September 7, 2019 Colorado Get-Together Part 1
 

Early morning clouds that remained from last night's rain had cleared by the time we met, giving us a beautiful day with blue skies and a touch of fall in our Colorado air. We met at ten o'clock as usual, with Courtney, James, Dorothy, Carol, Cheryl, Chris, Janey and John.


Courtney brought an oversize thread spool holder that he purchased and a thread guide that he made himself. Courtney said that some larger thread cones have trouble working with spool holder he purchased.


Its funny how things work out. The pictures we took of Courtney's items, taken at the restaurant, unfortunately didn't turn out well. In leaving a little early though, he inadvertently left those things behind, which we rescued. Since we are babysitting them for him until next month, we were able to take replacement pictures of them on our kitchen counter, shown here.


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Dorothy brought manuals for the Pfaff 130 machine that she has. As a heavy duty machine, the question came up if it was considered an industrial machine. The domestic version is not, although they make industrial versions of it, as shown in the manuals. One page of the manual shows the various models. The 130-6 is domestic, with others made for various industrial purposes. The industrial versions have a knee lever control for the presser foot.


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Dorothy brought several attachments for her Pfaff 130 machine, as well. Some of the items included in the box were 2 of the wire clamps for embroidering and darning, buttonhole cutter with an additional blade, two feed dog covers and a low shank Greist ankle adapter sans feet.


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The ruffler also included a sample of gathered fabric.


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to be continued .....

September 7, 2019 Colorado Get-Together Part 2
 

James brought his new acquisition, a Davis vertical feed machine, which features the absence of feed dogs. Fabric is advanced with a walking foot and needle that work together, eliminating the need for feed dogs. An interesting feature is that it has two presser foot levers, performing slightly different functions. It also has an interesting method of holding the needle. James' vertical feed machine is missing one bobbin plate and the bobbin for it. Also, the needle plate can be rotated to accommodate different fabric thicknesses.


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Responding to a previous email request, Janey brought two filled Singer bobbins for James to try at the meeting. After getting the machine threaded up there in the restaurant, it was able to do a few stitches. After the meeting, research of a manual revealed that the shuttle had not been threaded quite right, meaning that the machine can probably stitch better than we were able to.


John brought several pictures of computer modeled curtains from a project he worked on several years ago. The pictures are copyrighted and owned by him. The pictures consist of real photographs with 3D modeled window coverings intended to let people view potential window treatments or curtains to see how they would look prior to actual installation.


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We intend to meet again next month and will post here again then.

October 5, 2019 Get Together Part 1
 

With tricks and treats we had the meeting of Colorado Antique and Vintage Sewing Machine Enthusiasts. As always we met the first Saturday, at ten o'clock, at the Perkins in south Denver. Those attending were Courtney, Dorothy, Carol, James, Janey and John.


Courtney brought a machine called a Brunswick, made by National, sold by Wards and having a Reversew mechanism in it. It is a three-quarter size machine and uses Chicago style plugs for power and controller. Interestingly, among the accessories that came with it, there was a package of needles that was sold, many years ago, from an address just a few blocks from the Perkins where we meet. We checked it out. Now a residential area, there are houses there, with no sign of the old business. Courtney brought the machine in a very nice hard shell case (unfortunately unpictured) that keeps it well protected. He made the case for his Wilcox & Gibbs from some spare oak plywood that he had.


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Dorothy brought some military patches and other assorted items that were discovered in a drawer of a New Conover treadle cabinet. The boot/button hook was simple, but substantial. The 1/2" tape on the unfortunately broken bobbin is not twill tape as it is a looser weave.


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to be continued....

October 5, 2019 Get Together Part 2
 

James brought an old and ornate White Family Rotary machine, with several accessories which he recently got from Goodwill. Yet another example of unusual items found with old sewing machines.


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We couldn't figure out the plate nor which machine it might go to.


There was interest in a fact sheet Janey brought about the use of special needles for stretchy materials. She also brought a chart of vintage bobbin sizes, to show and compare what is believed to be an Eldridge bobbin that has a larger than usual center hole. Janey also brought a picture on her laptop of a curious and unidentified open circular foot attachment which appears to be two or three inches in diameter, which is mostly open space.


We plan to meet again next month and will post those happenings then.

That spring/belt is a strange beastie..

November 2, 2019 Get Together Part 1
 

Last week brought unseasonably cold temperatures and snow to most of Colorado. One of our members received 30 inches of snow needing to be cleared from her driveway. Others of us got 6 to 12 inches of snow. Nonetheless, our meeting was well attended today, with clear weather in the upper forties. Present were Dianne, Dorothy, Carol, Courtney, James, Cheryl, Chris, Janey and John.


Janey brought an zippered accessory pouch that she made on the Singer 66 machine that she acquired from Cheryl a few months ago and added a hand crank. It is a simple but effective design. She said she was able to get the zipper in without pinning.


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Courtney brought a Centennial Featherweight, demonstrating a thread guide he made from coat hanger wire. He made one for everyone in the group and passed them out at the meeting. Some spools will fit over just the stand and spool pin. Some spools will need the straw over stand & spool pin. Some will need a fender washer to steady it a bit put on top of felt and then the stand and straw. It allows larger spools to be used on an ordinary spool pin. He also passed out the directions to make it, shown below. (Courtney has given his permission to post the directions.)


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To be continued...

November 2, 2019 Get Together Part 2
 

Within the last few days Dianne got a another beautiful miniature machine for her collection, called an Ideal, which she brought to show us. It is a chain stitch machine with a hand crank made with nickel-plated parts. She wore gloves as she touched the recently polished parts of the machine to keep them from getting fingerprints. We are guessing it was made around 1920, with a patent applied for in 1910 in Great Britain and 1911 in United States. It came with a rounded top metal cover. The crank is directly connected to the handwheel, so the crank turns the normal way, but the handwheel turns in the reverse direction to most handwheels. She assembled a nice notebook of instructions and information about it. A very nice addition to her impressive collection of miniature machines.


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Dorothy talked a little bit about obtaining some replacement springs for her Elna 62C, which is having trouble with the back tack control. Several suggestions were made, including a possible hardware store replacement. Dorothy also talked a bit about a new Juki machine arriving this week where she works. It will be a fully programmable industrial machine and she is looking forward to working with it.


James brought a recently acquired (from Shopgoodwill) White Family Rotary machine in a wooden case, probably dated early 1920s. It has the old Hamilton Beach swing-away motor. It has an interesting connector on the cable going to the motor. It came with no controller and James is looking for a controller for it. Cheryl pointed out one that might be available and gave him information to look into it. Like some White machines, it has a handwheel with a latch mechanism, rather than a clutch.


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We plan to meet again next month in December and will post those meeting notes here, as always.

Revised Insturctions for Cross wound spool holder
 

Courtney has made a revised color version of his instructions, with additional informative text. Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to upload the Word doc file here.

Cross wound spool holder instructions2
 

Thank you, Courtney.

Here is the revised version.

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I just got this White FR this weekend. 3 pronged spade connector going to a stationary friction wheel motor. The balance wheel has a belt groove. Foot controller has has the cord broken off. but it stitches if turned (Clockwise) by hand. Dirty back and clean front follow.

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