New To Me Sears Kenmore
 

A fellow from church called and said I have three sewing machines you can have. No one is using them and none of the gals in the family are interested. So I drove over and picked them up. All just need to have the dust wiped off and some oil. All are in perfect shape. The Kenmore was his deceased wife's machine. That one really made my heart flutter. Don't know what year it is as only got them yesterday. I'll do some research. I love that it a pale shade of green. Look Very similar to my Singer 600 which I got in 1967 as a belated HS grad present.
The Singers are nice and will be easy to use.
Any one have one of these Kenmore's?

Nice :) lucky you.

How did you get the thimble to balance like that on the bobbin?????

I don't think I have one of those Kenmore's. I tried to read the model number, but couldn't. You can find the approximate year the Kenmore was made by checking http://www.searsarchives.com/history.../sewing_id.pdf It looks like it is a short shank, but can't tell if it is left homing or not.

You might want to push down on the pressure regulator down before you try to sew with it AMHIK :o

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

What are the numbers on the plate that is showing just under the ledge on the front? I have a few that look similar to this machine. Did you get any manuals along with your new treasures. Were there any accessories?
Have fun!

Janey, I believe the bobbin and the thimble are resting on a thread spool pin.

Thanks, had to look again. I see that now.:o

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

What a score for you! Three new machines. Hard not to love a Kenmore.

The Kenmore looks like a 148.13101, which was manufactured in Japan by Soryou. It is a low shank, class 15 bobbin zig-zag machine. It does stretch stitches, has drop feed dogs, and sews through denim layers like butter. It is a lightweight machine and could be mounted into a Kenmore cabinet. I hope you got the buttonhole attachment, etc. with. If you didn't get a manual with it, you'll probably be able to find a pdf manual online. These metal Kenmore machines are easy to maintain. Congratulations on your score!

I forgot to add that I think this was made between 1973 and 1974. I love the vintage green color.

THANK YOU. Yes, it is a 148.13101. SN: 65306. No Attachments or extra bobbins. BUT the bobbins look like ones I have in my stash But it's very clean. No smoking/no drinking home so it's really nice. I hope to take it for a ride this week. I did manage to find a "manual" but the photo doesn't look quite the same. I just needed to know where to oil. I'm excited about having it in my stable.
Green is my favorite color so I'm double jazzed.

I'm

Thank you for the machine dating site. I was so excited I forgot to include the Model 148.13101 SN: 65306. I'm very gifted in Thimbles. I just put it over the little spool pole, upside down, so it wouldn't get lost. LOL

No manuals.. Model 148.13101 SN: 65306 Only two bobbins and a zipper foot.

The kenmores of this vintage are great machines. Mine keeps on sewing after 40+ years of use. It handles heavyweight fabric so much better than my new electronic machine. I was able to buy a short shank 1/4 inch foot and a walking foot from my local sewing machine/repair shop for it. You might still be able to buy parts from Sears.

I have this Kenmore that I bought new in 1973 with my high school graduation money and took to college. Still working and my daughter took it to college in 2013. She owns a featherweight now and so I have the Kenmore back. It's a workhorse. It even got dropped taking it out of the back of a minivan about 15 years ago and the only thing that happened was one of the spool pins bent a little. Mine is portable and came with a case. Nice machine because it's all metal but so heavy!

Yes, they are workhorses. The older machines were metal and were made to be used - forever. This one came to me in a case, but does have the metal to install in a cabinet. I have a Singer cabinet that it will probably fit nicely in.

Kenmore machines don't fit in other brand cabinets without significantly modifying it first. Kenmore beds are a different size, have square corners and the hinge spacing is different. You'd have better luck looking for a Kenmore cabinet.

Cari

This is good information. I haven't even looked to see if it would even fit. I have another Singer that might fit in that cabinet as well. Right now I have to keep at least one machine free as I take one to sewing groups.

I think I had one of those Kenmores, the left dial looks familiar. I could never make it do anything but a straight stitch though .

I loved my mom's 1960's Kenmore and wish I had never given it up. It quit working when the brushes wore out and I couldn't replace them because the brush housing was also worn out. It was the kind with the cams for fancy stitches. I never used those but I did use the buttonholer once, worked as slick as can be!

I had a Kenmore similar to this one. I loved it. It was a real work horse.

My Kenmore is a little older, but very similar. Very nice machine that did everything I asked of her until she was replaced by an Elna in 1973. She did come out of hiding to do a wedding dress in 1990 because the room she was in was bigger than my sewing room. One of these days, I'll dig it out and post here.

The Kenmore brings back memories. I think its what Mom had (after her brown Crinkle New Home).

That looks like my first sewing machine! I was in high school when I got it, and "upgraded"a few years later. To this day, I regret getting rid of that machine! I may still have the manual around somewhere. If you can get the model # I will look for the manual and hopefully it will match your machine. If it does, the manual is yours.
Edited: Sorry, my manual is for a Kenmore 1422. Bummer.