Two New (to me) Sewing Machines and Two for Others

I'm finally home from my last scheduled trip.  I spent 3 weeks in Alaska.  The only sewing I did was to put the elastic in shorts (made before I left) so that they would fit my grandsons (sorry, I forgot to take photos), and to hem a dress for one of my granddaughters.  I haven't had time to do any sewing since I got back home, either.

 It's been a busy sewing machine week for me.  Last October I was given a sewing machine from the man who started the Treadle On group, Captain Dick.  I got to meet Captain Dick back in 2013, when I attended the River Rat TOGA (Treadle On Gathering & Academy).  Because this machine is from Captain Dick, it is special to me.  It has been traveling from Seattle to here over all these months with the help of at least 5 other people.  My son and I drove to Wisconsin on Wednesday to pick it up. It's a 1948 Singer 15.  It used to be electric, but didn't come with a motor.  This machine was made in Canada.

1948 Singer 15

It came with this quilted cover

in a base that hubby built for me

While my son and I were in Wisconsin, we also picked up two treadles for two other ladies.  One has already headed to it's new home.  I'll hold the other one until the next person can pick it up.  The first one is for Nancy.

1912 Singer 66

treadle base

This one is for Carol.  It's a Wheeler & Wilson treadle in a lovely cabinet.

Wheeler & Wilson

treadle base for the Wheeler & Wilson

up close of the lovely drawers and cabinet

While in Wisconsin, we also stopped at an Amish quilt store called Lakeside Fabrics.  I've been there many times over the last 12-14 years.  I also got to visit with other Treadle On members that had helped move the treadles on their way to their new owners.  It's always fun to get to meet up with old friends and acquaintances. 

On Thursday, I visited a special friend.  Way back in January 2012, that friend helped me pick up another machine for someone, and wound up buying herself a hand crank.  I blogged about her hand crank a year later when I helped her learn how to sew on it.  Well, long story shortened, she gave me the hand crank.  This is a Bradbury Soeze from about 1905.  It was made in England.

Bradbury Soeze

decal on the bed of the machine

What a great way to end the month!

Cleaning a Machine

 I have several machines that I've never cleaned.  Sometimes they come in the door, and I don't have time to clean them, so they get put away and forgotten.  Well, this machine came in the door way back in March 2016.  It came in a cabinet with a knee control.  I gave the cabinet away shortly after I got the machine.  I seldom keep cabinets unless they are in really good condition.  Cabinets take up too much space.  

Here are the before photos.  I'll add in a few of the photos after I've cleaned, to show the difference.  I've spent about 7 hours cleaning this machine.

dirty machine

The wiring on the motor was in shreds.

rust on the motor where the belt would attach

shredded wiring on motor and light

Someone had added a light at some point.  Instead of how Singer attached motors, using the round metal plate on the back of the machine, they had drilled a hole in the back of the machine and screwed the light directly onto the machine.

drilled into the cast iron to attach the light

The light rubbed against the decals on the back of the machine each time the light was turned on/off.  Thank goodness it didn't do more damage to the decals.  The word 'Singer' is scratched up.

cleaned machine, showing scratched decals on the word 'Singer'

The bobbin winder was really rusty.  When I started, the bobbin winder was frozen stiff.  I had to oil it before I could clean it.  Thank goodness the oil worked quickly.  I managed to get it mostly dissembled so that I could clean the metal parts.  Here are photos of before and after cleaning.

showing rust, before I oiled the parts

I took photos as I took this apart, so that I could get it back together again.  

more parts taken off

rusty and pitted metal

rusty, and old dirty oil on the metal

cleaned and re-assembled bobbin winder

The tension unit was really rusty, too.  I took it apart and cleaned each part.

rusty tension unit

rusty tension post

dirty tension parts (always take them off in order so that you can put them back on in the proper order)

cleaned tension parts

clean tension, re-assembled

I cleaned up lots of other metal parts, too.

rusty bobbin area

filthy and rusty bobbin case

bobbin area

cleaned parts

I don't remove the presser bar or the needle bar when I clean.  I did clean these while they were still on the machine.  The only rust was on the part that is next to the base of the machine.

dirty presser bar and needle bar & foot

clean presser bar and needle bar

The bobbin cover plate was missing on this machine.  I used one from another machine.  It also cleaned up nicely.

The previous owner used masking tape on the bed of the machine.  The tape was still stuck on in places (and brittle).  I cleaned the tape residue off the bed, but the adhesive had damaged the paint.  You can see in the photos where the tape was (in front of and behind the bobbin cover and also across the middle of the bed of the machine.  I'm glad it didn't damage the decals.  I've been adding sewing machine oil, letting it sit, then cleaning, then adding oil....repeat, repeat, repeat, for the past few days.  

masking tape on machine bed

the tape was across the decals in the middle

pitted paint where the tape had been (adhesive has been cleaned off)

this part had less pitting

Now you've seen why I spent 7+ hours cleaning this machine. 

Remember this dirty machine?

before cleaning

Here she is, all cleaned up and converted to a hand crank.

1922 Singer 66 hand crank, clean and shiny

I got nice stitches as soon as I tried to sew on her.  I was expecting to have to fiddle with the tension, since I'd removed and cleaned it.

pink is bobbin thread, blue is top thread

Not bad for a 99 year old machine.

Now to get some sewing done!

Long Time No See and a New Machine

Wow, I haven't blogged since Oct. 1st.  I've been stitching, but not much.  I've been busy trying to save several of my Yahoo sewing machine groups.  Yahoo will be deleting photos, files and such on Dec.14th.  I hate to see all that great info being lost. 

A few days ago I was asked if I'd like another vintage sewing machine.  Today I picked it up.

1950 Singer 15-91 #AJ489583

The machine came in a desk style cabinet.  I seldom keep the cabinets, since they take up so much room, but I might keep this one (if I can figure out where to put it).

bobbin holder and oil can holder in top drawer

The foot pedal is part of the cabinet.  I haven't looked to see how hard it will be to remove all the wiring, etc, from the cabinet.  You can see the foot pedal in this photo.

foot pedal attached to cabinet

This machine came with lots of attachments.  There were even two different zig zag attachments.

buttonholer and 2 different zigzag attachments

It also came with lots of different feet, including 2 different zipper feet (middle, left) one for each side of the zipper.  I've never seen this before.  There is another attachment (bottom, left) that I don't know what it is.

Bobbins, manual, needles and even a shuttle for a long bobbin machine and a top attaching foot (both for other machines) were included.  Some kid had fun coloring inside the manual at some time.

notice the shuttle and foot that do NOT belong to this machine

someone had fun coloring this manual

This machine was serviced back in 2008 (when the previous owner died) and hasn't been used since.  It's a little gummy (old oil) but I plugged it in and it stitches well. 

nice stitches

Something interesting about the finish on this machine.  There is lots of crazing on this machine.  Most of my machines have very little crazing, even the older machines.  This machine is covered in crazing (and the usual pin rash on the arm).

crazing on the bed

crazing on the top of the machine

common pin rash

It does have great decals.

great decals

I could make this machine a hand crank, but if I remove this type of motor, I'll lose the bobbin winder.  I'd also have to change out the solid hand wheel for a spoked hand wheel.  I think this machine will stay electric.

motor attachment and solid hand wheel

The only stitching I've been getting done is some hand work, and that has only been about an hour a day.  I really need to finish what I've been working on, since they are Christmas presents.  I have a few other things that I need to get finished quickly, too.  Hopefully I'll have something to show here, soon.

I also had to deal with lots of spam comments since my last blog post (over 50 in 2 hours).  Sorry, but I had to change my comment approval because of the spam.  Hopefully I'll be able to change it back one day.  I'm tired of spammers.  I wish they would all just go away.