Courtney
From northern Colorado, Courtney writes:
Dear All,
I have not done a lot with sewing machines in the last month. Connie had her second knee replacement about two weeks ago and I have been nursemaid since she came home. By the time this is all over I should have earned my nurse's cap and gotten an LPN pin.
Last month I reported on my experiences with 6 different zigzaggers. I thought I was going to report on seven. When I tried the seventh I was shocked to find out that it was for a slant needle machine. I was surprised because there is a booklet with it that claims to have been printed in 1950. Which would have been before the 301's came out and I know on no other slant needle machines that predated the 301. During the last month I pulled out my 301 and gave it a try. It seemed to operate just fine but did not really press down on the fabric hard enough. Two layers were a mess but with 4 or more layers of fabric it seemed to do fine. There are some adjustments I can make but a couple of stuck screws and little time kept that from happening. It is a cute little zigzagger and quite heavy for its size. Oh well it is a project waiting to be finished at a later time.
Two inexpensive eBay purchases arrived in the mail. One was a foot I had never seen before. My eye was caught by the title: Synchronous Feed Presser Foot Walking Foot Sewing Machine Presser Foot Feet MP. A walking foot for $1.50, I had to try it. It is a clip-on foot In the picture I have it propped up on my black 301 clip-on ankle. I tried it on a 301 but it did not work well. The lever that goes over the needle screw kept hitting a screw that holds on a thread guide. When I tried it on a Featherweight it seemed to work fine with a limited amount of test sewing. Janey found a YouTube on this foot and it was called a knit foot. Try googling "How to Use a Knit Foot Fiery Phoenix."
In PPD times (pre-pandemic times) last fall I was asked to be an emergency program for a local sewing group. My topic was Featherweights and as such I displayed several and talked about the history of featherweights. I had my AD 544829 (one of the first 10,000 made in the fall of 1933), a centennial model, a white one , a tan one and of course my 222. When I was packing up I found I was missing the bobbin case to my oldest machine. We looked all over the store and to see if it had fallen on the floor or something. No Luck. While I was browsing eBay I came across a cheap Featherweight bobbin case for about $15, about a quarter or less of what an official Simanco bobbin case costs. I sent off my money. When it arrived I was surprised at how close to the original it looked, just no Simanco part number. I set the tension on it and gave it a try. It seemed to work just fine. It was a bit louder (3db) than on original but sewed just fine. I have since found a YouTube video on a similar bobbin case and he seems to have had the same observations: works well but is a bit louder. He did say that with time the tension would work loose and have to be reset. I have not sewn with mine enough to to have that happen yet. As luck would have it, as I got out my machine to try out the new bobbin case, I notice somethinng strange about on of the bobbins. Upon closer examination, I could see that the bobbin was in the bobbin case but the bobbin case was upside down so on a quick glance it looked like only a bobbin. Needless to say, I am now very happy. I have finally found my original bobbin case and now have a spare that did not cost me an arm and a leg!
Courtney
James
James received a sewing machine this past month, which he tells us about and also sent several pictures.
I would like to feature a sewing machine that just arrived the other day. It is a rarely seen aluminum Singer 99k that was part of the August 1, 1922 lot. It was made at Kilbowie, Scotland. Only 4500 machines were made for this lot.
I was hoping the knee lever was in the lid as photos did not show it and it was there! I was surprised that the the lever was so light as I was thinking of concrete rebar!
Here is how it looked before I started cleaning the case. I gave it a simple clean using Howard Restor A Finish neutral and it looks much better. Later I plan to use steel wool to remove the paint spots and smudges and reapply and probably a wax if not a reshellacing.
The decals are in great shape and features the Filagree pattern. At first I thought I was missing part of the tension assembly but it turns out that it uses much smaller than normal tension plates. I do have a broken off thread guide on the faceplate so I plan to bend wire to the correct shape and thickness and epoxy it in place as the original was riveted in. Notice the neat thread wear patterns across the face plate.
The wiring looks like it should not be too hard to replace as all the connections can be unscrewed. The knee lever assembly is the old style with what I hope is just textured insulation so I hope that I won’t have to take it apart.
The needle does not want to move when I try to turn the hand wheel but the hand wheel turns easily when I unloosen the clutch knob. So I need to clean or oil the shaft or the hook area.
All in all a very cool sewing machine!
.... to be continued