no pin rash from a rag tied around the arm, nothing broken and all parts represented. Even though I have way too much to do, including mowing the lawn, I just can't resist looking at it and seeing how much work is ahead of me.

Metal parts with rust

Before the day is over I have used Howard's Restore-a-Finish on the top exposed parts of the wood. It doesn't get much better but I know it is not worth stripping down. After it dries I go ahead and use Howard's Feed & Wax over all of the wood parts and it does start to glow a bit. Inside of the head I can see there are some very dirty and possibly some rust on parts so I go ahead and clean up with sewing machine oil and give it a nice oiling. Things move but not too enthusiastically so more parts come off to find the bobbin case like this:

How many years of compacted lint?

Even with a big clean-up job it still wasn't moving too fast and I know these machines should move with a touch of your finger. I get out the spray can of TriFlow and give the underneath parts and behind the round plate on the backside of the head a spray and leave it overnight. In the morning it was moving much smoother so I attached the original belt (just needed a new hole cut for the cleat) and she moved like the wind.

Now I'm down to the metal parts and the bobbin winder. That bobbin winder looked good from the front but I know it's a mess deep inside so I need to give it some serious time with cotton swabs, sewing machine oil, and metal polish. It's really looking good:

Cleaned up bobbin winder and replaced Singer nameplate

It was missing the Singer nameplate but I had an extra that I glued into place. Sorry that isn't too authentic but it worked! More cleaning, buffing, and just keeping at it comes down to this:

Singer 66 Red Eye ready to go back in her treadle stand

Singer 66 Red Eye backside (replaced plate with a different one)

Much better

And now for the stitching: things weren't going too well. Taking the whole tension mechanism apart showed it had been put together wrong and there were missing parts. Digging in my jungle of parts I found what I needed and with some tweaking of the bobbin tension it now sews like this:

Singer 66 Red Eye after adjusting tensions

A nice clean bobbin area didn't hurt so compare to the photo above to see how it is now glowing:

Clean, clean, clean bobbin case

And how did the cabinet turn out? Meah. It's not horrible because there are no chips in the veneer but it's not great either:

Classic 5 drawer cabinet for a Singer treadle

Since these are a dime a dozen I'm trying to talk myself out of stripping down the top for a really nice finish. I hope I can resist! It does work well as it is and is fine when set up, just not much of a display piece. That's where the stripping of the old finish comes in. Let's see how long I can hold out but it will also depend on the weather since we had our first hard frost last night. Days to work out in the garage are numbered and I have 2 more projects to finish up first besides the craft fair items that still are not ready! It will get done, it will get done, all in due time.

Vinyl Sewing

I've been up to my eyeballs with cabinet sewing machines and trying to get them sold but what am I doing to see that it gets done? I'm sewing, of course! Nothing like avoiding the task at hand, I've taken a little bit of time to get some small tasks done, like make a new lunch bag. Okay, it all started when I got an email with new ideas for making small items that I thought would be nice dollar sales at the craft fairs. As a credit card holder, they suggested using leather or vinyl, anything that would not fray. I dug out my stash of vinyl and leather and found my pattern for a lunch bag made a few years ago. I made up a few of the card holders:

Card holders in vinyl: cute, huh?

and then took a look at the lunch bag pattern. Hummm... I think it would look cute with denim and lined with a checked laminated cloth for easy wiping off:

Lunch bag with top rolled down to show inside.

Lunch bag with flap over the front

I like a lunch bag with a nice squared bottom, large flap to cover the top even when it might be bulging, and a single sturdy handle. I made two the last time and only one has survived but it was time for a refresh. Since it was only laminated cloth, not a true vinyl, it was easy to sew up on my Viking Designer 1, but not so with a true vinyl. Here's some I cut out for the card holders:

Cut and matched pockets ready to sew

There is a larger inner pocket that is sewn up on three sides and then the outer pocked folds over it and is also stitched on both open sides and across the bottom just like the inner pocket. Problem was when my Designer 1 would not stitch the 2 thin layers of vinyl and kept catching the top edges under. Before I wrecked any more I took them to a Brother Super Select-O-Matic where they were stitched with ease. That's where I'll be stitching the remaining pockets I cut out. I did try a rolled hem on a serger but it also didn't like to feed the vinyl so I was back to the regular mechanical sewing machine.

There's a machine for each job and it's not often one machine can do everything. I think I'm kinda glad about that!

River Rats TOGA Third Edition

We had a good weekend with the treadle aficionados in Lake City, MN, despite the heat and community celebrations. Coming from the Twin Cites to the southwest area of Minnesota, there were all kinds of motorcycle conventions and corn fests along the way to keep me focused on the road and get there on time. As per last year, I only attended on Saturday but it was great fun learning how to clean metal parts, heads with decals, how to identify feed sack prints, solving tension troubles, and the ever famous raffle late in the afternoon. I managed to bring three sewing machines and not take a single one home again. Oh wait, I did bring two in for repair consultation that did come home with me but that was the plan.

The Davis vertical feed came to me completely frozen up so the first thing was to get things moving again. With very patient cleaning and oiling it finally broke through and had complete movement. I continued to clean and put parts back where they belonged until I decided to thread it up and stitch. There was a part missing, just the first thread guide, but it looked odd. Since I have another Davis I looked at it only to find there was a small disk, just like the ones found in a tension mechanism held in place with a screw and spring. The bag of parts that came with this machine did have a small screw with spring but no disk. There was no solution at the TOGA and no additional parts but when I got home I looked in my boxes of parts and think I found one that would work:

Davis with top thread guide added

Next up was the little Ruby sewing machine head. She was a freebee given to me by a neighbor who is also a co-worker. It started with not knowing how to thread it, then finding a needle, so Cathy and Bill both worked on it with me:

Cathy and Bill debate how the tensioner should be functioning

There was something wrong with the top tension mechanism so it was taken apart and put back in the correct order.

Ruby with repaired tensioner

Cathy knew how to thread it but it would take a much longer needle. She showed me a neat little trick in lowering the needle to the right length and how to make a small guide to use each time the needle needed to be replaced:

Needle positioner

Once we had it all threaded up it kept jumping out of the take up lever so it was decided it needed some surgery. Cathy made up a new ring to replace the broken part using jewelry wire and her handy tools for making jump rings:

Ruby has some surgery

New ring in place

With only a small amount of tweaking it did stitch. The shuttle bobbin was adjusted until the stitch was perfect, at least for black bobbin thread, always a no-no when testing out stitch tension:

Ruby Stitches!

Now I need a table to put little Ruby in and I think that's going to be very hard to find. It's a standard small treadle opening but the back pins are spaced wider than usual. It did come with the wood top and tray so I can hope to replace the top of a standard treadle with this topper. Maybe?

I did go to Cindy's storage shed and came back with a cool machine but that's going to be another post since it is waiting for a belt: to be continued!

Margie's New Home

So many of the sewing machines I come upon have a long history that I will never know but my find today is an exception. Marge and I go to church together but actually met in the grocery store parking lot. I was walking from my car when I heard "Hey, hey! Don't you go to my church in Fridley?" and I turned to find an older woman half in and half out of her car. Sure enough, it was Marge and we talked long enough to figure out we only lived a mile apart. One event lead to another and I started picking her up on Sunday morning so we both would have someone to ride and sit with. Over the past decade she has become a widow, I got married, we met each other's families and have shared our personal histories along with countless rides to church together. Turning 80 in August was the tipping point for Marge as she ended up in the hospital and is now moving to an assisted living facility.Sweet as always, she wanted me to have her sewing machine so I went to pick it up last weekend:

New Home 560 in cabinet after cleaning

Not only was it a very nice New Home model 560, it came fully equipped with a full set of cams for decorative stitches, original accessories in their tin box, and a paper manual to teach you how to use this machine. Score! The cabinet turned out to be a four drawer model and was in decent shape, too. I brought it all home and got to work, cleaning, oiling, and tuning up. It hadn't seen oil in decades and the pristine oil can testified to the lack of oil supply but that is easy to remedy. There are no nicks or dings on the machine and it runs terrific. Although it is all metal and very heavy, the desk it comes in supports it and makes for a very nice sewing station. The top surface had scratches but no water stains or anything that would require serious refinishing. Out comes Howard's Restore-A-Finish in Maple/Pine for a great restoration:

Cabinet after restoration

This was a perfect application of this kind of product. It is a combination of chemicals that will soften the surface finish and you simple move it around to fill in scratches and weaker spots. After it dries you can give it a coat of wax to preserve the finish and it is ready for new life. Here's a sample of the stitches with cams:

New Home 560 sample stitches

I can't wait to see who gets this lovely sewing machine in a great cabinet/desk for a new life with a New Home. Marge would be proud.

New Home 560

This weekend is the River Rats TOGA, an event I have gone to the past two years and where I met Sally, a very creative quilter and seller of vintage sewing machines, too. It's always a fun time with demonstrations for treadle and hand cranked sewing machines, items to show, some to sell or buy, and the fabulous raffle that raises money to put all of this together. I have several sewing machines to donate to the raffle, some fabric, and I'm still looking for other items of interest. My first year I stayed with Sally in her motor home and we even got my husband to join us. Little did we know that was going to bring our husbands together for fishing and hunting trips over the next two years. They are now moving to a warmer and more hospitable climate in their retirement but we are having one last hurrah on Saturday with just the women. I'll let you know about my great finds when I get back: I always have high hopes!

Super Select-O-Matic Twins

I have written ad nauseam about the Brother Select-O-Matics (just keep clicking if you are bored with me) but I have now come across two Super Select-O-Matics. As you can guess, they are super, too. What makes them super? My hunch is when they made the newer models they had to call them something so they add words or numbers onto them to indicate new features. The Supers' are a bit more intuitive, but not much, and I think they still need a manual A scanned copy was found as well as a nice article about this model (even the same color scheme) in The herd is growing again! by Stitchified. Once you have used the first iteration of the Select-O-Matics, the newer ones do not seem to be a great improvement and I think I like the looks of the original one better anyway. But like all things, the newer models are usually bigger and with more features:

Cream and blue Super Select-O-Matic

Okay, just a bit bigger but the functions are exactly the same. They still have the fun two tone look of an older car, in cream and blue or pink and teal. They are so smooth, quiet, and  understated. Everyone should have a sewing machine this nice.

Stitch selection: I got crazy with thread while making this one up!

My first one was given to me and I kept it quite awhile. It was pretty beaten up but that was part of its charm, a history I could only imagine! It also came with about fifty bobbins, most with a dot of pink on the outside: nail polish? Someone wanted to keep theirs identified from all of the rest, I guess.  It lived in a portable case, not a great idea for a machine this heavy, so when I found another one in pristine condition, I found a way to add another cabinet into my sewing room. The first one now lives in South Dakota, I'm proud to say, as I wrote about in  Letting Go. Hope Linda continues to enjoy sewing on that little girl.

So now I have several of this model, some in two-tone pink and teal, some in aqua, some are Super and one has no model number at all. Portable, in tables or cabinets, they are all a sweet sewing experience and I'm all about the experience! The cream and blue model came in a table that I was ready to get rid of  but once I got it home and looked at it carefully I could see it was decent and maybe could be fixed up a bit. I got out the electric sander and went to work on it, taking it down to the wood surface on the open top, closed top, drawer fronts, and the rest of the front.

Table sanded

I could leave the sides and back so only had to use Howards Restore-a-Finish on those parts. I stained it with walnut and then red mahogany with a final 2 coats of water based polyurethane in satin and semigloss. I'm pleased with the way it turned out:

Nice edition of the mid-century modern look

Rather than returning the same Brother Super Select-O-Matic, I think I'm going to put the teal and pink model in this table. It seems to make a better statement? Well, I'm going to have to see if the cords all fit first. I'm also working on getting the right belt and working out the vibration and extra noise.

Super Select-O-Matic in pink and teal

Sorry for the long delay between posts but I've been sewing up a storm with the deadline coming for the three craft shows I've signed up for. So far I have about 80 new hot mitts with about 40 left to sew but they are all cut and sandwiched, stacked and ready for the industrial. Yesterday I took them out to the garage and sewed on the Singer 78, a great walking foot model. It was nice for a change and it seemed the process went faster than the Reliable Barracuda but I just can't keep something that large in my house and the Singer 78 has to leave the garage this year. Sigh.If only I lived in a warmer climate? No, this is keeping me from hording and someone else will love this industrial. Could it be you?

Singer 78 industrial walking foot