Courtney
Courtney and his wife Connie have been busy over the last month. He recounts their activities:
Dear All,
With Connie being a famous SF writer, we go to 3 or 4 SF conventions a year. The weekend of Oct 20-23 was MileHiCon in Denver. I had volunteered to do a kid's program of sewing with hand crank machines. That meant that I could no longer procrastinate and had to get to the shop the make some hand-wheels I could use with hand cranks. I had experimented a couple of months ago, so it was time to actually make some. This time I used some 3/4 inch mdf and it worked out great. I didn't have time to paint them black, but I think they still looked acceptable and worked well. See picture.
The hand crank machines were ready to go BUT somehow, I had been left off of the kids' program so a number of adults showed up expecting me to talk give a formal talk about sewing machines. A friend had brought her mother's old Featherweight for me to service so that meant that I would at least have two machines to display, my homemade hand-crank and the Featherweight. BUT, another friend had come across a 19th century machine and had decided to buy it for me. She is from Santa Fe and brought it with her and gave it to me. It looks like a Singer 12 but I don't think it is official. Nowhere can I find Simanco or Singer. The shuttle is a boat shuttle but has a tension spring, so I think it is probably a European copy but built to a high standard. It still looks very nice and seems to work well. The case is a bit worn but I think I can refinish it and it will look nice. All in all, a great 19th century machine.
Nearly everyone knows I like sewing machines, so another friend showed up with a vintage Kenmore 158-504. It is not pristine but did come with a table and chair. She said she had tried to give it away a couple of times, but no one ever showed up to take it away, so I was going to have to take it. At least all of this happened before my presentation so now I was going to have 4 machines to display.
Just as I was setting up for my talk a fellow showed up with a Willcox and Gibbs glass tension machine. He said that he had bought it in England 30 years ago for about 5 pounds and was never going to use it and asked if I could. I quickly accepted the machine. It needs to be cleaned up a bit but seems to turn freely and be in good working condition. The very first W&G machines were glass tension machines starting in the late 1850's but in 1876 W&G introduced their automatic machines which became quite popular. At first glance I could only see 5 serial numbers which would have placed it in the early 1860s. but after I got it home, I was able to find a 6th serial number placing it about 20-25 years later but definitely a 19th century machine. All in all, I ended up with 5 machines ranging from mid to late 19th century to mid to late 20th century to demonstrate while I talked about the history of sewing machines. I think the talk went well and I came home with 3 new (to me) sewing machines!
This coming month I will have to get my homemade hand-wheels painted, clean up the model 12 and W&G machines, and work on the model 12 case. Sounds like fun.
Courtney
PS
I have worked on the W&G since I wrote this letter. It was missing a needle screw, but I was able to dig one up. I think the machine was used commercially because it was VERY dirty. It is still not clean, but it is much better than it was. I put in a needle, adjusted the tension and gave it a try. It sews! The hand wheel was drilled for a crank handle, so I put on a cute red one. And quickly made a base for it. I still need to put a finish on one end of the base but the whole thing is starting to look quite nice.
As a last minute followup Courtney sent a note and additional picture:
Just a quick picture of the little W&G with needle and needle nut, hand crank, and base. It still needs a lot of cleaning but I think it is rather cute looking.
In Closing
Our thanks to the members who shared their varied activities with us. And thank you for reading. We will post here again next month.