J Miller

It should have been against the law to make cams without ID on them.

miriam

I'm wondering why we aren't putting more of these fancy stitch machines. It is kind of funny that some of the zig zag machines look so complicated. Do you think it is because the companies thought they could get more money for them?

J Miller

Some of them are complicated. You need to adjust three or four different controls to get certain stitch patterns. Others are so simple it's funny.

And I'll bet you they did charge more for the fancy ones like my Alden and the Morse Photomatic series than they did the plane ones.

Joe

miriam

The insides are different from one machine to another - some have metal camstacks with gears and some are more simple and some do have plastic cam stacks. Some just use cams with readers. I can remember the sewing machine guys warning people not to buy Japanese machines. I don't know if they were prejudiced because of the war or if the machines weren't as good as the others. Then in the 1970s they were saying only the European machines were any good. From what I have seen - I would prefer an old European machine than some of the Japanese I have looked at. But we are talking big bucks differences in some cases. For just straight sew or zig zag the Japanese machines are just fine and do an adequate job. For the fancy stitches I can see why you would go with European. I am not at all impressed with the newer plastic and stamped metal machines. I think they are not built to last any length of time and don't do any improved job of sewing. If you figure 95% of the time you are sewing straight stitches it isn't all that important to have the fancy stitches. I've had people lately buy a machine because it just does straight stitch and it is cheaper to get one than to take an electronic machine in to be cleaned. They can clean the vintage machines themselves.

quiltingweb

I think my 158.523 belongs here instead of on the other thread. Check out this groovy set of attachments for it though[ATTACH=CONFIG]381013[/ATTACH]

J Miller

OK, I'm jealous. The cams we got for our 158-523 are grey and our accessories are just plane Greist in the regular box. You got purty red ones ............

Joe

miriam

Quiltingweb, I have a set of those attachments - everything is color coded. I think I even have a manual. I've never been quite sure which machine it goes with. The disks I have are different.

irishrose

My Universal sews a pretty seam, but she's one of the dedicated left needle machines. She is in a basic cabinet though it's in excellent shape. I had to buy this one because it reminded me of my mother's White from the 50s.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]381043[/ATTACH]

quiltingweb

They are kinda cool, aren't they. Two sided. I got the machine for $15.... what I really wanted was the box of accessories. And an extra bobbin holder. I didn't realize until I got it home that it was a great machine. I looked at one of the Blue Montgomery Ward machines, but I talked myself out of it. I could kick myself now. It had all the cams and attachments for it. I guess I can't save them all...

makitmama

I was excited to see this thread when I got back. I am a Morse fan, and have three right now. The Fotomatic IV(resembling a cross between a 57 chevy and a delco radio) is great to sew with. I also have a Fotomatic III(waiting for restoration), and a Morse pale mint ZZ machine.