Champanier

Thanks, everybody! Ann31039, congratulations on your 'new' Kenmore and happy upcoming birthday! Rodney, I am sooo tempted by the dashboard machines. They are the coolest - I love every one of them! I haven't run across any in person - if I do, I'm sure it will follow me home. Skyangel, I love the reupholstery story! Mrs SewNSew, I,ll look forward to hearing more about the 1760. KenmoreRulesAll, your name says it all. Macybaby, what a wonderful description - 'sewing with a long lost friend'.

Yooper32

Well, Bless Your Heart! I am so darn happy for you, I could almost hear that choir of angels singing. Nothing does your heart any better than a sweet session with a machine. I hadn't touched my FW in probably a year, and there it sat, all alone in my bedroom gathering dust and looking pitiful and I sat down at her last evening and did one of my foundation scrap blocks...it was love all over again at her sweet song. Why had I let her sit there so long, unused? Makes you wonder.

Cari-in-Oly

[QUOTE=Yooper32;6958822 I hadn't touched my FW in probably a year, and there it sat, all alone in my bedroom gathering dust and looking pitiful and I sat down at her last evening and did one of my foundation scrap blocks...it was love all over again at her sweet song. Why had I let her sit there so long, unused? Makes you wonder.[/QUOTE]

I think that every time I sit down with a machine I haven't used for a while. That's why I say my favorite machine is whatever one I'm using at the time.

Cari

manicmike

I got one for nothing a couple of years ago, and after a good clean and oil I was astonished at how good it was. Very smooth and powerful. Unfortunately it only had a straight stitch needle plate so the built-in stitches and ZZ weren't doable. I practically gave it away to someone who was really going to use it.
Before anyone states the obvious, Kenmores are extremely rare here so I had almost no chance of find a general purpose needle plate for it.

KenmoreRulesAll

Mike, that's a really nice one. (You can tell the higher-end models because they have the decorative plate on the nose cover.) Looks like a 158.1815. All that's missing is the light switch.

If you find another and you need parts, let us know. I can mail them to you, no problem.

Sewnoma

Nice!! My very first sewing machine that I bought with my own money when I moved out was a Kenmore, and I used (and abused) that machine terribly for years and it just keeps on sewing. Mine is a 90's model, so probably even less rugged than what you have, but I still have it and it still works perfectly despite all my "experimentation" and ignorance in how to properly care for a machine. Mine was made by Janome.

Does Sears even still sell Kenmore sewing machines?

KenmoreRulesAll

No, sadly. The machines sold in Sears stores and from catalogs always stood for very high quality machines. The Janomes (in my experience) are no exception. Sears has been having lots of problems lately and is closing many of their stores. One wonders if decisions such as no longer selling sewing machines and supplies are cause or effect.

I can remember sitting on the floor poring over the Sears catalog after my parents looked through it. We would keep it on a bookshelf upstairs and I'd look at all the funky clothing, the appliances, etc. I was too young to know the value of their sewing machines (and we were a Singer family) but I've seen pictures of the pages of sewing machines they offered and the memories flooded back. What a glorious time.

GreyQ

Good for you!!

jlm5419

The first machine I got as an adult in the '70s was a Kenmore 158.13571. I sewed everything on that machine from clothes, drapes, even upholstery fabric and it still runs like it always did. Kenmores were great machines. Too bad they have gone by the wayside, to be replaced by today's plastic throwaways.

Cari-in-Oly

The Wish Book! I have many memories of my brothers and I going through the catalog circling what we wanted for Christmas.
My dad worked for Sears for over 30 years and saw the downfall of a once great company. By the time he retired a couple years after KMart bought Sears, his retirement was 1/3 of what it should have been. He figured he better get out before there was nothing left.

Cari