Tale of Two Morse

In a previous post about identical Morse 6100, I related how nice a stitch this Morse had and how I found all of the accessories at a different location. It was time to sell the Morse 6100 because, after all, I did have two. I decided it would be best to sell the less complete one that was in a donor case, not as nice as the case with an extension table, plus it was missing the cover for one dial. Photos were taken, description written, posting to local Craigslist completed and then I waited. A couple weeks go by so I repost and there is more waiting. A call finally comes on Sunday night asking if it was still available so we set up a time for the pick-up. As it turns out, this is a gift for a woman who has given to so many, loves to sew, and her friend wanted her to have a nicer sewing machine. The Morse was a good choice!

Here's the one that was listed and sold first:

Morse 6100 in plain case without lettering on left dial

Cute case but not custom

Cams and special stitches

A few hours later, as I was just checking my phone before going to bed, I get an email: is the Morse still available? That would be yes and no: the one in the ad was spoken for but I did have another one that was much nicer but the cost would have to go up. Luckily, that was not going to be a problem since she really wanted to get back into sewing and this looked like the machine she wanted. Both buyers were expected for Monday night and I just marveled that these sister sewing machines, coming from different communities and in different states of repair were going to be sold on the same night!

Here's the differences:

Case is custom made for this model

Blue top comes off to reveal:

...storage for accessories and cams

Left: stitch selector dial is original and intact

Morse 6100 complete

This not only is an excellent sewing machine but with this carrying case it has storage and an extension table for a larger work surface. What's not to like about that? As it turned out, Monday night wasn't going to work out for both (but it makes such a good story!) so two days later my final customer comes with a friend to try the Morse out and she doesn't disappoint. I really love this vintage sewing machine as she makes a nice set of stitches, will sew heavy fabric with a heavier needle (size 16 or 18), and will even hem your jeans with a little practice.

So that's the tale of the two Morse sisters: they sat on the shelf together for many months and, apparently, one was not going to be left behind.  I think they will be happy in their new homes.

Ingenuity

This has been a long and hard weekend with a lot of driving and then getting ready for a coming snowstorm. I was not looking forward to a 2 1/2-3 hour drive on Saturday for a funeral so I consoled myself by looking on Craigslist to see if there might be a sewing machine along the way. As luck would have it, I made contact with someone to look at a Bernette 330 on my way home. I phoned when I was back on the road and she suggested we meet at a fast food parking lot: that meant I wasn't going to be able to plug it in and test drive it but it was too late by then. We met and when I looked at it from the back of her car the hand wheel didn't turn. The presser foot didn't lift up either. It appeared to have the "varnish" syndrome. I asked if she would take less for it and she agreed so Bernette came home with me.

Bernette 330 (after cleaning)

She did seem to be all stuck up with something that oozed down from the following parts:

Red arrows are points on the needle bar where it enters fittings. At these points there were rings of sticky stuff that I dissolved with alcohol, dried with the hair blower, then oiled with Triflow. How does this happen? Does anyone actually paint varnish on the moving parts? Of course not but some oils will do this or products you are not supposed to use, like WD40 (that's a whole other conversation). After much work and application of heat from the hair blower it started to loosen up and stay loose. I tried to sew a bit, more heat, more oil, and it was okay except the zigzag width wasn't too wide. The green arrow in the photo above shows where the needle bar moves left to right for a zig and zag and it was pretty gummed up, too. After a couple hours of this kind of work I called it a night for sewing machine repair and decided I could try a bit of sewing to get caught up on craft show items.

After the last craft show it was decided I should make more of the hot mitts with coordinating towels. I checked towels, hot mitts, and fabric to see what I could match up and one towel that would go so nicely with 2 hot mitts was missing the fabric I would normally use on the towel. How could I put them together without anything to tie them together? How about the bias trim fabric and coordinating stitches? Here's what I came up with:

Aren't those stitches great with the native American symbols? The sewing machine that I used was a vintage Morse:

Morse 6100

and her fancy stitch cams

The cams made those stitches like it was nothing, kind of boring just centering the fabric and watching the stitches. Very cool though. And that new-to-me Bernette? Here's a closeup of her stitch selection:

Bernette 330 stitch selection: typical

Not bad but nothing like that old Morse. So where does the title ingenuity come into play? I think having the right machine for those fancy stitches was a bit ingenious and using heat, alcohol, and oil to unstick the Bernette is a bit ingenious, too. Sometimes it's just a good feeling we get from bringing new life to something that was rejected, a bit of style added to make my little corner of the world a bit brighter even for a moment.

Necchi in Black

In an effort to get the cabinets out of the garage, I finished another cabinet thinking I had a very specific sewing machine for it. Not so! Here's the Stratavario cabinet, before and after:

Now it's in good shape!

Before: woe is me!

This was too nice to let go so I stripped off the old finish and it sat for some time until I finally got it stained and polyurethaned this week. Didn't it turn out nice? There is a little tray inside the front door for supplies but it has nice lines and solid wood with a small footprint. Perfect for the Necchi BU in black so I pull it out and this is what I find on the back side of it:

Motor off of the Necchi BU

See the cracked wire? Even at the plug end the wire is split, somewhat of a crummy job. I admit, sometimes I haven't done the best of jobs as I've been learning but this one needs new wiring. I opened the motor up and see that it's quite good inside so I cut off that old wire outside of the casing and splice in a new wire and reattach the plug, making sure the wires are not split. As I look at the sewing machine laying down I see I must not have finished the cleaning job because she's a mess back there:

Back of hand wheel on Necchi BU

Many cotton balls later, she gets cleaned and polished with Tri3 Resin Glaze, a car product that works wonders. Here she is all ready to put in the cabinet:

Necchi BU back with new wire

She's beautiful in black!

Her finish is not the best, showing wear along the front and on the bed but she runs fine, if a little noisy. I can't figure out what is causing the slight thunk thunk but I'll keep trying to figure it out. When I go to put her in the refinished cabinet the pins/pegs on the cabinet don't fit! They are too fat, the lament of many of us when we try on something new. So which sewing machine is supposed to go in this standard opening cabinet? I try many of them and can't figure it out so end up with a Morse

that doesn't need this type of cabinet but it does fit and this is a great sewing machine. I might keep searching for the one I think should go in there but in the meantime the Morse can enjoy a bit of class for awhile.

Cabinets in the garage count: only 2! Stay tuned!

Lost and Found

It's always fun to find a good sewing machine tucked away on a shelf, looking a bit neglected (with a low price tag!). That's the story behind the Morse 6100, a terrific sewing machine that has gotten very little press. Here's the one I found at Goodwill last week:

Morse 6100

I recognized this machine immediately because I already had one that came in perfect condition, carrying case, box of accessories, and box of 21 cams for decorative stitches. No so with this one that only came with it's power cord and foot control. Actually, you could tell it came straight from a cabinet because the foot control had an added lever for knee control and the bottom wasn't there because it had been mounted inside a cabinet. I have a few others with missing bottom plates and it's a bit annoying because you really can't  just set them on the carpeting with the carbon contacts exposed. You need another control or to put the whole works into a cabinet. No problem, I have many cabinets! It was also missing the front plates on two of the dials but that's okay, too, because I have another machine to compare it to. She came home with me and sat on the floor while I took care of another situation (maybe it was Bernina day when I was given a 730?).

I finally get back to the Morse and give her a nice cleaning, quite a bit of oil, and grease on one gear. She starts to run pretty nice, a bit loud still, but she sews a very nice stitch. I get out the other Morse 6100 and try out some of the cams in this machine and she works great. How do I get just the right cams for this model when there is nothing written up about her? No trace on ebay? I try a search with just the terms "sewing machine cams" and it produces a huge number of listings but I'm patient and find the same ones! Exactly the same box, I compare to my other set: perfect match. But they are $30, way too much to complete this sewing machine. I ask the seller if they will take $20 but no reply so now I've insulted them. Sigh.

Stopping by a different Goodwill this week (yes, I visit 3 on a regular basis) I walk through the aisles and spot a cam box and accessory box taped together. I can't believe it. My heart starts to race. I open it up and yes, yes, yes it's the Morse 6100 cams!  No price sticker but there is quite a bit of tape wrapped around them. Oh yea, they were supposed to be with my machine but somehow got separated. They price them for me at $5 and I'm a very happy camper, practically singing my way out the door. Here's a few photos of what the Morse 6100 can do:

Cam case and accessory box

21 cams for special stitches

First attempts with a cleaned up Morse 6100

Now the lost has been found, put to the test, and measured for a cabinet. So many to choose from, which one will it be? I found one in the back of the garage that we kept all winter because it was just to nice to give away. It would fit in that one, a nice desk model and don't all those cams and accessories just beacon for a desk? Let's try it out:

Mores 6100 in desk cabinet

Not bad, huh?