Rainy Days & Mondays

Friends, remember Rain, that mysterious sometimes-MPB reader who appeared seemingly out of nowhere last winter offering to restore my beloved Singer 15-91 sewing machine?

Well he's back.  Last Friday he returned my machine and -- what can I say? -- it's gorgeous!  Rain said he's going to provide me with a full list of all the restoration work he has done (and hopefully not a bill), half of which I probably won't understand.   He says he wants me to have it for my records.

Am I supposed to be keeping records...of anything?

Here's a before shot -- grimy grimy grimy:



And after -- how did he do that?



Before:



After:





Isn't that amazing?

Rain restored the machine top to bottom, inside and out.  Even the peddle has been rewired.

Meanwhile, crackerjack Rain is taking a look at my Featherweight.  It seems that there are teeny tiny burrs on the hook that need to be polished down somehow and Rain doesn't have the necessary tools to do it.  Lacking 1/10th of the patience Rain has, I decided to purchase another Featherweight hook assembly on eBay for about $35 from someone who is selling a Featherweight for parts (she has excellent feedback).  I suspect Rain thinks this is sort of cheating, but I'm tired of not being able to use my machine.  I didn't want to have to ship my hook across the country (or to the UK) to one of the specialists Rain mentioned as possibilities.  I mean, really.  

Now friends, you may be wondering how I compensated Rain for all his hard work.  It seems that Rain is eager to own a Singer 15 hand crank.  The original hand cranks were the 15-89 model, but the 15-88 and 15-90s can also be converted.  Now, you may recall, I purchased a Singer 15-90 to use in my treadle table, but changed my mind, and am treadling with the original 66 the table came with.

Readers, I gave Rain my 15-90.

I know what you're thinking: this was Rain's nefarious plan from the  beginning and I fell for it.  If it was, I forgive him.  I am actually delighted to free up the space on my sewing table.  I'd bought the 15-90 before I stumbled upon my Pfaff 30.  And now I have my 15-91 back in working condition and eventually I'll have my Featherweight.  So I have plenty of machines.

One wants to stay on the the good side of someone like Rain.  You never know what might break down next, and he makes house calls (well, to me at least).   I may even bake him brownies.

Readers, we're out of time.  I was away this weekend so I have all kinds of catching up to do.  In just one week we begin our Jeans Sew-Along and I ask that those who are hyperventilating with anticipation take a deep breath and visualize clouds or waves or something.  It's going to be OK.  Have you joined the Flickr group yet?

Happy Monday, everybody!

BREAKING -- Singer treadle switcheroo!

Friends, I know I lose a great many of you when I talk about vintage sewing machines.  Eyes glaze over, minds wander, thumbs twiddle.  We live in the time of Twitter and attention spans are short.

Hence I pepper my blog entries with video clips, movie memorabilia, and references to yesteryear's exciting stars of tomorrow Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, and Keir Dullea -- something even knitters (and there are some) can enjoy.

And yet rarely has the topic of sewing machines been as dynamic and fertile here at MPB.  So much to tell!

First of all, I have a surprise for you -- close your eyes -- OK, now open them!





I picked up this little straight stitch walking foot at the informative website, Sew-Classic.  Jenny sells all kinds of useful parts and accessories for vintage sewing machines there, and she has written at great length about some of my favorite Singer models, including the 15-91.

So yesterday I am reading her 15-91 review, and she starts discussing wiring problems common to old 15-91 machines.  I'm like, OK, let's see if my 15-91 also has any of these potentially dangerous problems.  I know there's visible cracking on the wire leading to the light and I know that every once in a while the wire leading to the outlet needs to be moved two inches this way or that way before the machine turns on -- highly suggestive of a short -- but only once in a while!  I unscrew the three-prong terminal on the machine that the power cord plugs into to inspect the condition of the wires (connecting pedal, motor, and lamp) and almost immediately pieces of brittle wire insulation crack off.  This is not good.

Friends, I have decided that one of my first projects in the new year will be to rewire my 15-91.  I don't like shocks of any kind and I can't take risks with my life, not when I have a blog to write.  I may even learn to solder.

But let's get to the topic at hand: treadles.

Yesterday, despite debilitating back pain and with much assistance from Michael since I can't lift 35 lbs. right now, I replaced my Singer 66 treadle machine with the new vintage 15-90 that arrived on Monday.  It took about ten minutes.

Just one screw released the motor, another screw, the lamp.



I then removed the clutch release wheel and the clutch control washer (I'm learning so many new words.).



This is what you see.



Next I slid the hand wheel off and then the belt.



Now the machine looks like this.



Next we removed the machine from its wooden base by unscrewing the hinge screws on the inside base of the machine and sliding the machine off the hinges.  We did the same to the Singer 66 in the treadle table (first removing the hand wheel to free the leather treadle belt).

We placed the Singer 66 in the wooden base that the 15-90 had formerly occupied.  (I've ordered a shorter -- 13 3/4" -- belt through Sew-Classic so I can attach the motor to the 66; that's next.) 



We placed the 15-90 in the treadle table and attached the leather belt.  No belt adjustment necessary!





Beautiful stitches, no electricity needed, and I can regulate stitch length as well as reverse stitch the modern (circa 1949) way.





Friends, nothing is perfect in life but this comes close.  I am a happy man albeit one currently prone to lower back spasms.

For those still with us who have an interest in such things, much (much) better instructions for performing this treadle conversion can be found at the Treadleon.net website, here.  It's an invaluable resource for treadlers and those who love them.

Now who can teach me to solder?

Indulgent readers, we're nearly out of time.  I am so happy I can share my obsessions with you.  Michael and I, Freddy and Willy, and the surviving cast members of Madame X all wish you the happiest of happy holiday seasons.  I'll be back on the morrow, not to worry.

And what of you?  Drowning in a sea of wrapping paper, homemade toddler pajamas, and tote bags?

Do tell!


(Pass the Kleenex as Lana and Keir reduce us to wet noodles.)

Welcome, Singer 15-90! or "Out with the Old, In with the Older"

Friends, Monday was a very exciting day here at MPB headquarters.  As if guided by the spirit of I.M. Singer himself, I was able both to sell my Singer Spartan (my seventh sewing machine sale since I started decluttering earlier this month) and hours later to receive my Singer 15-90, courtesy of UPS.

Close readers will remember my intention of selling my beloved 3/4 Spartan (also known as the 192K) last week, when I decided that, cute and reliable as she was, I wanted something stronger, and a machine I could put in my treadle table in place of my 1920 Singer 66 -- a fantastic machine but one that lacks the ability to reverse mid-stitch and a less-than-ideal stitch length knob (you turn it like a screw, which means no way to identify stitch length without actually stitching).

I am sworn to secrecy about the purchaser of this machine as she is a well-known celebrity in certain parts of the world or so she claims and has escaped to Brooklyn to lead a normal life or as normal a life as one can lead in Brooklyn.  The timing couldn't have been better as I knew my 15-90 was already out for delivery.

The beauty of a transaction like the Spartan sale is that I didn't have to box anything -- Celebrity X carried the Spartan off in a doubled Whole Foods shopping bag.  The box I received was one of the most meticulous packing jobs I've seen and I've seen many. 





Friends, there was enough tape, plastic wrap, styrofoam and cardboard in this package to mount an entire junior high school class science fair.  It did leave me feeling a little guilty about carbon footprints but at least the machine itself is second-hand and the packaging went to the recycling bin in our apartment building.

Voila!



To my delight, this machine is in excellent shape, clearly having been spruced up of late.  Despite dating back to 1949 (March 4 to be exact), the wire and plugs are all new and clean, as is the bobbin winding tire and the belt.  (My Spartan dated from the early 60s, btw; my 15-91 from 1952.)





The only flaw, if you can consider it a flaw, is that it came loaded with a class 66 bobbin instead of a class 15.  Which is funny, because when I purchased my drop-in bobbin Singer Spartan more than a year ago, it came with a class 15 instead of a class 66!  I think a lot of people can't tell the difference and wonder why their stitching looks off.

That's the 66 on the left, the taller 15 on the right.



First stitches were perfect right out of the box.  The only difference between this model and the 15-91 is the belt-driven external motor on the 15-90 as opposed to the gear-driven "potted" motor on the 15-91.



The 15-91, which cannot be converted to a treadle:



The plan, as mentioned above, is to remove the motor (which I guess means removing her gorgeous lamp too, alas) and treadle with her.  Maybe I'll install some of her wires in my old 15-91 (her lamp in particular -- much better shape).



I am so happy I had this distraction from sewing conflict, not to mention lower back pain no doubt brought on by Yuletide turmoil.  It's so good to know that others are in turmoil too, if not actual back pain.

Oh, and speaking of leopard-print pants, the leopard panted guy -- unknown to me, who stopped following celebrities after Keir Dullea (so moving in Madame X) -- is a young actor named Garrett Hedlund, currently starring in Tron: Legacy. 

He's no Troy Donahue but he does wear leopard well.  Kudos to his publicist for this coup.

Friends, we're out of time.  There's much to do here, including some leopard laundering, if I'm up to it.  No tote bags today (if ever).

Have a great day, everybody!

(Farewell, Spartan!)