I couldn't resist, really!

I started off being a good girl on Tuesday.  I went to the Quilts of Valor sew-in, and stitched away.  The trouble started when I left.  I haven't been to either of the thrift stores in that town since late summer.  How could I resist? 

Nothing special at the first store, just a few DVD's.  I went thru the second store, and, was almost thru the whole store, with NOTHING in my basket, when, I turned the corner to the very back of the shop.  Oops!  I saw a cabinet.  I ignored the cabinet, and looked at everything else in that area.  That cabinet kept calling to me.  I finally uncovered it (yep, covered in other stuff so you couldn't see what was under there).  I had to pull the cabinet out, so that I could lift the lid and see what was inside.  A dusty, Singer 66 with a motor, and really bad wiring. 

This Singer 66 has decals unlike any other Singer 66 that I own (yes, I own several Singer 66's).  My birthday is coming up soon, so, I decided that I needed to get myself a present.

My latest Singer 66

The cabinet isn't in the best of shape.  They even had tape on the side to keep the piece that supports the lid, inside, out of the way.  There was tape (clear and masking tape, both) on the base of the machine.  Yuk!  The stitch lever is painted a weird white color, too.  I've never seen one painted before. 

I borrowed a screwdriver from the guys in the back of the shop, and proceeded to give this machine a 'motorectimy' right there.  Boy were these guys surprised!  I then unscrewed the machine from the base before they loaded it in my car.  They didn't know I could do that, either. 

On Wednesday, I decided that this machine needed to be cleaned and tested.  Here are some of the before and after pictures.

what's left of the tape that crumbled when I tried to remove it

the serial number dates this to an allotment of 35,000, started September 30, 1941

told ya it was dirty, you should have seen under the motor area

before cleaning

Except for the tape removal, this was a pretty simple cleaning job.  I had to let the sewing machine oil set on the tape area to soften the remaining glue.  It worked pretty well, along with my fingernail.

see how shiny the metal is after a nice cleaning

this part was the hardest to clean.  I don't think it had ever been cleaned or dusted back there where the motor went

my new Singer 66 hand crank in the cabinet

I wiped the cabinet down with Murphy's Oil Soap, but, it still needs more cleaning, and some Old English Stain remover applied.  Maybe today.

top AFTER cleaning.  Wow, what did they do to this????

I even found a great spool pin doily for this machine. 

spool pin doily

Here is an example of the wiring, and why I didn't even mess around with it.  The guys at the shop offered to plug it in for me, until I showed them these wires. 

see where the wiring is split open????  Eek! 

I tested the stitches on this machine, and, after a few minutes of playing with the tension, she sews nicely.  Sorry I didn't get pictures of the stitching.  I think this one is going to stay in the cabinet, and head up to my sewing room.