The Purge

With Christmas right around the corner, I'm as busy as the next person but I also know this is the season people start to think about staying home and getting some things done. New Years resolutions can bring out the crafty in us as we think about new hobbies, finishing up the pile of mending, or just upgrading our current equipment. Used sewing machines to the rescue! This is about the busiest sales time for me so I need to be ready.

Ellie, my gateway to a sewing ministry in Haiti, made the mistake of showing me the next shipping container and I couldn't help but note some empty space. She said she could fill it with portable sewing machines if I had any that would work and still be cheap. Be still my beating heart: I found at least eight she could possibly use. While I was getting them ready I heard from Darlene who was going to be in the Twin Cities for Christmas and was looking for sewing machines for granddaughters. She liked the Husqvarna Scandinavia:

Husqvarna Viking Scandinavia 100

and was looking for others of the same ilk. If she liked a Viking she might like the Emerald 118, a good basic machine with a few more bells and whistles:

Husqvarna Viking Emerald 118

I couldn't help but think of another good beginner sewing machine, a Riccar 9900:

Riccar 9900

All three had a nice variety of stitches with stretch included and buttonholes of various sizes. The Riccar was probably twenty years older than the 2004-5 dates of the Vikings but included more stitches and two storage compartments. Darlene came over soon after she landed and looked all three over. She was charmed by the Riccar, too, and said it would be perfect for one granddaughter but had a much harder decision with the remaining two Vikings. They each had their pros and cons and even though I liked the Emerald 118 much better, in the end she went home with the Scandinavia. One machine was staying in Minnesota but the other one was flying home with her to Washington state. That's one nice grandma!

Of the eight machines possibly destined to Haiti, Ellie chose to take all of them. I was so excited and didn't want to have to haul any of them back into the basement to find a new spot for them. It included three Singer 237's, a Singer 66 with lotus decals, another Singer 15 clone called Helvetica (stamped Made in Switzerland), Necchi Alco, Singer 177C, and a Morse 400.  All were in cases except for two of the 237's, some were zigzag, some only straight stitch, all with regular needles and only one that took class 66 bobbins. They like to keep it simple and I agree they shouldn't have to keep s supply of different needles and bobbins for a wide variety of sewing machines. Ellie and her friend Karen were happy with the haul and I just hope they find room for a few more: I left the Kenmore's behind but I could be talked into it!

Lined up and ready to get shipped out

While I was searching for parts, I found a Singer 15-91 that was a good stitcher with a new set of cords and foot control but not a beauty:

Singer 15-91: yes, the finish is that dull

Her decals are pretty well worn away and her clear coat has been cracked and shows significant wear. Have no fear, someone will be happy to have such a good machine even if she is not very pretty. There is a sewing machine for everyone who wants to sew and I hope there are a few you might share your stories with us. Beautiful or ugly? They are not going to win in a beauty pageant, just winning the talent contest.

Overloaded

You know how I love a bargain and I especially love FREE so you can imagine how excited I was to be invited to take a look at a bunch of free sewing machines. Actually, I was dragging my heels a bit because I'm still cleaning out the garage in an effort to get my car in before the first snow. Three cabinets were donated on Monday night so I wasn't as excited as I might be to go looking on Tuesday but Ellie asked me to go and I can hardly say no to her. I picked her up and in five minutes we were at Judy's house, snaking our way into her basement to peruse her leftovers.

Judy was part of a project to send sewing machines to Uganda so when the shipping container was full of the best machines there were some that didn't make the cut. Ellie asked me to come and help her select those appropriate for Haiti since I've been a part of her project for several years. Anything I wanted I could also have since Judy was at the end of her project and was looking to get her car back in the garage, too. I wasn't prepared for what I saw: a storage room that was covered with sewing machines, probably forty in all. There were labels/notes about the problems and I recognized many by their cases so we could say an immediate no to some modern Singers, vintage Touch and Sew models, and problematic Elna's.. But what was left...

The Haul.

filled the back of my vehicle. Bernina, Kenmore, Riccar, Singer, Viking, I was a little breathless! Then we made our way to the garage. Lining both sides were treadles, cabinets, and heads in boxes. We looked, pulled them out, and labeled. We decided it was time to organize so we put the keepers all to one side and those she was going to dispose of on the other side. There were two treadles with vibrating shuttles that were not going to Haiti since in Haiti they need standard needles and bobbins.  Ellie took photos and posted them as free on Facebook Marketplace and they were going to be picked up within the next hour! As we moved cabinets we continued to find even more and then I found it, that one I'm always looking for. It was a New Home treadle in a small enclosed cabinet, all in good shape. Perfect!

New Home treadle cabinet

By now we were trying to figure out how to get the cabinet models to Ellie's and she immediately came up with a plan: On Sunday she would come back to Judy's with a larger SUV/truck and bring muscle. They would come over to my house and drop off the one cabinet I wanted and two Singer's with potted motors and at the same time pick up the machines that I had looked over and gave my seal of approval for sending to Haiti. I spend most of Saturday getting Ellie's machines ready and in the end she gave two back to me. On Sunday night she brought three boxes of machines and parts and the beloved New Home treadle. Here's how my garage floor looks:

There's a floor under those sewing machines!

But I'll keep working my way through the pile, finding the treasures and discarding broken parts. I don't have the time to really take care of the New Home treadle but I did open it up:

New Home vibrating shuttle

and brought the accessories inside. Wow, there was a treasure trove of long bobbins, round bobbins, accessory sets, and even an original manual:

Accessories with the New Home treadle

All was sorted and put back into boxes to go with the New Home treadle or into the assortment of extra feet or bobbins. There was a nice set of needles for the treadle, too, something I probably didn't own and now will be able to test out this machine. But first we are going to get that car back in the garage ASAP since snow is coming this week.

An exciting time with Ellie, but isn't it always?, and I'm sure I ended up ahead in this transaction. She is sure she's getting more than her money's worth. We are both lovin' it, getting machines ready and sewing up a storm!

Haiti Update

I've written in the past about Ellie's project in Haiti and her recent trip found her taking a serger for their use. Although she was thinking about buying two, she held back because sergers are just a bit tricky. What if it was more than they could reasonably handle? What if parts were broken? It would only run with electricity so that would limit use and maybe that would be a bad thing or maybe not.

While she was gone I received a few emergency texts like "what size bobbin does the Kenmore use?" and "are there special needles for the serger?" and I liked keeping in touch while Ellie and her friend Karen (yes, another Karen) were teaching and learning.  I even got the following photo:

Sewing on the Necchi Leila in Haiti: she traveled far!

Although the Necchi sewing machine arrived in a previous shipment, I usually don't get to see them being used. That goes for all the sewing machines and sergers I sell: no one sends me "selfies" of themselves sitting at their sewing machine! It is also fair to say I do not have a single photo of myself sitting behind a sewing machine either so what does that say about where we spend so much of our time?

Time has marched on and now Ellie brings back a few more of her gifts for me to assess, restore, and give back for her to ship out. Today's story is about a White 208 serger. I sent Ellie a text pointing out a serger that was at a location closer to her than me so she got over there pronto. It turned out to be a pawn shop and they were willing to deal since the foot was missing. Foot? I translated that as "foot control" and figured I might have an extra that fit. Imagine my surprise when she brings over a very nice White serger

White 208 serger (and it really is white!)

with a foot control, along with a Singer 66 Red Eye head and a Singer 15-90 clone in a case with broken hinges. The White serger had a foot control. It did not have a presser foot. Ahhhh, that might not be as easy to replace. As it turned out, I have several models that use the same presser foot so I could test it out, clean and restore before I got a new foot in the mail: a presser foot, that is. A new one was ordered and Ellie was anxious to pick it up since the next shipment was leaving in only another week. You can imagine my disappointment when the foot arrived and it had the letter R stamped on it. To me, a serger foot with an R means Rolled Hem Foot. Sure enough, it was only for a single needle in the right position for making that narrow rolled hem. This would not work as a general purpose foot and my searching online showed only the bigger (and more expensive) dealers had the foot I needed for around $35.

Left: rolled hem, Center: regular, Right: broken finger

Ellie could have one from one of my sergers and I could wait for the price to drop, or an Ebay seller to offer one at a lower price, but eventually I was going to need one if I wanted to sell one of my White sergers. I hate when this happens! I notified the seller and they admitted it was mis-labeled and I could send it back but they didn't have the right one either. Since I have several that used this same presser foot, I decided to keep it as an extra feature ("rolled hem foot included") since I would lose money sending it back. That is the rub sometimes.

As I was taking photos I noticed that, side by side, the regular feet didn't match: one was wider but that wasn't an issue. Take a closer look at the tiny finger-like protrusions where the needles land: the outer edge finger is broken off a bit. Well, that means I'll be looking to buy two of those feet when I get a good price.

Here are the rest of her machines as they are still waiting my attention:

Singer 66 Red Eye (with motor)

Singer 15 (disguised as a State)

Aren't those nice decals? Both need electrical work and the State needs carpentry skills on the case base, but if I don't have a deadline they will get done before they need to get shipped. Now, since I mentioned that I didn't have any photos of myself sewing, I close with a photo of me (thanks, Jim) at my new-to-me Viking #1, a peach of a machine:

New Friends

Saturday was a busy sewing machine day with an invitation to talk at a quilt group meeting about vintage sewing machines. What fun! My favorite topic! It took me some time to figure out what I wanted to say and then to pick the sewing machines to illustrate my points. Here's what the table looked like:

How many can you name?

I talked about metal versus plastic, gears and belts, decals and chrome, longevity and self maintained sewing machines. Of course, I had business cards and fliers about my sewing machine garage sale so it was a bit self-serving but I think we all had fun. Everyone came up afterwards to ask questions about the models, lost foot controls, and would I hold models until the sale. I went around the room to talk with some of the women and found this lovely lady with her vintage sewing machine:

"Can you fix the bobbin winder?"

She confessed the bobbin winder wouldn't work anymore so I asked if I could look inside the front cover. Inside? She never had the cover off before, never serviced, never oiled. Here's what we found:

Bobbin winder tire: flat spot!

There was a flat spot on the bobbin winder tire, probably because it got stuck in one place due to a lack of oil over the years. As it tried to wind, it just got worn down in one place to produce that flat spot. I grabbed one off of my Brother Select-o-Matic and it was a great fit. Voila! It was working again. I forgot my sewing machine oil at home so I showed her where she could oil it herself. One very happy lady at the end of the day (me, too).

It was a great time talking about these vintage sewing machines and everyone seemed more than just polite but interested in what they might use another sewing machine for. The bottom line: every single sewing machine produced an excellent stitch. Of course. I hope to see several of these wonderful quilting women at the garage sale.

After leaving the quilting group, I spent the afternoon with Ellie on her Haiti project. Here's what I found in her garage:

Garage for Haiti?

There were at least six treadle sewing machines (2 White, one Franklin, and the rest Singers), a Singer 457, and a Kenmore 158-16?? (I'm not sure about the exact number anymore). The Kenmore got a good looking over with clean-up, oiling, and adjustment while the treadles were just checked to see if they were good candidates to send. Yup! All were in good working order and just needed cleaning and a new belt. Accessories in the drawers didn't always match the machine but we sorted them all out, matching up the right bobbins and feet for each one. In only a few hours time my work was done although I left behind all of that packing. There are several vehicles in the driveway that will hold all of this and they should be shipped in the next few weeks and received in November. Wow, this is quite a project. Somehow it made me feel better about the sewing machines in my garage but I'm afraid mine are not going to get shipped anywhere.

If you live in the Twin Cities please plan on coming to the extravaganza Sewing Machine Garage Sale on September 26!

Grandma's Lotus

The Franklin treadle is all finished and Ellen came to pick it up so it could go with the current shipment of sewing machines to Haiti. It turned out quite nice, not in terrific cosmetic shape but the cabinet was nicely restored and everything is in working order. I took the treadle mechanism apart and had trouble getting it adjusted without a high pitched whine, but we both new it would have to be disassembled before shipping and would need to have it all adjust again upon arrival. So the big bulky treadle moved out of the garage...to have another move in. No! I convinced Ellen I only needed the head of the sewing machine since the cabinet was in poor shape and she didn't want me to put any work into it. Why have it at all in my garage? It was a Singer 66 with Lotus, sometimes called Egyptian Green, decals and I could put it into my cabinet that holds a Singer 66 Red Eye if I really needed to test it.

Here she is after removing the pin rag around the throat:

Singer 66 with Lotus decals before cleaning

The chrome pieces had rust spots and the clear coat was missing for the most part, exposing the decals to further wear. But there is a story with this one and why we are spending any time with it. Moving parts were removed for cleaning in an ultrasonic cleaner, other parts are soaked in Evaporust, and I start in on cleaning the body just so I don't have to keep touching the dirty stuff. Notice the bobbin winder? It's an earlier style, more like a vibrating shuttle style with the long bobbins but it's for regular round bobbins. It went into the ultrasonic cleaner and did a real number on the decals but it was just caked with grime. There were even a few scraps of leaves up inside of the pillar so I suspect it had been sitting out in a garage for some period of time. Metal polish was put on those metal parts and they really did come clean and mostly free of the pin sized rust spots. All put back together, I threaded it up for stitching and here's what happened the first few stitches:

Top stitches on Singer 66

Small tension adjustment and they are perfect! Looks like I won't have to put it in a treadle but just run it with my finger in the spokes of the handwheel. Yes, I'm careful! And for the final clean-up photo:

Singer 66 all cleaned up

Okay, so it's not startling but it is better. It just goes to show how great these old Singers really are: this one dates to 1902. Might I look so good at 113. Now to the back story of why I had to do this machine. Ellen depends on donations for her work in Haiti and people drop sewing machines off at her house on a somewhat regular basis. Someone heard about what she does and asked if she would use her grandmother's treadle in Haiti. The cabinet was almost gone but the head is what you see above. It would be a wonderful tribute to her grandmother so Ellen is going to send it down and have a photo taken of it being used. I'm sure this will delight the donor and honor her grandmother. I'm proud to be a part of this mission, too.