Help Identifying Old Dressmaker
 

Hi all! I've inherited my mother's old Dressmaker Sewing Machine. Trouble is, I can't find the box that held all of the extra feet and I need a zipper foot. All of my online searches come up blank. I don't see anything that resembles my machine. I've attached a photo of the machine. The label read SUPERDELUXE AUTOMATIC ZIGZAG Precision Made MODEL 500B3 Japan. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

I think zipper feet are sold by whether the machine is high shank, low shank, slant shank, etc. Janey can probably tell by looking at your photo which one you have. She will be along. It may be Monday before she checks in.

You might be able to tell by looking up the definition of the low/high shank online.

All I can tell you for sure is that it's not a slant shank, as only Singer made those.

bkay

Thanks. I did order a zipper foot from Amazon and it fits the shank but doesn't lower all the way. There's about an 1/8" gap so that's not going to work:(

https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/?m...Parts%20Online
Sewing Parts Online has been helpful to me when I didn't know exactly which part I needed.
https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/se...sser-feet.aspx
This page gives examples of the types of pressure feet. If you can figure out which one of them is like the foot on your machine, then maybe they can tell you which of the 100+ zipper feet that they have will fit your machine.
https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/se...sser-feet.aspx
This appears to be the same machine. It may help with ordering the zipper foot.

Welcome to Quilting Board. I'm guessing that is the zipper foot from Amazon that you have on the machine. Sometimes it can be hard to tell the shank height especially with a zipper foot. I tried to figure out if it was a high shank or not, before I read bkay's reply. :) More than likely the Dressmaker does/ have a high shank. A lot of the Japanese dashboard machines do have high shank feet. However, it should be more than 1/8" difference between a high shank and low shank.

Barb gave some good info, but I think the last link is the same as one of the previous ones. Here are some other sites that show the different shank heights. I find it kind of interesting that there is some discrepancy in the measurements on the archive/sewclassic site.
https://web.archive.org/web/20150823...shop.sew-claan
http://beginnersewingmachines.net/pu...p;preview=true
https://craftsselection.com/what-is-...ewing-machine/

If you put a normal foot on and take a picture from the nose side facing the hand wheel of the needle and presser foot on, I could probably verify that it is indeed a high shank or not.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

Thanks for all of the tips and information. Attached are photos of the regular foot up, down, and on its own.Attachment 643129

Yes, that is definitely a high shank. I have only ordered sewing parts from Amazon since sew-classic closed. I can generally find enough stuff to get free shipping. Although, there are a few things that do not apply. I can't remember where bkay has bought stuff from and Barb is happy with sewing parts online. I would probably go with a hinged foot, but a solid one would probably work fine. These are just a few available.
https://www.vintagesingerparts.com/p...92f49c26&_ss=r
https://www.cutexsewingsupplies.com/...32221144809525
https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/zi...7a7fc0ed735f41
https://www.sewingpartsonline.com/zi...5276f9d91a5548
https://www.amazon.com/HONEYSEW-Shan...255819&sr=8-14

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

You ladies have been a lifesaver! I ordered one of each to see which works best. If only I could find my mom's sewing kit... Thanks, again!

Happy sewing,
Andrea

Do you have the manual for this machine
I have been looking for one
I have my mother’s machines but lost the manual