Good morning, everyone. I am new to this forum, having found it during a rather rigorous search for information on a machine that I inherited several years ago. I will try to keep my post as short as possible.
In 2015, I met a young woman through my fiance and his friend (her fiance)who was highly interested in sewing. She was incredibly sweet and quiet, we talked about various things (she was mostly interested in how I modify several patterns into one), but then mentioned that she was given a machine by her grandmother and that she was having a hard time sewing with it. Her biggest issue was that it was skipping stitches and on the rarest of occasions, the stitches would gather under the fabric and create a giant mess. As we kept talking, her fiance suggested that they bring the machine by for me to at least look at and maybe help troubleshoot the problems. I asked her what was the name of the machine and when the last time it was serviced, she said she wasn't sure but she thought it was a Singer and that supposedly, it had just came back from being serviced the week before (the 'supposedly' will play in shortly). Since I know Singers well having learned how to sew on one and had one for a number of years, I figured I could help and agreed to take a look at it. A few days later, they brought it over and I set it in a corner of my quilting room.
When I opened the cabinet the next day to take a look at it, I was kind of surprised to see that the machine is definitely not a Singer. After a quick look to find the serial number and a brief search online to find threading and oiling diagrams, I discovered I had a Koyo Centennial machine, one that I had never heard of before. I'm not one to shy away from a challenge, once I had the diagrams printed off, I set about working on the machine.
'Supposedly' serviced is a little bit of a laugh, I don't think the machine had been serviced in the better part of 20 years, the internal mechanisms were gunked up with oil, lint and dirt, the light was flickering horribly, the cord was chewed up and the needle itself was rusted and put in the wrong way. Now, I know for a fact that when you take a machine in to get it serviced, they not only clean and oil the machine, they also replace belts if needed and fix small issues, such as a flickering light and the cord either repaired or replaced with a new one, not to mention put in a new needle if there are issues with it and put it in the right way.
After, I got out my sewing machine screw drivers and cleaning kit and spent the next four days very carefully and methodically cleaning this baby, oiling it properly, putting in a new needle the right way and repairing the cord. I am happy to report that the machine stopped skipping stitches and stopped gathering thread, yay me! When I felt like I could give the machine back, I called her up to say that it was done, it was then that she told me her fiance had found a newer machine for her and that for all the time and effort I put into the other machine, I could keep it. That was actually fine by me, since working on this machine as much as I did, I had gotten over protective of it.
There are still issues with the machine, the needle seems to be stuck in the left position, the embroidery stitches are not working, neither is the zigzag width dial, but the machine runs very smoothly, no knocks, bumps, grinds, screeches or squeaks. I do have tentative plans to get it to my usual machine guy to have him give it a very serious once over and see if he can get the needle put back into the center position and of all the things to happen, the light burned out. I have no real inclination to use the embroidery stitches, any embroidering I want on a new piece of clothing I've always done by hand, so even if he's unable to fix all of the issues, I'm not going to be that upset, it'll be used for straight seams only, sewing clothes but mainly for quilting.
In my mind, sewing machines are investments and if they are taken care of properly and serviced regularly, they will literally outlive their previous owners. I've sewn on newer machines before, I liked how they stitched things, but give me one of these old cast iron hulks that needs a good sturdy cabinet to house them in and I'm one happy girl. Even with the issues, I love this machine and I just got my hands on on the owners manual, I'll be printing it off later and putting it in a three-ring binder for off-line use.
I'm so happy I found this site, I can't wait to get to know everyone.
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