Singer Stylist 543

Does this poor neglected sewing machine look lonely? I thought it did.

I picked this machine up on Sunday afternoon, which means the poor thing had been sitting on the shelf for almost 4 entire days during the 50% off green-tag sale at Goodwill. I just couldn't resist. And it came with the manual. I couldn't ask for more. Well, ok, it would have been nice to have a box of accessories hidden away somewhere.

Read's Sailmaker

Here's one I haven't heard of. That's not saying a whole lot, because I haven't been dinking around with sewing machines for a very long period of time.

So I'm at the local Goodwill and spot the lone sewing machine case on the shelf. Looks like any other generic case I've seen hundreds of times before.

Hefting the case off the shelf (upwards of 40 pounds) tells me there is a generic cast iron sewing machine housed within. Upon popping the lid off, I see a generic Japanese zig zag machine. Hmm, "Read's" it says on the label. Not one I've heard before and kind of a strange name for a sewing machine.

Strange disc. What Is It?

I saw this disk (pictured below) in the local Goodwill. I knew I wanted it but I had no idea what it was, other than it had stitch patterns depicted around the outer edges. Now if anyone has been to Goodwill, they know that when they find that cool little item, they should know to look around the general area for any other parts that may go with said "cool item". Well, after a fairly thorough search of the area, I didn't find anything that remotely looked like it went with this disk.

Problem number 1, what kind of machine did this go to? Not really a problem I guess. I still wanted it.

Problem number 2, the silly thing didn't have a price tag. I just threw caution to the wind and went to the cashier. She punched something in to her machine. She could see that I was wondering what I was being charged so she said, "Are you happy with 69 cents?" Yup

YAGM - Yet Another Green Machine - Singer 185K

I just love these cool little Singer 3/4 machines. Too bad Singer didn't make one that also had the cam stack of a 401.... Now THAT would be something. But the little 185K is still neat. And this one came in a case.