Looking Out For Each Other

Community. That's what makes this sewing machine adventure so much fun! This week I've had four people reach out to me with offers of sewing machines and I haven't even made a good connection with two of them yet. The first one came in a Facebook message about having a treadle sewing machine in a cabinet that needed more work than the owners wanted to do and I was getting first pick. I asked for a photo but there was no response; 24 hours later I get another message saying it was on the curb: come and get it. But I didn't get that message until hours later when I was home and looking at my Facebook account. There was the photo and I could see the cabinet did need work and the machine itself had lead a long and work-worn life. They noted it only lasted ten minutes as neighbors were grateful to find it to replace one they had lost in a flood. This looked like a win-win to me when someone who really wants something meets up with someone who wants to get rid of it. No hard feelings and a good result in the end.

A few days later I get a late afternoon call from a friend asking if I wanted an old sewing machine that was at their neighbors garage sale. By then everything was half price so for a mere pittance I could have this old black Singer in a Queen Anne style cabinet. He read off the serial number and I identified it as a model 15 with a motor off the back but the electrical cords looked like they were shot. But what about the condition of the paint and decals? "Karen, they look really great!" so I drove over immediately, less than 10 minutes away. He was right: decals were near perfect, no chips along the front edge, but the cords were dangerous and no foot control. That was alright as I could change those things easily enough but the cabinet would need refinishing yet had a nice pattern to the wood, really extra special and worth refinishing.

Singer Queen Anne style cabinet

Looking through to the wood pattern

Singer 15-90 all cleaned up and stitching great

Once home and worked on, I was a bit stymied by the replacement of the belt. Using the right v-belt and many many adjustments I just couldn't get the motor to run very fast. It was the belt, not the motor, so I finally put a stretchy belt on it. This is somewhat of a no-no because they are supposed to put a strain on the motor but, clearly, the v-belt was doing that. It worked great with a stretch belt and I had all of the speed I could want. This was one nice sewing machine. But here's the real kicker: it's a blackside. It was manufactured in 1941, an era where metal was at a premium so many of the chrome finished items were now made with a black finish. It's a bit erratic where maybe attachment feet are black, or needleplates, but I think I've hit the jackpot with this one: faceplate, presser foot, needle plate and slide plate, round backplate, presser foot take-up lever, even the spool pin are black. Wow. I already have at least one set of black accessories and several black bobbins so I think I've got a real gem here for a collector. But it sews great, too!

Presser foot and needleplate in black

Faceplate in black (trust me, it's black)

Black accessories with some silver

I put it to the test with a buttonhole project, making five buttonholes on a new blouse with the standard green box, straight stitch and shank buttonhole attachment. The thread cutter on the presser foot bar needed to be removed but that was about all. See how nice they turned out?

Buttonhole attachment made this 5/8 inch buttonhole

Community. My community of sewing friends, some old, some new friends, help me locate gems to remind me that they are gems when they find a vintage sewing machine and think "Karen might like that." Indeed, she might.

Business Trip

Although it's only a few days before Christmas, my husband and I took a brief vacation to a resort area in Minnesota to enjoy the outdoors, get away from our work, and apparently to add a few more sewing machines for my business. We like antique shops and thrift/resale stores so we looked around and found a few to visit. We were happy to find a couple vintage buttonhole making machines, a Kenmore and a White. Although the attachments themselves are not unique, these two came in bakelight containers that I had never seen before so I was happy to invest in them to be added to the appropriate sewing machine as an enticement!

Kenmore buttonhole attachment

White Buttonhole attachment

As I turned the corner to see what was at the back of this antique store I spied an Admiral sewing machine on the floor. It's a clone of a Singer 15, looks in good cosmetic shape, but the wires were snipped on the light and motor. Everything was still there but not functioning. The needle didn't move up and down either but it had been marked down in price so I suspected the seller knew this machine wasn't going to sell easily without a slash in price. After a discussion with the proprietor of the shop about the price, we determined it had to go for the asking price of $16. Not bad but could I get it moving again? The answer is yes, especially after I took the bobbin case out and examined the hook. Lots of extra thread in there so after cleaning and reinserting it would move. Pulling the motor apart proved easy enough and a cleaning helped it to run better. Here he is, all cleaned up and ready to sew:

He's an Admiral (Singer 15 clone)

On the way home we stopped in Brainerd at the Salvation Army store but there weren't any sewing machines or accessories so we backtracked a few blocks to visit a thrift store that was planning on going online (Ebay?) so everything was half price. My kind of store! I didn't see any sewing machines but did find a green Kenmore box with a wonderful set of cams and accessories and another Singer box with a 401 manual and set of feet and 4 top hat cams. Each box was marked $2.98. Then next to the accessory boxes were various new bobbins, pins, and wait a minute - a mini-stitcher? Yes, just like the Singer Handi-Stitch.

Just like the Singer Handi-stitch

 A separate post will include these wonderful finds that were $1.50 each!  After I set my treasure on the counter I looked over and spied a sewing machine cabinet. Oh boy, would it be a good one? After taking everything off the top and looking inside it was a rather worn looking White that wasn't something I needed another one of but wait: there's a picnic type basket behind the cabinet with a tag that read Singer Sewing Machine $19.95. Now we're talking! I opened it up to find a cute Singer 99 in poor cosmetic shape but the potential was there. For $10 she went home with us.

Just another Singer 99

When we got home we found the Viking Huskylock 431 serger had been delivered so that made the third sewing machine.

Viking Huskylock 431

I went off to work an evening shift but remembered I had made contact with a gentleman about an Elna Supermatic for an 8:30 pick-up that evening. Only about 15 minutes from work, I went to take a look at this gem that was dirty but otherwise in great shape with no flat motor pulley as on the Elna Plana plus it had the knee control.

Elna Supermatic: it's not easy being green (or this old)

That made four sewing machines all within a very short period of time but they were all good purchases. My husband and I discussed the poor cosmetic shape of the Singer 99 and that maybe it could be painted in a really jazzy color next summer, like raspberry! The others were in such good shape they were fine as is with just some TLC. So this vacation ended up as a partial business trip but with this much fun who cares?

In Alignment

Isn't it wonderful when everything just lines up and the world seems straightened out? Just for a moment? That has happened many times for me and it happened again yesterday. On Saturday I bought a Kenmore 158-1980 with only the foot control, no accessories, but it's such a great sewing machine I figured I could fairly easily buy the cams, buttonhole attachment, and other bits and pieces. I even tried out cams from another machine to make sure the top-hat, or C-cams, would work and they did. Of course, buying each of those kits would be anywhere from $10 to $30 on Ebay but I'm patient and can wait for the bargain. The bargain came just the next day.

As per usual, I stopped at one of my regular thrift stores to find no sewing machines but there was a familiar light green box that I recognized as a Kenmore set of accessories. The top was just the plastic molded form, the regular lid was missing, that should have held a buttonhole attachment but there were no parts, just the formed plastic insert. But when I lifted it up there was a set of 21 cams in light green, top hat style, with a few miscellaneous screw drivers and other parts. These were going to fit the Kenmore 158-1980, I was sure of it. Even though I scoured the store for the rest of this set, especially the sewing machine that should be there, nothing else could be found. No price was on this box but it was taken in the back and priced it at $2.99. That's right, a mere $3 for the nearly full set of cams. I almost floated out to my car, I was so delighted.

Buttonhole set on left with lid, inset with cams underneath

The full buttonholer was from another sewing machine, just used in these photos for comparison. What I found at the store is on the right in the above photo

Opened up, buttonholer left with cams on right

What about the buttonholer? I can't quite figure out which model should be used with this sewing machine but I have two more sets to try out, having rejected two I have already tried.  But these things take time and I will come up with the right model, hoping it's one I already have due to a mistaken earlier purchase, as shown below:

Another buttonholer what might fit?

With every triumph there is a fall or fly-in-the-ointment so here is my next irritation/disappointment/fly.
The Singer 66 repaint is finally coming to an end with the final coat of clear. Almost. I keep having some areas that receive some overspray that does not go on thick enough for a shine but just a matte type of finish. I don't want this so I spray another coat only to have this happen in a different area. And it goes on. It keeps getting better though so I will keep trying and one of these coats will be the final one. Then I saw on Facebook someones vintage sewing machine repaint, with the exact same decals I used and the decals showed NO EDGE MARKS. What? Mine still show edges and I'm willing to live with this because I worked so hard on it and tell myself this was my first experiment. But theirs was perfect and I want mine to at least be better than it is. Sigh. So the Singer 66 is a bit of a disappointment all because I was comparing it to one that was painted by an auto-body shop. Of course it looked perfect! Oh well, the Pfaff 130 will have a different set of challenges but it will be better! I promise.