Courtney
Courtney, from northern Colorado, visited Cheryl and Chris (also from northern Colorado) and sends us pictures of machines he has been working with:
Dear All,
This last month I have spent quite a bit of time with a little featherweight. Shortly before the pandemic I got a call from some old friends who were moving. They asked if I would be interested in a Featherweight and a table. We did not talk about how much they were asking but I dropped over to their house anyway. The machine was a 1945 Featherweight (first batch after the war) that belonged to her grandmother (she uses a 201 that belonged to her mother.) The machine was in excellent mechanical condition on the inside. On the outside it looks pretty good but is starting to have some clear coat deterioration. The table was in very good condition. It is a model 312 with a wooden frame and metal legs. The combination of Featherweight and card table can start to get pricey but when I asked about price they said they just wanted to give it to me! I have had the machine and table down in the basement and thought now would be a good time to give it a good once over and try and use it on a real project, a Christmas quilt. I now have the top pieced and had no problem with the machine. I have included a picture of the machine and tabletop (a small portion of quilt top can be seen rolled-up in the background.)
I originally thought the Featherweight was all I was going to talk about this month, but then Chris and Cheryl had the free Singer 15-91 in a model 42 mid-century cabinet. The cabinet is in fair to poor, but the machine is in good working conditions. After we had loaded the cabinet and machine in the back of my car, they invited me down to their workshop. It was great to finally visit their inner sanctum. I got to see several of their old treadle machines, and Chris's beautiful refinish work. The fellow who originally had the model 15 had just dropped off about 20 other machines the night before. There were several nice machine but most were in some state of disrepair. It looked like the owner had started to take the machines apart to refresh them, but once she got them apart, she lost interest. At least she had put the parts in baggies and had included the serial number of the machines they were taken off of. Before I left for home the sewing machine fairies and slipped a couple of other machines in my car. One of the machines was a white EFKU hand-crank machine that I will use with my 4th graders if the city every opens up Centennial Village so we can start having History Fest again. The other is a very nice 1949 black-side model 128. It is in very good shape and even has the front slide plate! It was missing the key to the arch top case but I grabbed my Dremel and cut a new key to fit. All machines are now working. I have included a picture of the three machines (and the case key.)
Courtney
PS The quilt top is completed and basted, now all I have to do is quilt it!
James
James acquired no machines this past month, something a little unusual. So he tells us about a machine he mentioned at our last month's meeting:
I have not acquired anything new since the last meeting. This is the second sewing machine I mentioned but did not feature before. Unfortunately the case suffered shipping damage but looks repairable. The dome top had separated from the sides but the break is along the glue joints so that is easily repaired but I will not trust to pick up the case by the handle after the repair due to the thin connection between the dome top and the sides. The case bottom had zero packaging material at the bottom of the box. It split along the side and the top of the base but I believe I can glue and clamp back in place.
No damage to the machine head though. It is a Domestic made New Willard sewing machine made sometime in the 1920s as the slide plate has a 1920 date and the wiring is the older 3 way junction connection type. Decals are in pretty good shape. I really like the Art Deco style inspection plate. The hand wheel moves super smooth so it should sew well once I make the repairs.
The most interesting thing about the machine is the unusual swing away motor bracket. As you can see in the photos the bracket is in two parts with one end screwed into the machine base. There is a little tab that keeps the motor in place for sewing configuration. It runs off a belt instead of a pulley as in other swing away motors I have seen. The machine actually came with a stapled leather belt of the correct length. I may adapt this design for machines without a motor boss that I want to make portable but still have a motor without modifying the head.
It came with a good selection of attachments that were between two boxes. One was a Domestic branded box and the other a torn black box that I assume was Greist as many attachments have that Griest label. It came with two bullet shuttles which look different so the other may not actually fit. The shuttle pictured on the left was in the machine. I have a total of 7 bobbins which is very welcome!
Lastly in the attachments I had among the usual broken needles, pins and buttons an antique button hooker tool that probably dates before WW1. Not sure what it was used for, shoes or gloves as I have no idea of the size difference between them.
James
... to be continued