foufymaus

*waves*

Hello again!

So today I was up in my thrifting stomping grounds searching for a Kenmore 158 series to go with my newly purchased cams. *see previous post* I did find one for $20 but it didn't go, the light did come on but there was no needle movement. Right next to that machine was a lovely Singer for $25. As a person with SMAD (Sewing Machine Addiction Disorder) I knew i had to limit myself to only one machine at a time and my hard budget limit for any machine is $30. So...I had to make a choice. I had only brought enough for one machine. Seeing how it takes me over an hour to get to my thrifting stomping grounds, I knew I couldn't come back with $$ for the other machine. I had to make a choice! The Singer or the Kenmore. I had orphan cams for both of them at home.

*hangs head*

I feel bad that I had to leave one behind... Seriously... just awful. I wish I could have bought both of them. LOL

Although I favor Kenmores, by like a lot! I have quite a few of the little buggers. I have one Brothers, and a Montgomery Ward Signature, a Dressmaker, a Riccar Treadle (inherited) *shrugs* Ok so i favor Kenmores and Japanese models over Singer's. It doesn't mean I don't like them... I do have two of them. A Fashionmate 237 and a Graduate something or other.

Now I have three of them. I'd like to introduce you to my latest machine baby, A Singer 328K Style-O- Matic. She's a dirty gal with sticky gears. She's missing a few bits and bobbles, the plastic thread spools, and the knob that turns and locks the thread stitch length. She runs pretty well and her light bulb did turned on. I had bought her cams in November of 2013 just because well, cams. haha. Turns out when I scoped her out there was a flat disk cam for zigzag still in the machine and I recognized it as belonging to the set I had bought already.

By going through this website: http://www.ismacs.net/singer_sewing_...l-numbers.html

I have deduced that her birthday is coming up in exactly 1 week. She was 'born' on February 14, 1963, in Kilbowie Scotland (Great Britain). Labeled as a Heavy Duty Home machine. So she's a little over half a century years old. 51 years total. The only real complaint I found for her is that she is noisy. But i figured since she's spring loaded and has to click against the cams she deserves to be a bit on the noisy side. Her bones rattle a bit more than the newer gals. lol I have to figure out how to get in and oil her. Most kenmore's have their motors hanging on the outside She has her's inside. Something different for me to fiddle with.


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Here's more pics in this abum. : http://imgur.com/a/1NtqP

Sideways

Don't feel bad I have had to make choices too, sometimes it just isn't easy though! Good luck with your beautiful new singer!!

Macybaby

That is one of the recent models DH went over. Sews quite well, took a bit to get use to the feeding, and I wasn't real pleased with FMQ because of the feed dog cover plate. And yes, it's a rather noisy machine compared to many.

It's one of three we are taking to my brother's house so his two college age daughters can choose. They had looked at brand new plastic machines, and decided they'd rather go vintage.

J Miller

foufymaus,

Clean the machine's insides within an inch of it's life. Then oil it really good with Tri-Flow oil and (I think it has gears too ) grease the gears if it has them, with Tri-Flow grease. Then run the stuffins out of it and do it over again. That will help quiet it down a bit.

I have one much uglier than yours and it's a great, albeit noisy sewing machine. Mine doesn't have a home yet, if I had the room I'd put it in a cabinet.
Mine doesn't have the light switch either .... hmmmm.

Joe

Candace

They are interesting machines, but I catch and release them. The noise is just too much for me. But maybe ear plugs are the way to go? There are a few people that treadle them.

Mariposa

Congrats on your "new" machine! Hope she sews great~

J Miller

Candace,

Mine came out of Florida. The top and motor cover are a bit corroded and need repainted. That will have to wait till summer so I can do it outside.
Once I got it cleaned up and oiled, ( just looked at my pics it doesn't have any gears) then used, cleaned again and oiled again it's quieting down. I don't know if they are all like this, but the more I use mine, the quieter it's getting.
Maybe someday it will actually be .... quiet? Maybe?

I have measured my closest treadle to the machine and it won't fit due to the drip panel on the underside being too close. But I have considered it. Perhaps someday.

Joe

mlmack

What model of Kenmore did you leave behind?

foufymaus

Thanks! It took a while today to get her running correctly. But i did find that she had a new Alpha Sew cogged belt and a new motor installed. So that's a good plus.

foufymaus

It is a quirky one, i was fiddling with the tension module all day today. Someone put it together wrong and it was just a horrid mess. But aside from the noise she's got good bones.