This Weekend’s Yardsaling Finds
 

I only saw one sewing machine item at yardsales this weekend, a Singer Touch & Sew in a nice cabinet with matching compartment stool, but I didn’t get it. It was a nice cabinet & stool, but I don’t have room for any more cabinets unless I want to pitch one out to make room for it. I’ve given away nicer ones because they don’t sell very well around here.

I did pick up a 3-footed twin-tank air compressor at a store-closing sale that works, although it doesn’t set up straight. I’ll try to make a replacement foot out of an old pair of flip-flops. It’s the type that requires large suction cup-like pads under it to keep it from vibrating all over the place. Maybe three of them will hold it if the 4th foot is a soft rubber pad.

I’ll use it to replace the small paint sprayer compressor that I’ve been using to refill my air tank for the small amount of compressed air that I use when cleaning sewing machines. I like keeping the pressure down to about 50 pounds instead of the 110+ pressure that compressors normally build, and the air tank has more capacity to last me longer.

Last weekend, I found a couple of coil springs that I may be able to use to fashion broken obsolete bobbin winder frame springs out of, and a wooden handle that I might be able to use when I cobble together a hand crank for my big Adler. I think maybe it’s off of an old cooking pot of some kind, but it’s round and has a round rod going through the center of it that’s threaded on the end, so it should rotate like a crank.

You find anything?

CD in Oklahoma

I didn't have much luck this weekend. I did see some sort of old metal Singer in a case that was for sale but it didn't interest me. The woman said she was downsizing and had more machines but didn't know where they were. I left her my name and phone number and asked her to call me if she finds them and I would love to take a look-see.

Major score here. :D I stopped at a church rummage sale and picked up a pack of vintage class 66 bobbins for $.25. There were only 3 of the 4 present but it made me happy.
Sometimes it's the little things.
Rodney

Yard sales ....... around here ....... bwahahahahahahahahahaha



Joe

Nothing around here, either.

It can be pretty hit or miss. We have plenty around here but good ones are a different story. Sewing and sewing machines aren't my only interests. I'm also into old cameras though not actively anymore, old woodworking tools and antiques in general. I try not to think of how many boxes of old shoes and broken plastic toys I've seen while looking for something good. I've been a garage sale nut since before I could drive. My mom liked them and my uncle would take me sometimes too. He was a huge fishing reel collector before he passed and he used to go to a lot of sales looking for them.
Rodney

I didn't see a single sewing machine, did get a couple of skeins of sock yarn for 50 cents.

I checked out an antique mall looking for old machines. Found one Singer FW for $550, one for $299 and an old White Treadle also for $295. I passed on all three. Nice place though.

Saw a week old posting on Craigslist for a wooden card/sewing table- $10. Crummy pic, but it Was indeed a Featherweight table. Some rust on the metal legs and hinges, and top needs refinishing, but for $15 gas and table marked down to $5- it was well worth the trip. I have a 301 table and the rare 2 legged extension- also awaiting a Spa day, so someday I will get "a round tuit".

***
*** I found 3 pieces of fabric at bargain prices:

*** Brown/beige/pink floral 6.75 yds. marked $2.50 (original sticker price of $10.13)
*** Brown with musical notes 4 yds. marked $2.50 (original sticker price of $8.10)
*** Red floral 1 1/2 yds. marked $0.25
***
*** All for $4.00
***
*** Think I did OK.
***

Yes, yard sales are a hit or miss thing here in middle TN too. DH and I try to go out on Friday to our favorite neighborhoods for yard sales, and if we have any luck with them, we'll keep on looking for others. But if the first two or three don't offer anything that catches our interest, we just go somewhere to eat, and come on back home. We have to get back home early on Friday and Saturday now so he can take a nap before heading to the Country Junction. Google it, Hartsville, TN.

There are usually a few estate sales on the weekends here that offer sewing machines, fabric, and notions. Not this past weekend. I was able to walk to a charity group garage sale held in a business parking lot. There I saw a Singer Stylist (774?) in a cabinet for $20 to include the sewing box full of wooden spool thread plus attachments and manual. Well, I sure didn't want the sewing machine, which did look clean, but I was lucky that they were willing to sell me the slant walking foot. I will keep it as a spare for my 301 and hope that it works as good as the walking foot I have now. I wish I would have asked to purchase the 2 black side screwdrivers that were in the attachment box. I didn't want to press my luck getting the walking foot.

Got a Sears Kenmore No. 158.16520 - no cams. It didn't want to turn over till I poured on/in the oil. Teeth are up, but it does not want to sew anything but in place. Does it need a cam to move forward? It is in its cabinet. Bought it for the grand price of $5.-. Help, please

Did you choose a stitch length above 0?

I tried all the stitch setting - didn't make a difference

Not a yard sale exactly but I picked up a Singer 28 yesterday. I was following up on a conversation I had with a young man who's father just passed. The dad was into antiques, typewriters, cash registers and old sewing machines. The son said he had a few for me to look at. I promised myself NO tables and NO treadles. Lordy I have enough!

It was a hot day and after getting the poor kid out to root around in the storage searching for machines I really didn't feel I could leave without buying something. I picked this machine (probably the saddest of the lot) but thought it had some nice parts for possible donor and the case could get a re-do. The Singer tin is empty and I also got a small box with extra foot controllers and a couple spare lamps. 10.00

nice, Mine was like that. I stripped the rest of the decals off (doing the stuff we say not to do if you want to protect them)

Then I ordered a set of replacement decals from Keelers on Ebay. putting them on this weekend.

Nice! I would love to see how it turns out. I love the decal pattern and I am starting to get hopeful for this machine. I have finally gotton everything unfrozen so there is hope for it. I'm struggling with a set screw underneath that is pretty stripped out and is fighting me tooth and nail!

That looks like a lot of work, Christy.

read all about it here...

I found these at the local swap meet this weekend. $.50 ea
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I'll guess the stitch length mech is gunked up. SM oil orTri-Flo to the rescue...

I'll guess the stitch length mech is gunked up. SM oil orTri-Flo to the rescue... Also check whether feed dogs aremt in a down position

Nice! What is the squiggly one for? I've seen it in photos of a puzzle box.

not sure, I have seen them in the past in sewing machine tool kits so i picked it up.

Of course now I cannot find ANY examples to find the source from.....

I picked up a garden gnome for .50, a Kenmore that is very like the one I am working on now with a good case for 5.00 and brought home a Bernina 730 record I got for 15.00. The Bernina is missing the knee lever and has no extra feet, but has a foot controller. On a brief test I found the motor works but it has a broken camstack gear. I also got the bag of thread with the Bernina and bought the clamps for 3.00.

I’m going to miss the largest Yardsale of the year in my area, because I’m going to be part of it. I think I’d rather be a shopper than a seller, but I have some junk nice stuff that I need to get rid of, so I’m going to be a seller this weekend.

It’s the Annual Red River Valley 82/287 Yard Sale that stretches from New Boston Texas (near the Arkansas state line) to Quanah Texas (close to where the Texas Panhandle goes north), following along the Red River for 425 miles (plus a few side trips). Our town is part of it, and is having the annual city-wide garage sale to coincide with the event.

Uugh! I hate getting ready for a yardsale! I’d rather be buying than selling!

CD in Oklahoma

That's amazing! I have never heard of a massive yard sale like that! I would want to be a shopper at something like that too. Of course I have some junk nice stuff that I could stand to sell too heehee!

I NEVER see sewing machines at yard sales, despite having dutifully driven past hundreds of them in the hope of finding one :(

I recently bought two machines at a thrift store (one for the machine, one for the cabinet) and lo and behold, a couple of days later, I found a Singer 347 in a cabinet at the side of the road on garbage night!

You wait ages for one, then three turn up at once :D

http://www.127yardsale.com/

I've been to this one before. It was from Cincinnati to someplace way south at the time. Seems like we started in Northern KY and went to Frankfort, KY. It was something else.

Scored a Green Singer 185J in a nice cabinet for $15 at the Habitat ReStore. Got it home, oiled the snot out of it and bless its heart, it sews like a dream. Got to love it. According to the Singer website, it was released for sale in 1962.

Hey! I've seen that picture this week!

Still a good score. :thumbup:

Probably because you are part of the Vintage Sewing Machines Group on Facebook. I was so proud of myself that I have been bragging all over the place. :-p

Nice deal! So cute!

Looks like a fancy turnscrew (screwdriver) to me. I've seen similar ones in the tool kits of old gunsmiths.

Cathy (Mizkaki) suspects that this was a common metal shop project....

Have a portable one with plastic case which has a messed up bottom. Sews great though. Make be one that I sell...

I haven’t posted for a while because I’ve had my attention turned to motorcycles and lawn mowers. I’m having trouble getting the wife’s motorcycle to fire properly on both cylinders at low RPM. It fires just fine at high rpm, but my wife doesn’t blast down the street 3/4 throttle when she rides it back and forth to the shop, so I’m going to have to find the solution before she’ll ride it. Maybe I have a valve opening too soon before the plug fires. By the sound of the loud backfiring going on in the exhaust system, I’m pretty sure that I’m getting fuel to the cylinder. She doesn’t mind an occasional backfire, but day after day of loud bangs going and coming to the shop would probably get folks to start talking.....

And with the lawn mower, I’ve had to mow twice in a little over a week, and I’m out of practice. With the major drought going on for the past 3-4 years, I have gotten by the last couple of summers just mowing 3 times all summer. Recent rains have caused the lawn weeds to go ballistic. Plus, I badly need new tires on my tractor. I’ve been telling friends that “I mow NASCAR style”......every round or two, I have to come into the pit and air my tires back up, and then it’s get back out there and run hard until I need air again......

....Back on thread, I picked up some new toys at a local auction yesterday, two Singer treadles and a Singer portable.

One is a fancy 7-drawer treadle that had a Singer 227M (MB523759) electric machine in it. It’s the first 227 that I’ve come across, so it’ll have to go into my personal collection. It’s a two-tone tan “modernized” model 15 straight stitch machine made in Monza Italy. The fancy treadle cabinet is in very good condition, with the only problems that I’ve found so far is a missing belt de-railer and its return spring, and the drip shield is missing. Otherwise, it’s in great condition.

A plain 5-drawer treadle that had a Canadian Singer 15-90 (JC213486) in it, missing all of the electrical components (has disc wheel) and a previous owner has sealed off the center drawer (I don’t know if it was a tip-out or slide-out) by nailing the drawer panel to the cabinet. I see this every once in a while when someone has put a machine into a treadle that the cabinet wasn’t designed to accommodate. Removing the drawer cubby-hole allows room for a taller machine to fold down into the cabinet. This treadle cabinet has flat wheels from being dragged around, and the drip shield is wired together to secure it, but otherwise it’s in fairly good condition.

The portable is an 1889 Singer 28-1 (9655305) handcrank in an early bentwood (rounded top with ribs) case. The rose decals are faint but decent, and mechanically, everything looks fine so far. I tipped the machine up in its base, and discovered a generous amount of attachments hidden beneath, including an attachment User Manual. And the base has the holes in it for a treadle belt to run through if the machine and base is set into a “convertible” treadle cabinet. The case top is in wonderful condition. I’m still “on the fence” at whether this one is going into my personal collection or off to find a new home. I sure like it, but I already have a nice 1910 28K2 handcrank in the squared-off case that works just fine.

All seven drawers of the fancy cabinet were full of bits and bobs, including a nice set of Wiss Pinking shears. All machines have bobbin cases and/or shuttles and bobbins, and no missing parts. Total cost: $132.50 for all of the sewing machines and goodies, plus a 30-mile out and back trip in the pickup. I’m a happy camper.

CD in Oklahoma

There was an ad for a garage sale this weekend listing 2 featherweight Singers! I, being low on funds and having more machines than room already, sadly, reluctantly, passed. I couldn't even trust myself to do a drive-by... lol!

Stopped at an estate yard sale last weekend. Found a Touch and Sew Golden 750 for $15. Had a monogrammer and all the cams. Was a little stiff but some oil loosened her up. While cleaning her up a bit the feed dogs started to crumble. Ha Ha was the rubber one. and there was another shaft collar that broke and fell apart when I touched it LOL but I've priced the parts and I should be able to replace both for about $15 so $30 total isn't bad. Haven't been able to check out how she sews yet with the feed dogs being useless, but she sounds good at least.