This Weekend’s Yardsaling Finds
08-09-2014, 08:11 PM
#71
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 609
I've been eying this cabinet I saw at a thrift shop but wasn't shelling out $50 for it. It's in rough but decent condition (the woods all there but lots of scratching and a spot of gum or something that used to be sticky) so not worth the price. I went in yesterday and it was marked half price. Still a bit high at $25 but I caved in and bought it. Its a SC-53 cabinet made of Walnut and will be beautiful when refinished. It came with a Singer Merritt 2404 machine that I haven't tried yet and probably won't keep. The cabinet will be a new home for one of my vintage Singers unless I can find a 66. From what I found online the 66 originally came installed in this cabinet.
08-10-2014, 02:39 AM
#72
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Frederick, OK
Posts: 2,031
Yardsale finds have been slow here too. Yesterday, I passed on a Singer Touch & Sew in a blond cabinet for $25. It was a 700-series, but I’m not sure which one. I didn’t want to look at it too closely, lest the owner think that I was actually interested in it.
I bought three cast iron sad irons for a dollar at another sale, so I didn’t get completely skunked for the day.
CD in Oklahoma
I bought three cast iron sad irons for a dollar at another sale, so I didn’t get completely skunked for the day.
CD in Oklahoma
08-10-2014, 01:04 PM
#73
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Mendocino County CA
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It's been pretty slow around here too. I saw several machines but nothing I wanted to bring home. A couple were sergers and some newer electronic types. I passed on a Singer 66 in a table with nice decals. They wanted 50 and it needle back clamp feet. I considered it for a minute because it had a box of accessories, but I found they were side clamps.
I came home with a roll of poly batting still in the bag for a dollar.
I came home with a roll of poly batting still in the bag for a dollar.
08-23-2014, 01:25 PM
#74
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Frederick, OK
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Since there were only 4 yardsales listed in our little local guide for the weekend, we went to an auction about 35 miles from home. I had seen on their website that they had a fancy Singer Treadle in today’s sale, but nothing about the machine that was in it.
When I opened it up, I found a Singer 9W7 mounted in it. The head is in rough shape and missing some parts, but the cabinet is in pretty good shape. One awkward problem that the cabinet has is that it’s a 5-drawer that only has 4 drawers. No, it’s got the center drawer, but it’s got 2 drawers on the left side, and only one drawer on the right side. The hanger got damaged at some point, and it was modified (cut the remaining hanger strips off) to become a single-drawer hanger. Kind of makes it an unusual piece, and not something you see every day, so it probably made a good conversation piece. Judging from the looks of the head, I’d say the machine & cabinet has been a display piece for a good while. Probably closed up with something setting on top of it. The sewing surfaces are in excellent condition with good tight laminate. The extension flap is missing the top laminate, but the core wood has been refinished and they made it look nice. The cast iron stand looks like it’s been sanded and repainted, and they did a nice job of that. It just needs a little gold highlight in the name and logos.
With a better head in it, the treadle can be turned back into a good looking and good working treadle machine again with very little effort. I’ll just have to decide which orphan head that I have that would be best to put in it.
CD in Oklahoma
When I opened it up, I found a Singer 9W7 mounted in it. The head is in rough shape and missing some parts, but the cabinet is in pretty good shape. One awkward problem that the cabinet has is that it’s a 5-drawer that only has 4 drawers. No, it’s got the center drawer, but it’s got 2 drawers on the left side, and only one drawer on the right side. The hanger got damaged at some point, and it was modified (cut the remaining hanger strips off) to become a single-drawer hanger. Kind of makes it an unusual piece, and not something you see every day, so it probably made a good conversation piece. Judging from the looks of the head, I’d say the machine & cabinet has been a display piece for a good while. Probably closed up with something setting on top of it. The sewing surfaces are in excellent condition with good tight laminate. The extension flap is missing the top laminate, but the core wood has been refinished and they made it look nice. The cast iron stand looks like it’s been sanded and repainted, and they did a nice job of that. It just needs a little gold highlight in the name and logos.
With a better head in it, the treadle can be turned back into a good looking and good working treadle machine again with very little effort. I’ll just have to decide which orphan head that I have that would be best to put in it.
CD in Oklahoma
08-23-2014, 02:28 PM
#75
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Centralia, WA, USA
Posts: 4,890
Whoever cut off the damaged section did a decent job. Nice looking treadle. i think it'll be worth the effort to save.
I just picked up a vintage travel iron -very nice shape with good deco lines and a bakelite handle-and a hand plane earlier today. My daughter got a nice little skirt marker too.
We passed on a 15 clone for $60 and an old White rotary that was in pretty poor shape at $20. I wouldn't mind the White but I'll wait for a better one to come along.
Rodney
I just picked up a vintage travel iron -very nice shape with good deco lines and a bakelite handle-and a hand plane earlier today. My daughter got a nice little skirt marker too.
We passed on a 15 clone for $60 and an old White rotary that was in pretty poor shape at $20. I wouldn't mind the White but I'll wait for a better one to come along.
Rodney
08-23-2014, 03:54 PM
#76
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Frederick, OK
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I don’t think that I’ve passed-up a skirt-marker in a yardsale yet. There’s just something about them..... Boy, they sure made a bunch of different ones, didn’t they?
There was a Singer 15-91 in a nice solid cabinet at the auction as well, but there was a long lag between the treadle and it, and I don’t really need another 15-91, so we went across town and visited with our favorite Junkshop Dealer while the auction proceeded around the room away from the area that the treadle was in. I wasn’t there when the 15-91 sold, so I don’t know what it brought.
We ran by the Goodwill in that auction town where I got the treadle, and I passed on a dirty old Kenmore basic zigzag machine for very little money.
I picked up 60 NOS (new old stock) vintage industrial SM needles at the Junk Shop, and my wife got a couple of vintage recipe boxes for her use to file notes in about alterations jobs at the shop. Have you noticed that metal recipe boxes are getting hard to find? Most of them are plastic.
When I got home I discovered with happiness that we have machines in service either at the shop or at home that will take all 60 of the needles that I snagged. (Yeah!) I get so dis-combuberated with which needles fit which of our machines (I really should write it all down and carry it in my pocket) that I wasn’t sure if I had made good selections or not. The last time that I brought home vintage NOS needles, they were for machines that we don’t have. (That just means that I have to go find machines that fit them, right?) So, I was happy to discover that we can actually use the needles that I bought today.
CD in Oklahoma
There was a Singer 15-91 in a nice solid cabinet at the auction as well, but there was a long lag between the treadle and it, and I don’t really need another 15-91, so we went across town and visited with our favorite Junkshop Dealer while the auction proceeded around the room away from the area that the treadle was in. I wasn’t there when the 15-91 sold, so I don’t know what it brought.
We ran by the Goodwill in that auction town where I got the treadle, and I passed on a dirty old Kenmore basic zigzag machine for very little money.
I picked up 60 NOS (new old stock) vintage industrial SM needles at the Junk Shop, and my wife got a couple of vintage recipe boxes for her use to file notes in about alterations jobs at the shop. Have you noticed that metal recipe boxes are getting hard to find? Most of them are plastic.
When I got home I discovered with happiness that we have machines in service either at the shop or at home that will take all 60 of the needles that I snagged. (Yeah!) I get so dis-combuberated with which needles fit which of our machines (I really should write it all down and carry it in my pocket) that I wasn’t sure if I had made good selections or not. The last time that I brought home vintage NOS needles, they were for machines that we don’t have. (That just means that I have to go find machines that fit them, right?) So, I was happy to discover that we can actually use the needles that I bought today.
CD in Oklahoma
08-23-2014, 05:52 PM
#77
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Centralia, WA, USA
Posts: 4,890
Sounds like you had a good day CD.
I decided to get some pictures of my finds.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]488835[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]488837[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]488838[/ATTACH]
Proof that my photography skills are sorely lacking. For whatever reason the flash on the camera didn't go off so the pics are darker than I like.
It looks like someone cut down the skirt marker at some time but it's still nice.
The iron is a Knapp-Monarch Gad-A-Bout and judging from the patent dates was made in the late 30s or very early 40s. The details in the handle don't show well but it has ridges molded in down the length of it and the handle folds down when it's put away.
I plugged it in. It works.
Does anyone here know anything about old irons? I did some looking earlier but didn't find much.
Rodney
I decided to get some pictures of my finds.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]488835[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]488837[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]488838[/ATTACH]
Proof that my photography skills are sorely lacking. For whatever reason the flash on the camera didn't go off so the pics are darker than I like.
It looks like someone cut down the skirt marker at some time but it's still nice.
The iron is a Knapp-Monarch Gad-A-Bout and judging from the patent dates was made in the late 30s or very early 40s. The details in the handle don't show well but it has ridges molded in down the length of it and the handle folds down when it's put away.
I plugged it in. It works.
Does anyone here know anything about old irons? I did some looking earlier but didn't find much.
Rodney
10-05-2014, 02:52 AM
#78
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Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Frederick, OK
Posts: 2,031
With Fall here now, yardsales and auctions should begin picking up since it’s cooled down, at least here in southern Oklahoma and north Texas. The wife and I took a road trip to Wichita Falls Texas yesterday. They were having the Annual Boot & Saddle Makers Show in the same venue as the Red River Quilt Guild was having their bi-annual Quilt Show (huge divided complex called the MPEC). I went to the Boot Show, sniffed the leather, and drooled on the massive new thread injectors that punch large thread (think cord) through thick leathers. I just love the smell of all of that leather in one place! I bought a side of leather that should be good for either lining or garment leather, 4 rolls of poly webbing that a guy had purchased in an auction the weekend before (that stuff’s good for all sorts of craft projects), and a cone of Black Bonded size 277 Polyester thread for my own old Adler thread injector.
The wife didn’t buy anything, but she really enjoyed having time to peruse the beautiful quilts in the Quilt Show. She’s usually managing a booth at them, so having plenty of time to really look at the quilts was nice. She struck up an acquaintance with a lady from Scotland Texas (just south of Wichita Falls) that still does hand-quilting for the public. That sewing service is getting harder to find, so she’s glad to have met her.
On the way home, we stopped by the new Flea Market for our first visit, and got a look around at that facility and met some vendors. I found another winter project rust-bucket, basket-case sewing machine to piddle with. This one’s a 1919 Singer 115 missing its slide plate and bobbin winder but otherwise complete. Its serial number dates it back to a couple of months before my father was born. I gave the guy $10 for it, since like he mentioned, he can get about that much by scrapping it. I got it home and promptly gave it an oil bath to get the limbering-up process started. The wife spotted a TV/DVD stand that will fit our space better, and the guy took $10 for it, so we toted that home and have it in service already.
Yardsales are becoming more numerous, and I’ve also noticed the auction announcements increasing, so it’s the season for sewing machine bargains again.
CD in Oklahoma
The wife didn’t buy anything, but she really enjoyed having time to peruse the beautiful quilts in the Quilt Show. She’s usually managing a booth at them, so having plenty of time to really look at the quilts was nice. She struck up an acquaintance with a lady from Scotland Texas (just south of Wichita Falls) that still does hand-quilting for the public. That sewing service is getting harder to find, so she’s glad to have met her.
On the way home, we stopped by the new Flea Market for our first visit, and got a look around at that facility and met some vendors. I found another winter project rust-bucket, basket-case sewing machine to piddle with. This one’s a 1919 Singer 115 missing its slide plate and bobbin winder but otherwise complete. Its serial number dates it back to a couple of months before my father was born. I gave the guy $10 for it, since like he mentioned, he can get about that much by scrapping it. I got it home and promptly gave it an oil bath to get the limbering-up process started. The wife spotted a TV/DVD stand that will fit our space better, and the guy took $10 for it, so we toted that home and have it in service already.
Yardsales are becoming more numerous, and I’ve also noticed the auction announcements increasing, so it’s the season for sewing machine bargains again.
CD in Oklahoma
10-05-2014, 06:00 AM
#79
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 1,572
I don't go to yard sales- budget is too tight. However there was a basic lightweight Janome on Craigslist for $35 which would be good for the ConKerr Cancer pillowcase sewing group. Well- I got talked into also taking the Singer 500 for $30. The top needs to be put back on and the knob is missing to hold the drip pan, but otherwise looks pretty good. No cams or case and it weighs a ton so probably won't keep it but thought it was worth a look.
10-05-2014, 06:43 AM
#80
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
Posts: 3,992
Not quite a yard sale yesterday, but stopped at a not very local St. Vinnies and scored a wonderful Field and Stream flannel plaid shirt for DH and another plaid shirt 2XLT for quilt I am planning, price $1 each. A medicine bottle full of antique buttons for $.50. On the way home I picked up the Kenmore model 117-522 (another thread later) in a cabinet that I purchased midweek. I think that this is the LAST machine in a cabinet I will be able to fit in my house.
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