ThayerRags

I did some more mending with my Singer 319W Treadle this morning. It’s not quilting, but it is fiddling with a vintage machine.

I had a hole worn in the front of my oldest denim apron. A very nice Dutch friend of ours made it for me about 8 years ago, so I want to hang onto it. She makes aprons for a hobby. I had a roll of the old-style heavy blue denim, gave her a chunk of it, and she designed and made an apron for me. I’ve since replaced the neck strap and the waist tie straps, and then later I designed and made a second apron myself out of the same fabric, so this one has been retired to my bikeshop at home.

With the hole mended and some of the worn strings cut off of the neck and pocket top, it should still have several miles left in it. I used the multi-zigzag key on the 319W to make the stitches.

CD in Oklahoma

Rodney

Very cool! That apron is really developing some character. Something that's missing in these days of toss it if it has a hole in it clothing.

I've been quilting on my Rodney machine the last several days and my daughter Olivia has been sewing some bookmarks on her Singer 101. The machine seems a little slow and underpowered even after cleaning and re-greasing the motor but it makes a really pretty stitch.
Rodney

ThayerRags

While using my little MUTT Treadle Stand, I noticed that I had some clanking going on that I need to address sometime. In trying to eliminate as much drag as possible, it sounds as though I may have left the foot pedal a little bit too loose when I serviced it last time. It runs effortlessly, but it sure makes a racket!

Are you quilt piecing or quilting on your Rodney machine?

Is Olivia using cotton fabric, or some other heavier fabric for her bookmarks.

After cleaning and re-greasing the motor, did you run it flat-out with the clutch disengaged for a good long time? Sometimes doing that helps to get everything “ran back in” after having things apart.

CD in Oklahoma

Mrs. SewNSew

I love it. I think "character" is a good word and just love patched denim. I am a denim girl since my tree climbing days.

ArchaicArcane

I've been away from sewing machines for a bit, but about 3 weeks ago a gal contacted me to work on her mom's featherweight. She said it wasn't running (hadn't for about 10 or 15 years) and when quizzed further she said it was "the bobbin". In speaking with her more, it actually turned out that someone had removed the hook at some point and it was sitting in a margarine container inside the case.

Sure I said, I can reassemble it and give it a cleaning, etc.

Well, it turns out that the hook was off the machine because the tip was broken off it. My guess is someone disassembled probably due to a thread jam that the featherweights are known for, but they disassembled the wrong part.

When they tried to put the hook back on, they didn't time her and the tip of the hook was broken off in a collision with the needle and she went back into her box.

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I ordered a replacement from Glenn Williams in Florida and it arrived last night. Today, I put the whole thing back together and she sewed her first stitches in more than a decade.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]484988[/ATTACH]

I do have one question though. Is there any chance that Singer mated these bobbin bases and the hooks to each other? The replacement hook did not fit the original bobbin base. It was way too tight a fit. The base from my painter FW fit the new hook, but with some tight spots. Oiling and basically a gentle lapping seemed to fix it, and the same thing for the original bobbin base in my painter FW's hook and everyone had working bits. The original bobbin base was way tighter than even a "it wasn't used very much" scenario could account for. I was scared I would break the finger off the base if I used enough force to actually turn it.

Rodney

I just finished piecing and am now quilting-not free motion though. I haven't practiced that enough to want to risk it.
Olivia was working with scrap cotton
No, I haven't tried running it flat out with the clutch disengaged. I cleaned and lubed it last fall and mostly it just sits, so far we found some dried oil preventing the tension from disengaging and I had to loosen the motor just a bit then run the machine and tighten the motor back down. It was slightly out of alignment before.
It will most likely be a few days before I try working on it again. I need to get this quilt done and out the door by the 1st. I can do it but I need to stay focused on that right now. It's a 2 sided quilt, the front is done and I'm about 1/2 done quilting the back. When that's done I still have to join the 2 halves together and bind it. I figure I've got another 3 days to go on it at the rate I work.
I'll be posting pictures when it's done. It's all being done on vintage machines except the parts I'll need to do by hand.
Rodney

ThayerRags

Tammi, I’ve heard that there’s a difference between the complete bobbin/hook assemblies between the models 221 and 301, even though they take the same bobbin and bobbin case. I’ve never compared them to see how they differ.

Any chance that it’s got a mix of parts causing the bad fit?

CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

Thank you, I like the old-time “patched look” too. I agree with your term “character”.

I may be one of the few people around that actually enjoys mending jeans. I’m so glad that my wife taught me how to mend denim. (She is too, since I do much of her denim mending at the shop for her now.)

While I could have simply reversed sides of the piece of repair denim (the “back side” of the newer denim would come closer to matching the faded apron color), I wanted the contrast of the colors to show. It helps to highlight how much fading has occurred, and that it definitely has been patched up for more use.

CD in Oklahoma

ThayerRags

Good. I’ll be looking forward to seeing them.

CD in Oklahoma

ArchaicArcane

Thanks for bringing that up. I did know about some differences, but I went downstairs to survey the machines that I have here. For the record they are:
1. LBOW SB 301A
2. 1950 221
3. 1948 221 (my "painter" - it's disassembled waiting on a paint job)
4. 1957 222k
5. My customer's 222K

Here's what I expected to find:
All FWs share the hook and bobbin case numbers, with possible superceded numbers.
301 would have different part numbers for hook (I mean, it's a slant right? chances are the angle of the needle alone could cause differences) and bobbin base plate.

Here's what I found.

Bobbin Base part numbers:
221:45752
222:45926
301:170166

Hook part numbers:
221: 45827
222:170135
301:170135

Yes. I checked those last 2 numbers 3 times.

The parts charts at brewer sewing show that the 170135 is the hook number for the FW machines and their parts chart for the 301 doesn't show the hook number separately, but the one on the Singer site does.
http://www.brewersewing.com/StockIma...21K4,221K5.pdf
http://www.brewersewing.com/StockIma...uals/221K7.pdf
http://parts.singerco.com/IPpartCharts/301-1_2_3.PDF

I can only guess at this point that the 170135 supercedes the 45827 and has a wide enough opening that even a slant needle won't cause a collision.

So that just leaves the base plates. They don't -look- different to me, so it's at the micrometer level that they're different. I even compared fingers and for some reason, though I'm sure I've seen a difference at some point, I couldn't see it today.

The 222K currently has the older hook - the 45827 - it's what Glenn sent me - and a 45752 bobbin base plate. It's a tight fit to get it in and out - that could be a function of my sore hands too though because most of them gave me grief during this experiment - but it spins naturally when it's in place.

My painter now has the older hook and the 222K bobbin base plate and spins 99% properly. It's a little weird if turned backward, but is otherwise good. It's also not installed in a machine at the moment, so it may be weird just because.