Cabinets and Miniatures

 It's that time of year again where I need to clear out the cabinets from the garage so we can get both cars in before it snows. When I peek into the garage I see two cabinets with sewing machines that are listed and ready for a new home, one refinished but empty cabinet, two cabinets in the process of being refinished, one waiting to get listed, and an industrial I just don't know what to do with.

State of the garage

Up front is the cabinet with a Singer 201-2. It's one of my favorite cabinets, a cabinet no. 2 of the treadle variety but not treadle, electric.

Singer 201-2 in refinished table

It came all apart so I could strip and refinish every last piece. The straight legs even needed to be painted, something I haven't had to do with this model of table so I went to Ace Hardware for a sample size of brown paint, about the cheapest way to get a mixed color in a small batch. It wasn't quite right so I went back and had it darkened. Turned out to be a great color that I might have to use again. All those pieces were like a puzzle but after doing several parts three times it finally works. Isn't she a beauty? And the sewing machine works well, too.

I couldn't resist a free Singer 401 and I thought the cabinet was going to be okay. Once it came into the garage I realized there was just too much flaking varnish so the whole things got stripped and refinished:

Singer 401 will go back in this table

This model had no real marks on it, just the flaking varnish so there was exposed wood that had turned darker. It's going to look spectacular when it's done (even the fake drawer pulls polished up nicely). With the nice weather we are enjoying I hope to get all of these done and listed for sale by Saturday.

Now we can get to the one I'm going to keep, the Davis vertical feed. The cabinet is oak and has seen better days with the veneer chipping on all sides of the top. I just had to make a decision about how to deal with that much chipping but I kept it intact and just sanded, getting ready for sealing coat. What was I going to be underneath the veneer? I didn't want to find out. The irons were pretty rusty so I cleaned them up and painted them. This was a first for me, at least I don't remember painting irons before. They turned out really nice but the cabinet languished. I finally got going and have it stained and ready with the 401's cabinet for a seal coat:

Davis cabinet, irons behind it

You can see I'm busy and looking forward to the craft fairs at the end of the month. Yes, they are back!

A package came in the mail a couple months ago and I have yet to share the contents with you. My sister, Sue, said she was sending me something but it wasn't ready yet. By the time it came I had almost forgotten those words so was so surprised to open the box to find this:

A tiny suitcase?

Once I got it opened I found a miniature Necchi:

Hand crank toy Necchi

Fits in its own small carrying case

It makes a good chain stitch:

Chain stitch sample

When I had it open to oil I noticed the red lever on the bottom:

When fully open you can see it's a music box! The red lever engages the mechanism or turns it off. The tune sounds familiar but I cannot pin it down. I'm going to have to share with my daughter Kelly who would easily be able to identify the tune. The back story to this little gem goes back a year or more when she sent me a photo of the machine and asked if she should buy it at a local garage sale. I said yes and then forgot about it. The hand crank mechanism was broken and then she had the dilemma of how to fix it.  JBWeld was suggested and that seemed to do the trick.  I'll turn the handle carefully! All in all, it was a very thoughtful gift from a thoughtful sister, one I will treasure.

Let's Makea Deal: trade offs

 Here we are in the third week of October and are in the midst of our third snowfall. Seriously. Like inches of snow, on the ground, not melting. I say it's the perfect time of the year to get quilting! I just finished up a quilt that took way to long to finish but here it is:

Quilt top

This was a conglomeration of partially finished blocks of my aunt's and ones I made up so  now all those little hexagon scraps of fabric are gone and done with. I love the blues and greens but it turned out a bit too green for my taste but isn't that part of the learning process? Not having enough fabric for the backing, I managed to piece fabrics together to make it look like it was in my design plan:

Quilt back

I liked the pieced border on the back so much I decided to use the same idea for the binding. Actually, I wanted to make the binding in navy pindot but I didn't have enough fabric so this was my next best idea. Here's a closeup of the free motion quilting:

Close up of the free motion work

Which sewing machine did I use? The Singer 1200 was so much fun to use that I just kept stitching until it sold. Yup, even the favorites get sold over here but it was quite the deal.

Gary really wanted the 1200 but was having trouble with the cost so he proposed a deal: part cash, part sewing machines. At first I said no but then I got to thinking and running the numbers in my head and decided I would be ahead if I took his deal. Here's what I got:

Necchi Nora

Singer 503A

Singer CG590

Pretty awesome, right? The Necchi Nora is the cream of the crop, in excellent condition, runs well, but came with no accessories. I thought I might have a set of cams but I only have cams for the Necchi Supernova. I hope I can be patient until I find some. 

Next up is a Singer 503 complete with accessories and print manual. Great condition, sews well, only missing the carrying case, but will still sell. Right now I also have the Singer 500A, the fully loaded version called the Rocketeer.  With both models I can list one and probably sell both. I'm not a huge fan of the Rocketeer, preferring the Singer 401 as the real classic.

The final part of the deal is a Singer CG590, their answer to home heavy duty sewing machines. I had a similar one a few years ago and had to admit it did sew heavy stuff as well as two layers of cotton. Dropping the feed dogs, I used it to finish up the free motion part on the above quilt and it worked well  but seemed loud and created an unpleasant sewing experience. It also came with accessories and is ready to go out the door. All told, when these three sell it will add up to more than the cash value of the Singer 1200 plus they are all ready to sell. I hope Gary is as happy with his machine as I am with the deal we made.

I've been practicing free motion quilting with my treadle and decided I needed to trade out machines. My back clamping Singer 66 Red Eye just would not work unless I used a spring type presser foot but they don't seem to come in any back clamping feet style. Instead, I put a more modern side clamping foot Singer 66 head into the cabinet and used a free motion foot. I did get the hang of it but now need to keep practicing. There's another quilt all put together that needs to be quilted and I'm determined to use my new skills on this quilt.

Snow or no snow, what are you thinking about sewing?

Cabinets, Again

What a fun sewing weekend I had, full of machines, sewing, interesting conversations, and even a freebee at the end. It all started with the outdoor furniture that needed to come down from the garage attic but, as usual, there were sewing machines in the way. Correction: there was a snow thrower in the wrong part of the garage so first it needed to be moved. There is space for it way at the back, at least during the off season, so that gives me hope for storage if not actual convenience when it needs to be used.

With that big baby out of the way I could see what was left: a whole lot of cabinets and all with machines in or on them. Before they got too tightly packed I took some photos so they are now ready to list for sale, at lease two of the treadles are now ready to go. The Davis in the stunning cabinet is going to be difficult to let go of since it has the vertical feed foot, very cool machine in a fantastic cabinet:

Parlor cabinet for Davis Vertical Feed

Davis vertical feed in treadle cabinet

Then comes the New Home treadle, with near perfect decals and a joy to treadle. I will be sorry to see it go, too:

New Home Vibrating Shuttle

New Home cabinet, a plain model but in excellent condition

Taking a look at the black metal box with accessories, it could use a little cleaning up so I took metal polish to them and the results were worth the effort:

Classic accessories for vibrating shuttle machine but now so shiny!

Some of this movement was made possible by the sale of a Necchi Mira in a compact cabinet. It held a near permanent spot in my kitchen:

Compact cabinet for Necchi Mira

Necchi Mira with Wonder Wheel

but it sold and not-to-let-a-spot-grow-cold a Brother in a similar cabinet moved from the garage into the kitchen:

Compact cabinet for Brother Sewing Machine

Brother (no model number)

There is a downfall to the Brother cabinet: it's missing the chair cushion. It is not just a matter of buying foam (already did that) but to construct a whole base for the seat and that's going to take getting out the saw and....well, my Power Tool for Women class last fall didn't prepare me enough to use my own power tools, just those in class. I have hopes of getting it out soon and finishing up this project but I'm so fond of that Brother model that I don't mind having it around a bit anyway. Cool cabinet, isn't it?

While I was home on Saturday I found an ad for a free sewing machine. No model number, no photo, but nearby. Turns out, even though I was second in line, the first person said it wasn't heavy duty enough for her sewing and took a pass on it. I buzzed on over but didn't have the Jeep so I knew I was going to have to take the head out of the small table. Without the proper tools, only have two screwdrivers with me, I ended up taking out eight screws in order to remove the hinges. But I got it all home, cleaned up and oiled, found a set of power cords and foot control that was missing, and away she went:

Elna 65C

She was very dirty but sound inside. The owner said he was actually going to toss the machine and burn the cabinet up in his backyard but just took the chance someone would want it. I sent him a text when it was all cleaned up with a stitch sample and he was amazed and glad it went to a good home. I'm happy, too, because it would be a shame to put something as fine as an Elna into a landfill. Another win-win for sewing machine nuts; if you are reading this, maybe you should join us, too? You would be in good company, very good company!

Lydia

One of the more beautiful sewing machines is the Necchi Lydia, designed in Italy, an oh so sleek and appealing:

Necchi Lydia 544

Many of us have fallen prey to its beauty only to be lured into a relationship that wasn't going to be. In an earlier post, Vacation in Paradise, I tell how I bought a Lydia MK2 only to find its fatal flaw early on: a cracked camstack. It sits on a high shelf with other parts machines and I can say I enjoy looking at it but I buy sewing machines for practical use, not beauty. How did I let this happen again?
I found a Necchi Lydia 544 at a resell shop for a price I couldn't resist and the camstack wasn't crumbling so it came home with me. It did have a broken hook gear and I looked into purchasing a new one for about $50 but then reason took over. In the meantime, I bid and won another Lydia 544 and this one did come with a cracked camstack but also a nice set of hook gears. Perfect! But now I've been working for weeks to get this machine to actually form a stitch. Here's a bit of the saga of how this proceeded.

Here's the set of gears that needed replacing:

Hook drive gears in black

Of course, it's never just replacing the gears but also adjusting the feed dogs and their timing:

Feed dog mechanism (see hook gears on bottom)

But the Lydia has their angled hook gear with many, many adjustments:

Bobbin case on hook (doesn't look angled!)

There's depth, angle, and other little bits that can bee too close or too far apart:

Bobbin case (very angled)

As I said, after a few weeks of working on it, I now need the workspace so I reluctantly put it back together and set it aside. This feels like failure but I know it can be helpful to keep thinking about it and looking at it later with fresh eyes. All right, it is failure but I need to move on.

The big warning that is given with replacing gears on the Lydia is the progression of deterioration. You might replace the hook gear(s) only to find the gear that drives the camstack needs replacing, then the motor pulley, then the camstack itself... you can see this is a slippery slope when the same material is used in these gears and they are all aging out. Although I understand this I'm still drawn to its beauty and the hope of getting it running again.

As I made space available I got out a serger and put it to use refashioning an item of clothing. I bought this large pair of lounging type pants in hope of making them over into leggings. Here's how they looked half way done:

Flowing pants to leggings

Those were one wide pair of pants! I needed to take in the waist more and they are super long but very soft fabric and not too bad when they were finished. This lead to tackling the pile of mending that is about halfway done but it's game day in Minnesota and we have the Vikings in the playoffs. To say we are optimistic is a bit of an understatement as we are completely nuts over the prospect of our home team playing in the Super Bowl let alone on home turf. So what an I doing about this? Why, making Viking hot mitts, of course. Later, gator...

Hot mitts ready to sew (they really are purple!)

It's the Little Things

When you are looking for a solution to a problem, sometimes it's the little things that become the solution. Twice in one week I had sewing machines that were sluggish or frozen up. My first find was a Viking 12-1:

Viking 12-1

It was posted on a local for sale site through Facebook but it wasn't for sale: it was free. I sent a message saying I only wanted the sewing machine, not the cabinet, but would take both and donate the cabinet if they didn't mind. Nope, she just wanted it gone. Come pick up day I get a message saying it would be in the driveway but they weren't going to be home. What? How was I going to get it in my car? Would I be brave/coward to just take the sewing machine and leave the cabinet? I hoped it wouldn't come to that but....

When I got to their house it was obvious they weren't at home when their dog was barking the whole time since I was an intruder on his turf. I got the machine out along with the motor block and foot control and some accessories in the desk. Now what? I knocked on the door anyway but no answer so I went back to the cabinet, removed the three drawers and gave a tentative lift. It wasn't as heavy as I thought so I carried it over to the back of the Jeep, gave a lift, and shoved it in. The drawers followed and I drove it straight over to one of the local thrift stores. They gladly took it and gave me a discount card, too!

Once home I set her up for cleaning and repair to find there was no movement. Taking the bobbin holder and entire mechanism out also didn't magically open it up either. I was back to Triflow and the heat of a hair dryer before there was a tiny amount of movement. Then I remembered to check for thread caught in any moving part and did find about five inches wound around the take up lever. Although it helped, there still is no movement of the hook. This is going to take some time and patience, I can see.

The next day I stopped at the Goodwill Outlet and spied a Necchi 531FA in a suitcase that appeared to be in good condition. It came home with me and cleaned right up and ran pretty good but there was some hesitation. Taking a look inside to find any place where it might be binding I found:

Necchi 531FA: do you see the red thread?

thread in the take up lever. This time it was closer to eight inches and was slow to be unwound. It ran better and I think it is going to be a fine sewing machine for the occasional sewer or a newbie.

Necchi 531FA all cleaned up

Yes, it can be the little things that trip us up. Yet they can be the pathway to a great find when the previous owner figured the sewing machine was just getting old and slow. Nope, just needed a little TLC, just like we all do as the years go by. Better get up and take that walk now.

How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?

Sometimes one sewing machine brings in many requests and still doesn't get sold. One of my latest listings is for a Singer 522, a nifty free arm that is all metal inside:

Singer 522 with extension table removed

The manual dates this model as a 1977 gem and it is a really nice sewing machine, even from this era. Charlie calls and asks to see it but further information shows that he's going to be happy with a sewing machine that is a bit more rugged, a Necchi Nora that has seen better days.

Necchi Nora in treadle (treadle previously sold)

I previously was pretty frightened about the wiring on this Necchi but once I calmed down and really looked at it I got things in order and it was just waiting for a new home. For Charlie, this was great because he needed to sew a sail for a minor repair.

Next up was Jason who actually did take the 522 home. After making dog collars on a newer Brother sewing machine and not being able to sew all of the layers, Jason thought this might be a heavy enough machine and with the free arm it was ideal. A test drive with the fabric and nylon webbing proved it could do the job while stitching forward. On his way out the door he noticed my other sewing machines so I couldn't resist showing him a Singer 15-91 in a beautiful cabinet. That would be his next step if he needed something heavier, Jason mused. Then I get several texts later when Jason couldn't make it reverse stitch when it kept breaking needles. He was a great troubleshooter but we agreed it probably wasn't the right machine for going backwards through 6 layers of material. I suggested several others until I realized he wanted a free arm. Oops. But I did have a Kenmore 158-19412 that might just work.

Kenmore 158-19412

It was great, sewing forwards and backwards, zigzag and straight, with the bonus of a free arm. Before he was going to leave I asked if he wanted to see a Singer 15-91 because I did have one that was not in good cosmetic shape, no base, no cabinet, no accessories but bobbins, and he was game:

Singer 15-91 (cabinet no longer around)

Of course, it was exactly what he was looking for and the deal was made. No Kenmore, no Singer 522, but the mother-of-them-all, a gear to gear Singer 15-91 went home with Jason. What about needing a free arm? Jason did try to get all of the fabric covered webbing under the needle and found there was more free space, even for a flat bed, than with the newer Brothers. It was going to work. This is how I make my customers happy: you get what you are looking for and can even return it if things don't work out. Now Jason has a friend who makes these dog collars, too, and he knows she is also looking for a better sewing machine so I hope to hear from her in the near future.

What happened to the Singer 522? It's back on the local Craigslist, waiting for someone who needs it's free arm but maybe not sewing so many layers. And the Kenmore 158-19421? It got a box of accessories and a carrying case and just got listed. Here's hoping it's not like that doggie in the window whom everyone loves but no one takes home.

Oh So Close

Remember the saying "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades"? Sometimes close is good enough, sometimes it seems it misses by a mile.

This past weekend I finally got an answer from Steve about the Necchi BF: he was going to take a pass on it. What? The longest stitch came in only at 6.5 stitches per inch instead of 6 stitches per inch? Seriously? I was disappointed but didn't want to sell him a sewing machine he didn't want. Just the next day I get a phone call asking to see the Singer 115 with gingerbread or Tiffany decals. It wasn't too much of a problem since I had a 2 pm appointment for serger repair but that should give plenty of time before their 4 pm appointment. It wouldn't even be close but then my serger visitor didn't come until 3 pm and the Singer 115 appointment came a little early. Yup, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades as they were both wanting my attention. As luck would have it, the Singer 115 wouldn't turn on via the knee control. I just couldn't figure it out...until I saw the loose wire. Well, that wasn't going to be a quick job so I asked if they would be interested in another sewing machine and what they were trying to sew. Wouldn't you know it, they liked the Necchi BF and bought it after about 5 minutes of  looking and comparing to a Singer 15-91 at twice the price. Guess that was an easy decision.

Necchi BF

Meanwhile, the serger problem persisted and it wasn't going to get fixed quickly either . She didn't mind coming back for it because I also had her daughter's sewing machine that wasn't working quite right: both could be picked up over the weekend. Here's the little attachment that was added to this Singer 5511: a micro-serger.

I had a couple of these and could never get them to work so I was tempted to just write them off a not-too-great attachments. Then I looked further and found a nice set of instructions on how to use them, pros and cons, so I went back to try this out again with a more serious attempt to get it to work. It took a couple of tries until I could get it to work right:

Since this model wasn't my own, I got out mine and tried it on a Brother Select-o-matic. It also took several tries but it did finally work. Here are the steps I went through:

Step 1: cut edge of fabric next to where you want the zigzag to be.

Step 2: feed into foot with cut tag feeding into the right side

Step 3: Look closely to see zigzag stitches made over the stitch finger

Step 4: keep stitching , holding fabric straight

Finished edge: okay but not great

Some of the commenters thought it worked just fine but others said it sure wasn't like a serger and I would have to agree. Maybe theirs worked much better than mine but I did try two different ones and even have a third model that works with a snap-on foot shank:

Snap-on foot model of a serger foot

For the Brother sewing machine I needed to put it in the right needle position so it wouldn't hit the stitch finger on the new foot but that was okay, just not a very wide zigzag. It's a way to finish off seams, I guess, but give me a serger any day! It is supposed to be close to a serger in it's ability to cut and stitch at the same time but then

 close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Tried But True

We are getting very close to getting my car in the garage. It has already snowed and I did have to scrape frozen rain off my car one morning but we are so close! The Necchi BF came into the house when Steve arrived to buy it but it seems it had been adjusted to stitch only a 10-12 stitches per inch range and he wanted a longer stitch. Can't blame him so I took a look later to find an adjustment screw that could easily be loosened to get the maximum amount of stitch length.

Necchi BF stitch length lever

The plate shows a maximum of 6 stitches per inch and I could get it to 6.5 while going forward and 6 when it is in reverse. I let Steve know but think he wants the full 6 instead of 6.5. Here's what it looks like:

It looks like we are both disappointed because I think this machine is great but Steve is holding out for another half stitch per inch. Okay.

While cleaning up the garage, I found the Damascus Project: identical sewing machines rotary with potted motors that I had hoped to switch. I got the motor out of the first one (in great physical shape but poor electrical shape)

First Damascus with great decals

but could not get the second one apart enough to get the motor out. Then I couldn't get the motor back in the first one!

Here's the open cavity for the motor: empty!

 I finally had to give up, clean up the second one, fix a plug end into the machine, and get it working again.

Second Damascus looking better with a cleaning

Rewired bit not perfect

It's working great! Rotary sewing machines aren't a real favorite of mine (right up there with vibrating shuttles)

Rotary: little wheel, not a belt

but I have had a few that were pretty nice and this is one of them. It did clean up pretty good and I think I can claim another one ready for sale. YES!

Looking good with decent stitches

What happens to the first one I couldn't fix? I have a recycle man that I keep them for and he makes a little money off of them and I'm hoping they aren't going into a land fill. Could I recycle them myself for the metal? Sure, but don't I wear enough hats already? I'm going to let him get rich instead of me.