A 201 at Last!
 

Some of you have probably gathered that I have been wanting a Singer 201-2 for a while now. I have restored my mother-in-law's grandmother's 201 and played around with a friend's 201. The best part about restoring is the "test" to make sure it's working well. On my MIL's I pieced half a queen size quilt during the "test"--- I kept it for a few days, lol! I was impressed with how smooth it was; it made my 15-91 sound like a diesel tractor vs the Rolls Royce. (Slightly exaggerated.:))

So when I saw a 201-2 on CL for $35 I grabbed it. It is a 1956 model, which I told my husband it's not really vintage yet... give it 20 years and it will be :) I would have liked something older, but oh well. It needs a good spa day, as it is very dusty and grimy, but the shellac still looks like in good order. We will be rewiring it. The cabinet it came in is falling apart so I'll put it in my Singer 66-16 cabinet and buy a Bentbox for the 66-16. Actually, I think that the old cabinet was originally a treadle that someone took off the cast iron legs and installed plain wooden legs.

One quick question, though. Would it be okay if I used a q-tip with running alcohol underneath in the bobbin case area and such, to break up all the old sticky dust and grime? I know not to get it on the shellac or in the potted-motor area, but I'm just thinking about the gears, behind the face plate, bobbin... all that fun stuff...

Congrats on the 201! For the cabinet, there was a later style that has the top that is exactly the same as the treadle (pretty basic) but with wooden legs, so that may be what you ended up with.

Yes, rubbing alcohol is good to use ...safely...on the "behind the scenes" parts. Lizzie Lenard has a great video on cleaning/polishing, and uses a cotton cord (wrapped around the exposed needle bar and presserbar) with metal polish to shine those up.

NZ, that's exciting! 201 is such a great machine. Be sure to post pics after she gets her spa day :)

NZ - congratulations on finding your 201-2! I am so glad that you tracked one down, and for a great price.

My 201-2 and my 15-88 are both in the schoolhouse cabinets, the only difference is the 15 has the treadle and pressed iron legs and the 201-2 has wood legs. Also the 15's cabinet has a belly drawer that I keep trying to open in the other cabinet! LOL

Yes, I used it to clean up my 401, which apparently had been stored, face down in the cabinet, in an un-airconditioned area for a long time. The old oil had run to the front of the machine and turned to varnish.

Either Macybaby or Cari-in-oly said to use alcohol, and I did. It worked easier/faster than kerosene. Denatured alcohol works best, but is fairly expensive at Home Depot. I bought some 90% rubbing alcohol at WM, and it works almost as well at about 1/3 the price. It evaporates quickly and doesn't leave a residue.

bkay

Well done nz quilter,

Patience does pay off. I knew you'd end up with one. and great price and so much to learn with it..

Congratulations, it's my favorite machine. I'm sure you will like it. The various model have their advantage, I still have my 99 out now and then (it's portable). The smoothness comes from the all steel rods and cleverly designed meshing gears. I guess the rotary hook is all part of, since it's just above one of the set of gears. There's three sets of them in a belt driven 201, and I'm hoping a potted version of the 201 will turn up near me. I have a belt driven 201K in a table, the gear driven version is few and far between here. I know they exsist, so I have to keep my eye out and be patient. Other models tend to be more hinged together, thought I have to admit a well oiled 66 is pretty smooth running too.

In my view 1957 definitely is vintage, think of films like Rear Window and Charade! 1980s items have popped up in the vintage section. It's not a strict term and certainly not antique. I would go for a few geunine antique furniture pieces, but I lean towards motor and lights on my sewing machine ;)

I was wiping down the exterior with sewing machine oil and I saw that some little tike by the name of Pat once scratched his name into the black enamel... So Pat's signature will go down in history now! Too funny!

The reason my DH and I have decided that it's not vintage enough for us to call it that is because DH's dad was born in 1956 too! I don't think he would like us to call a machine as old as him vintage!