Ready to sew!
 

Hi gang,

I am so excited, I finally have my old gal almost ready to sew!

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Well, I could realistically sew with her if I wanted to. Tensions are all fixed, she is oiled and has new thread and a new needle!

But I'm new to the vintage machines, and a few things worry me:

1- are all the older machines touchy? on my last post about my gal I got a comment that the foot pedal clamped inside can slide up and out so I don't need to use the knee pedal. I'm willing to try it but I noticed while I pushed directly on the foot pedal, she was still a little touchy!
2 - are all vintage machines loud and sticky? I have to push on the gas to get her through the first stitch or two and then have to really brake to slow down and have an even sewing rhythm. Did I miss something to oil or lube?

Once she gets through the first few stitches, she isn't loud at all, so I'm hoping its just a small part I missed oiling the first time. This weekend I may try oiling her again and seeing what it does.

this may be super young of me.. but even on the 80's era Kenmore I sewed on as a kid, it had a zig-zag built in.. so I did my first manual zig zag stitch tonight. I am super proud.

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Last question for all: how do you get around not having a free arm on the vintage machines? I have some shorts to fix and I need to be able to stick them around the bottom of the machine! A flat top will be great for quilting.. but I don't have my quilting projects with me yet.. it's still at my parent's 70 miles away!

YAY!! :) These old girls are such fun to use!

1 & 2 You could have a wiring problem...what do you mean by "touchy"? If it's that the machine hums and hesitates when you first start, I was taught to always "start" the machine by pressing the control and at the same time starting the wheel (I call it "throwing" the wheel) by hand. So lightly press on the controller, and at the same time reach up and turn the handwheel... That may be something that loosens up with time, or you might also have a loose belt.

Your manual zig zag looks better than mine! :D

For your question about not having a free arm, they're convenient, but not imperative! You don't have to stick them around the bed of the machine, leave them right side out, open the bottom of the leg, put the fabric of one side of the leg under the presser foot, and push the rest to the left. As you stitch around the leg, keep pushing the excess fabric to the left.
Does that make sense? :)

I have a machine like your Singer. My husband bought it for me shortly after were where married (1963). I sewed for both our girls until they no longer cared for homemade clothes. Now I sew for fun. Enjoy your machine.

Charlee, as I was tinkering with it tonight I found that throwing the wheel really did help her start a little easier. I remember having to do that with an old Kenmore I used to sew on in the 90's. As for the free arm.. well.. that story is a little complicated.. I bleached and dyed a pair of denim shorts but I left in the bleach bath for too long and when I washed them after the first dye process, they ripped all the way up the leg to the waistband. I was going to repair with a zig zag all the way down to prevent unnecessary fray [i.e., keep them from looking too trashy] but can't figure out how to do it without a free arm!

sew a little move things a little, sew a little move a little etc u are done. it gets a little at the bottom but u can do it.

Nice machine!

You are going to sew inside the leg. Keep it right side out, seam down and put it behind the needle and carefully pull the leg under the pressed foot until you get to the end. The top of the leg will be crumpled behind the pressed foot. Just carefully sew along the seam line, and when you finish it will all be behind the pressed foot again. Hard to describe but not difficult to do. Many of old darlings learned to sew without a free arm. I never really got comfortable using it. I hope this made sense to you!

That makes sense! I did it very successfully, thank you :)