miriam

My favorites are the 403 and the 503 - not as complicated

cindynvb

I don't know anything about vintage machines. What is so special about this one? When I'm out and about thrift shopping is there anything special I should be looking for?

Brynn

The nice thing about this machine, and the vintage machines in general, is that they're all metal. No plastic gears or anything. That means they won't break from normal usage, and even abnormal usage; it would take an epic amount of force to break the gears on one of these monsters.

In addition, they tend to be more accurate and regular in their stitches. They're often more powerful, and cheaper than their modern equivalents because no one wants to bother with them or learn to use them. You can also perform most if not all maintenance yourself, with no need for a professional visit (though it's good to do checkups!).

Basically, they're a great way to 'get in touch' with your quilting, and to reflect on the amount of craftsmanship and work that went into these machines before they switched to plastic everything. They're beautiful even when not in use.

miriam

These were the top of the line in their day and I think they are still way on the top. The needle was made on a slant which moved it about an inch forward so you can see what you are doing and less strain on your neck. They are made out of metal instead of plastic. There is plenty of stitch selection. They are fairly easy to maintain. You can find them in thrift stores occasionally, ebay or CL for about $150 plus or minus - fairly good price considering they were $500 - $600 when they were new - and it's been a while. Worth every penny if you can find one in good shape or one that has been refurbished.

Jingle

Very pretty machine, I have my first a Singer 328K with the fashion discs. Everything is metal and it still works like a charm.

J Miller

Brynn,

You got a deal on that machine, no doubt about it.
We got ours for around $60.ish when you factor in the shipping. It had no cords, no foot controller, was missing the tension parts (like yours), had no cams or attachments other than the foot on it.
We bought the cord set/controller from Sew-Classic and got the local SMG to replace the tension unit for us.
And since then we've picked up quite a few accessories. Even with what it cost us to do that we feel we came out ahead.

Your mother will be thrilled I'll bet.

Joe

Brynn

Thanks Joe! Now I just need to work out how the heck the handoff to my mother is going to work; initially I picked it up to sell to my SMG, but now my mother would like to purchase it. SMG quoted $150 as a price for the machine, less $50 from his eBay price to account for the lack of shipping. But he said he'd pay at least $50 for the machine when I told him about it. I need to talk to him and get in writing how this all is going to work; I don't think it needs repairs beyond a tuneup and a new tension assembly, so I don't think $100 ($200 - eBay adj - finder's fee) is unreasonable, right? ><

annthreecats

Beautiful machine. Looks like the problems will be easy fixes. A friend gave me her old 401A that she hadn't used in many years. I put $100.00 in it getting it cleaned and a new power cord. It was worth every penny to have it fixed.

nstitches4u

Great find!

tenngal

You are one lucky lady!