Singer 401A Cam Stack

The Singer 401A is considered by many, including the Singer Company at the time, as "the finest zigzag sewing machine made". The company had good reason to be proud of their 401 though. It was built with precision and had scads of built-in stitches, plus it had the option of using Singer top hat cams. To top things off, it was 100% gear drive.

I recently acquired a second 401A machine and decided to prep it for sale. After popping the top cover off, I noticed the cam stack was quite discolored with old oil remnants and decided to venture into the unknown realm of cam stack removal. It was actually quite easy. The top screw that holds the top hat spring clip is all that holds the cam stack in place, so once that screw is removed, it is just a matter of getting the cam follower fingers out of the way and the stack lifts free of the machine.

Three small screws on top of the stack hold all the pieces together, but after 50 years of being clamped together, it took some gentle persuasion to get all the cams apart.

Kenmore 158.850

I wonder how much the heaviest domestic sewing machine weighs? Certainly 36 pounds has got to be near the upper end. And why, pray tell, do I arbitrarily choose 36 pounds? It just so happens that this Kenmore 158.850 tips the scale at 16.25 kilograms, or 36 pounds. I'd weigh the machine in pounds but the balance beam scale in the basement is metric.

More Goodwill Sewing Machine Purchases

50% off anything is usually a good thing. When it comes to Goodwill, it's even better because the prices are usually fairly low to begin with, but the sale days are how the company keeps fresh stock on the shelves. Goodwill had a couple machines that interested me so I talked the trusty wife into taking the loving steed... I mean the loving wife taking the trusty steed (she offered, I didn't have to bribe or beg) to the two local stores to pick up a Montgomery Ward Signature 276C portable and a Singer 288 in a cabinet. A bonus was that the Singer cabinet had a motor control for a 401-type sewing machine. I had just purchased a similar cord set/motor control off ebay for my recently acquired 401, so I now have a spare. Sigh.

Monkey Ward 276C, with a fairly complete set of accessories

Sewing Machines come and go

When I started acquiring (collecting?) sewing machines, it was purely for the enjoyment of getting a neglected machine back into an operating state and watching/listening to it purr along after being oiled and adjusted. As with most things in my life, my sewing machine hobby has evolved to something different than what it was. I still enjoy a finely tuned machine but now I also look at all those neglected machines at the thrift stores and think, I can make a few bucks on this if I were to resell it.

So now with that mentality, I started selling a few machines on Craigslist. Needless to say, the endeavor was hardly a money-maker. Enter that popular online auction place. Two weeks ago I decided to try my hand at auctioning off some machines. Let's just say that online auctioning is now my new friend. The bothersome part of selling to a non-local person is the hassle of packaging and shipping, keeping in mind that the machine had better make it to its destination no worse for wear. The good (great?) part of selling on an auction site is the fact that I don't get left "high and dry" by those flaky Craigslist buyers who don't bother to show up and don't bother to let anyone know they aren't going to show up. I am totally in control (usually) of when my sewing machines leave the house.

 I have a newfound knowledge of double-wall shipping boxes, the realization that I now have to buy packing peanuts/bubble wrap that in the past I used to throw out in the garbage, and the fact that strapping tape isn't cheap. The good thing is, the buyer pays a fee for shipping (to cover a $10 box, a couple bucks worth of bubble wrap and strapping tape, and the $35-$40 USPS fee). I also throw in a package of needles, a couple bobbins and a spool of thread in the box.

I've been sick lately so I'll hopefully get back to taking photos and posting them of the machines I'm working on. I also picked up another machine. A Brother. Looks to be 70's vintage - white with kind of a burnt orange theme for the knobs.

Bernina Record 730 Video

My recent Bernina Record 730 acquisition is a bit complicated with its many knobs and levers, so I thought I'd shoot a video to show what they all did. One problem with having so many sewing machines to mess around with is that I sometimes forget what the various machines do, so you'll have to pardon my hesitation sometimes when describing the various functions. The video is 19 minutes long. I didn't go through all 20 different stitch patterns but you get the idea. The machine is sewing through 4 layers of denim.

The video didn't show the right side of the machine so here is a photo of the two levers for buttonhole and satin stitch.

A What Machine? Jeans Machine

"Jeans Machine"? What was the marketing department thinking? I guess they figured that if it is marketed as handling your jeans project, it will handle just about any home project. So I decided to put this bad boy to the test. Yes, it must be a boy with a name like that.

Starting with Goodwill's $0.99-cent sale, I walked out $3.23 lighter and three pairs of jeans heavier. I now have enough denim to last me quite some time. But I digress. I've seen many ads and videos that show machines sewing through 8 layers of denim, I decided I needed to see how well it works. Bottom line? It worked slick, like there was practically nothing there. I did use a 'jeans' needle, but I would hazard a guess that most domestic sewing machines would do as well. Maybe. I'll try other machines some other time and post the results. On to the video, only 3 minutes or so in length (forgive my sleeve blocking the view so much):

What can I say - Necchi BU

A pile of sewing machines in the basement, and what do I do? Buy another, of course. In a cabinet.... that's coming apart at the veneer. And the machine is quite neglected and rusty. But there's a story here. Read on.

A couple weeks ago I visited the local Goodwill. Oh, look, a Necchi BU sewing machine in a cabinet. On closer examination, the machine was marked $299.99 on the blue tag. Way too much for me, and I presumed at the time that, even when the blue tags got to 50% off in a couple weeks, nobody would put down $150 for the thing. So there was a good chance this deteriorating vintage wonder would end up being bought by some fortunate person during the $1.29 blue tag Monday sale.

Fast forward a couple weeks, to the Saturday before Presidents Day (two days ago). We stopped in at the Goodwill and saw an advertisement for 99-cent blue tags on Monday, not $1.29. And look, the machine was still available (not surprising). Plans were put into motion to show up early Monday morning. We rolled into the parking lot at 7:40 to find 11 people lined up at the door. Bummer. Eight o'clock and everyone rushed inside, some having scoped out their areas of focus beforehand. I rushed to the place my (a little bold aren't we, since it isn't mine yet) sewing machine had been, and............ it was still there. I got to it in time. A Necchi BU with a box of accessories and owners manual for $0.99. Wow.

When it rains, it pours...

... and not just because I live in Washington State. I don't know what's going on, but in a little over a month I've acquired 29 sewing machines. Half of them came from the nice guy in Tacoma that I'd blogged about a couple weeks ago. So here I am today, buying a few odds and ends at the local Jo-Anns and noticed a couple old machines sitting in the corner of the sewing center. I innocently asked the nice lady what she planned on doing with them, telling her I tinkered with sewing machines as a hobby. She said she couldn't sell them as part of her inventory since they were not the brands she sells, and by the way, there are four machines, not two. Oooh, goody, I say to myself. I mean, oh, ok.

So she made a call....  The person on the other end of the line gave her a price to sell them for. She said if I buy them, they would obviously come with no warranty, as they are not being sold as part of their stock. Being the cheapskate I am, I offered 75% of her price (her price was a little more than what I would have paid at the local thrift store). She accepted and I walked out with the four machines pictured below. She said to check back at the end of the month.... Somebody stop me.

A couple videos

This morning I decided to have the camera rolling while I was oiling my vintage New Home model 270 sewing machine. Even before oiling it, the thing ran very smoothly and was quiet. It may have been serviced recently, as in maybe the last 5 or 10 years, but I'm sure it was ready for a fresh supply of oil. Let me warn you, the video is 29 minutes long... Don't fall asleep.

When is a Penney not worth a Penny

I suppose it depends on what condition a Penney is in that determines its worth. The (JC) Penney pictured below is hopefully worth more than a penny. It is a model 6940A. Cast aluminum body so it is nice and light, mostly steel parts inside, save for the stitch cams and a gear or two, and a handy carrying handle on top. All in all, it is a fairly nice machine.

Green. The new black.

I have always been partial to the black Singer 15-91s. Gear drive, no belts to replace, simple straight stitch, easy to maintain, pretty much bullet-proof in every way.

Singer 185K base

The Singer 185K I recently acquired was my first of this type. Normally a sewing machine has feet so it can stand on it's own, but this 185K doesn't have feet at the left (bobbin) end, so a large screw on the oscillating assembly rubs on the table when the machine is running.

Pfaff 30 stitch length lever issue

After cleaning and oiling my new Pfaff 30 sewing machine, I noticed the stitch length lever jogged back and forth a little while the machine was running. I could hold the lever in one spot but it would slow the machine down. For a while I couldn't figure out what was causing this strange behavior but determined it must be something to do with the feed dog fork.

No, it's not junk. Truck full of sewing machines.

Ok, this next photo may look to most onlookers like a load headed to the nearest recycling station. Not so. This is my latest treasure brought home from afar.

"It's Purple!" Kenmore 158.321

That was the first comment from my daughter when she saw me working on this Kenmore 158.321 sewing machine.