Rose_P

That is very interesting. I wasn't familiar with it, but googled and found this demo of the 223: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hP5lMP4kKw Near the end she says the head was made in Japan in a Singer factory. I knew about the clones, but not about a Singer factory there. She also says the motor was made in Canada. It does indeed look a lot like my 238, except it has a light, which mine does not, and my pressure control knob is on the face plate. The "dashboard" on the 233 seems to be molded into the metal body, whereas on the 238 it's plastic attached to the front. She seems to have one more thread guide just above the needle, and I can't see where my machine ever had one there, but it's making good stitches without it, so I'm not worried.

I thought it was amusing that the first thing she tells us about the machine is about how very heavy it is. When you're used to machines of similar size and age that have aluminum bodies, this one stuns you, especially in the white color, which I associate with lighter machines, too.

tuckyquilter

SCORE big time It looks like you'll be having fun with this baby.

Kelsie

It is fascinating that you have the quality control paper. Your cams look very much like mine in my Singer 348 which was made in 1967. I am curious about your screwdrivers. I have a small collection. Could we have a picture of them?

Rose_P

Here are all the attachments, except the zigzag foot which is on the machine. They were in a red plastic Singer box. The brown Bakelite handled screwdrivers say "Singer" on them, as do the rolled hem and straight stitch feet. The oil bottle is empty - maybe that's a good indication. The person who sold it to me insisted on plugging it in and stomping on the foot pedal, and it was surprisingly quiet and runs okay. He said his mom rarely used it.

J3General

It looks like you have both Type 15 and Type 66 (plastic) bobbins in the attachments photo. My bet is your "238" uses a Type 15 bobbin. I often find a mix of bobbins in vintage machines I buy and speculate that the last words the owner uttered when putting up the machine for the last time were, "Something is wrong with this machine, it doesn't run as well as it used to!"

John Thomas in NC

Rose_P

I've had the same observation with bobbins, and I wasn't planning to use any of these old ones that have a little rust or are the wrong size. Some of my old machines had bobbins that were actually bent. I don't know how that happens. Maybe stepping on them? My treadle machine came with several nice enough bobbins, and I decided to pull off the old thread because it had decayed. Almost every bobbin had 2-3 colors of thread wound over each other. The same was true of my Kenmore that dates to the early 1970's. It's a very nice machine that had every possible attachment, but she couldn't go out and stock up on bobbins?

Teena

Favors my 226, and yes it too weighs a ton. lol It takes the flat cams as well, and not a lot of info on this old gal either, but it's a great sewing machine. Mine came in a cabinet, that I've seen come with another 226 that a member of the VSM FB page had. So, I'm assuming it was the cabinet of choice of these machines. Just thought you'd might like to see a pic.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]594256[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]594257[/ATTACH]

leonf

And of course, the cat checking the details on the back of the cabinet.

Cari-in-Oly

Teena there doesn't seem to be much info about any of the Japanese made Singers.

Cari

Rose_P

Teena, your machine is the closest I've seen to a twin to mine, and that cabinet is adorable. I have not seen one quite like that before. Love the furry feet, too!

Just thought to add that if kitty is busy locating the thread to pull out, as one of mine did from a closed cabinet, it's a clever thing for them to do, but thread is potentially deadly for cats. They will swallow a lot of it and it can constrict their intestines. Several years ago someone on this board mentioned she lost her cat in this way.