Cari-in-Oly

I know! I know! But I cheated and read the info in the links. Gloves.

Cari

SteveH

yep, the two main features are the extra skinny post that allows you to sew up to the tip of the ladies gloves and it uses a two thread "doublechain" pique stitch that is actually "stretchable" (similar to the Grover & Baker stitch) so that the gloves will stretch and give without popping seams.

The more modern version lists for 800-1500 used.... Still waiting to see an older one.

Cari-in-Oly

My serger is an old one and does a 2 thread safety chain stitch. Instead of removing a needle when I just want to overlock an edge, so I don't have to re thread it later, I use all 4 threads and then pull out the chain stitch. Cheating? Yep. Lazy? Yep.

Cari

grant15clone

Steve, that is a crazy cool machine. Too bad you don't have all of the parts to it. I would love to see one running to see how it works.
~G~

Sarabela

I recently was complaining about my sewing machine being in the shop and not being able to work on my quilting and Halloween costume projects and someone in the main board here suggested I pick up an old vintage machine to have as a backup. I thought, hmm, I have 2 vintage machines in my basement that belonged to my great-grandmother that I had planned to get out when my kids are grown and clean up and have as conversation pieces/ unique furniture. I never thought I could use them for some reason. I brought them upstairs and cleaned them up somewhat. I did a lot of work on the 66 and not so much on the 328K so far. The cabinets need a lot of work. I am going to do some research on how to best restore the cabinets. The treadle cabinet has some veneer missing so I have to learn how to fix that. My guess is that the 66 may have been original to the treadle cabinet although I have the receipt for the 66 which shows that my great grandmother traded in a machine and got $5 credit toward the $95 66 purchased in 1933 (made in 1930) so whatever her original machine was may have been in the cabinet originally. The 66 is currently in a smaller cabinet which may have come with the 328k. I will probably switch them back to the original cabinets after I do some work on them. Does anyone know anything about the cabinet that the 66 is in and what era it may be from? I don't know a lot about wood but it looks to me to maybe be mahogany or at least stained to look like mahogany. I know the 7 drawer cabinet that the 328K is in is quite common and was probably made over a long range of years. Here are before pictures of the machines all dusty down in my basement.



and cleaned up a bit






Accessories box that was in a drawer


the 328K needs a new belt which I have on order but the motor spins and all the parts move.

Rodney

Glenn has a tutorial on cleaning and restoring the finish on cabinets in the tutorial section. You can see some repairs to veneer in my thread. It's titled something like "Singer model 27 Ella" also, I don't remember the name of it but J Miller has a good thread on a cabinet he restored with a lot of veneer work too.
If the veneer is loose it's just a matter of working glue under it and gluing it back down. Pieces that are missing can be patched. The patch will show but usually isn't too noticeable. If there's too much gone then sometimes it's better to peel it all up and replace it.
Your treadle cabinet looks like walnut from here. The other cabinet I can't see very well but there is a very good chance it's mahogany.
Rodney

KenmoreRulesAll

In my area, there are lots of cabinets (w/out machines) for sale for very little, usually $15 or so. I suppose people didn't need/want/understand the machines, tossed those, and kept the tables to be used as furniture. Imho, unless the cabinet is a genuinely nice piece after a refinish, I'd just buy a "new" one for a low price, hide a few scratches (they all have a few) and be done with it.

Both of your tables look OK, especially the treadle. The 66 cabinet is one I'd doctor a little to make it look presentable but I wouldn't invest time and effort with a complete refinish unless I really liked it.

My $0.02.

purplefiend

Sarabella,
The 66 was very likely in the treadle cabinet, I have 2 older 66 machines 1910 and 1916 treadle machines. They sew very nicely. They're not hard to learn to use, just different than you're used to using.
The 1st photo is the 1910, its in much better condition. 2nd photo is the 1916, the finish is alligatored but still sews well; was lots more work to get it sewing again. They share a "franken" treadle, it has Elgin irons by The Free and a top from a Singer coffin top treadle that had a broken pitman rod.
Sharon in Texas

mlmack

The cabinet that the 66 is currently in looks like one of the generic cabinets from the 60's or so that a lot of the Japanese machines came in. The Japanese "White" machine my mother had was in a cabinet similar to that.

It is also missing the door on the front.

manicmike

Just got home with it. I've separated the head from the base and my dad will clean up the latter. Here are a few pics of her now. I'll post a few more after cleaning.