The Forgotten Singer

Many folks covet the Singer 15-91 for its gear drive that presumably makes the machine capable of sewing heavier materials. No belt to slip or need adjusting. It has the revered 15 Class oscillating hook that has been a standard for almost a hundred years and is still manufactured today. I have owned several 15-91s and agree that they are one of the best made 15 Class machines.

However, there is a Singer that followed the 15-91 that is every bit as strong and reliable. It uses the same motor, same gear drive, same drive train, and same 15 Class sewing system but sports more modern styling and paint, the 15-125.

But, for some reason, while many want a 15-91, few wish to own a 15-125! Why would anyone want a 15-91 when they could have a 15-125? Perhaps I am partial because a 15-125 was the first machine I bought when I embarked on my vintage sewing machine collecting spree - not my first machine, that was a Singer 301 but a 15-125 was the first one I bought purely as a collectible.


The one pictured here is my second, one I picked up at a local auction where, again, I was the only bidder. This is another machine that has sat idle for years because it was buried under other, newer acquisitions. I uncovered it a week ago and I decided to oil it up and check it out. Usually, I sew only one project on a machine before I become bored and swap it out for another machine but I have sewed 4 projects on this one and have no intention of replacing it anytime soon.

As I move out some of the old machines, I find others I had forgotten. This morning, in a cabinet in the storage shed that I had thought was empty, I found a Necchi 515. One of my favorite machines, I don't remember why I relegated it to the storage building. I'll have to get it out and play with it some day.

Today's project, however, was a horse of a different color. It is a Thompson PW-201 Mini-Walker that has been back behind other machines for several years because I was not pleased with it.

I had been wanting one of these for years, and when this one came up for bids at a local auction, I was quite excited. Either no one else in the room knew what it was, or no one else was in the market for this type of machine, but I was the only bidder and walked away with it for a $5 bid. I oiled and cleaned it and it sewed okay, but was noisy enough to require hearing protection. I took it out on a job, making an instrument panel cover for a boat and halfway through the project, the tension assembly popped off and went into the water. I brought it home and shoved it in a corner, never to see the light of day until now.

This is essentially a family machine on steroids, built to sew heavier goods than the standard family machine. It's marketed as a portable industrial machine with built-in walking foot and drop feed. Sailrite sells a newer model with zig zag capability.

It uses the same industrial needles as my big Singer upholstery machine and it easily sews with 69 nylon thread. Although it uses a family machine style motor, it has a reduction gear to lower speed and increase punching power and toothed belts to reduce slippage.

I dusted it off today and oiled it and replaced the tension assembly with an industrial tension assembly. When I fired it up, it was just as noisy as ever and I was ready to stuff it back in a corner when I noticed a loose screw on top of the head in the walking foot linkage. I tightened the screw and the noise reduced significantly, so I looked all over the machine for other possible problems. Another screw was loose in the walking foot linkage inside the needlebar door and tightening it made the machine noise almost bearable. Adjusting the inner foot so it didn't rub on the outer foot was the final task and now I can actually stand to sew on it. I might even take it with me the next time I have to travel to the job.

Value of an Old Sewing Machine

One of the most common questions asked of sewing machine enthusiasts is, "What is my old sewing machine worth?"

Vintage sewing machines are valued much like vintage automobiles. Just saying you have an 1891 Singer sewing machine is not enough to establish the value. Several other factors must be considered:

- Condition: Is it a rusty hulk, or shiny, showroom shape?

- Model: Each manufacturer made several machines for different pocketbooks, just as with autos, the luxury models usually retain their value better than the utility models.

- Configuration: How many drawers does the treadle cabinet have? Counting the center drawer, it could be 3, 5, or 7 drawers. Is there any fancy carving on the cabinet, or is it pretty plain? Often, the treadle cabinet is worth more than the machine itself!

- Has it been electrified by removing it from the treadle cabinet and adding a motor and foot control, or is it in its original configuration?

- Accessories: Does the machine have its instruction manual and full complement of accessories that came with it? Are there any additional accessories that were purchased later?
Then there are other issues that can affect the selling price of a vintage sewing machine:

- Location: If you live in an upscale U.S. neighborhood, probably very few buyers will be interested in an average condition old sewing machine. If you live in an area with a large number of lower income families, they might want an old, reliable sewing machine to actually sew on.

- Furniture value: If your machine is in a nice wood cabinet, some may be interested in it purely for its decorative value. Others will shy away because they don't have room for a cabinet or it does not match their décor. Some buyers will only want a portable model they can stash away in a closet when not in use.

- Shipping: If you are only willing to sell locally, your market will be limited. If your machine is small enough to ship, listing it on Ebay might bring a quicker sale and higher price.
Speaking of Ebay, that is probably the best place to research prices for old sewing machines. Look for machines of the same model and age, in the same condition. Note the accessories that come with it and see how closely your item matches the Ebay item.

Ed

Another Recycled Jeans Project

Trolling around the Internet last night, I happened upon a tutorial for a car litter bag. We normally keep a Wal-Mart bag on the floor of the back seat for that purpose, but that looks messy and is always in the way if we have more than one person in the back seat. The litter bag tutorial I found used brightly-patterned cotton fabric and had a pocket sewn on the front for tissues, or anything else you wanted to carry. I looked at my stash and saw an old pair of my wife's jeans, which I had already hacked up for another project, but they still had one leg, including the rear pocket intact. I figured using an already-made pocket would surely be easier than constructing a new pocket, so I decided to design my litter bag around that pocket. Here's what I did:

STEP 1: I pieced together enough jeans material to make a 12"x24" rectangle. Folded in half, that will make an 11"x11" bag. That may be smaller or larger than you want, but it seemed like a good size for us.

STEP 2: I salvaged about two feet of waistband from the front of the jeans, saving the button and the buttonhole. I just hacked them off, you may want to unsew the lower half, remove the excess fabric, and sew the waistband back together, this was a prototype, so I didn't take the time.

STEP 3: I folded the rectangle in half and sewed up the sides from the inside.

STEP 4: I hemmed around the opening.

STEP 5: I attached the two pieces of waistband to the backside of the bag to be used as hanging straps.

FINAL: The denim litter bag roughly matches the dark blue exterior of our car and keeps the trash off the floor. The pocket could be used to hold a small pack of tissues, a pen and note paper, MP3 player, Gameboy, or ???Because this was a prototype and I wanted to finish in a hurry, I didn't measure carefully or do any pressing. I'm sure you could produce a much better looking product.

To keep this on topic, I used my new Singer 603E for this entire project and it had no problems sewing through multiple layers of denim with a universal needle. I picked this beauty up in a local thrift shop last week. It came in a cabinet with drawers full of manual, attachments, cams, notions, and about a half-ton of buttons. The price - $30! Manufactured in 1963/1964, I consider the 600, 603 and 603E to be the last of the "good" Singers, after that, Singer began putting plastic gears in the innards and quality went quickly downhill.

Ed

More on Needles

There are four vintage Singer sewing machines that use needles that are slightly different than the standard 15x1 needle used in 99.9% of all home sewing machines. The models are Singer's first domestic zig zag machine, the 206 and its successors, the 306, 319, and the rare free arm 320. The correct needles for these models is the 206x13. Here is a photo of a 206x13 needle (on the top) and a 15x1 needle (on the bottom):

The first thing to notice is that the two needles are the same length from top to the eye. This means that you could insert a 15x1 needle in a 206/306/319 and the machine will sew, because the hook-to-eye timing is identical. However, it is obvious that the point of the 206x13 is much shorter than the 15x1. What happens if you sew with a 15x1 needle in a 206/306/319 is this:

The point of the longer needle strikes the bobbin case and damages both the bobbin case and the needle. Surprisingly to me, you cannot hear the needle strike the bobbin case, so you don't even realize what is happening until you change the bobbin.

The other problem with using the wrong needle is that, because the point is longer, the needle could be still in the fabric when the feed dog begins to move the fabric. This can mean skipped stitches, puckering, and possibly a bent or broken needle. I can see no problem with using a 206x13 needle in a machine designed for a 15x1 needle, except that the 206x13s are considerably more expensive.

For those who like the 306 Class machines, I will try to keep a stock of 206x13 needles in my Etsy Shop, just click on the link below.

206x13 Needles

Ed

Hidden Treasure

A couple of weeks ago, I was cruising Ebay and saw a listing for Necchi accessories. Always on the lookout for new Necchi stuff, I clicked on it and saw the fuzzy photo above. Now, there are Necchis that use cams to form decorative stitches, but I could swear those fuzzy plastic discs in that Necchi box were Elna cams. Knowing that Elna cams sell for around $5 apiece on eBay, and seeing at least four and possibly six in that photo, I took a chance and plunked down the $9.99 plus shipping. When I received the package, it contained not four, or even six, but eleven Elna cams, including the monster below:

Elnas are not popular in my neck of the woods, I have only seen two or three in my entire 20-year-plus of collecting sewing machines, so I had no idea what this cam was for. I searched eBay active and completed listings and cannot find a similar cam, so I assume either they are so hard to come by that they aren't traded very often, or there are so many out there that they are worthless. Needlebar identified it as the #200 Buttonhole Disc, and another forum told me, "The buttonhole cam allows the making of buttonholes without rotating the work piece. The cam is a specialized double cam that provides a zig-zag stitch whose width is controlled by the stitch width lever but where the forward and reverse speeds are preset to provide a nice, tight stitch AND are selected by the position of the stitch width lever. The cam's lever has a notch at its end which is fitted behind the stitch width knob. " Now that I know that, I can see the similarity to the Necchi Supernova buttonhole cam, which performs virtually the same functions. Amazing how much engineering went into sewing machines of a half century ago!

Ed

Even More Online Manuals

As promised, here are my sources for other free, downloadable sewing machine manuals:

INDUSTRIAL MACHINES

Artisan
http://www.artisansew.com/manuals.html

Brother Industrial
http://pub.brother.com/pub/com/ism_manual/handbook/html/bottom.html

Consew Industrial
http://consew.marginspluslive.com/public/default.aspx?pageid=4
or
http://www.sewingmachineoutlet.com/consewmanuals.htm

Juki Industrial
http://www.juki.co.jp/industrial_e/download_e/manual_e.html

Pfaff Industrial
http://www.pfaff-industrial.com/pfaff/en/service/downloads/technicaldocu/pfaffdocument?doctype=technical

Singer Industrial
http://parts.singerco.com/html/inst_manuals.html

U.S. Blindstitch
http://www.nysmac.com/USBlindstitch_Maintenance.pdf

Yamata
http://www.feiyueusa.com/Manual/

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FAMILY USE MACHINES

Bernina
http://www.berninausa.com/browse4b.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302118573&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181831&CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673305595&AST_LOCALE=en&AST_NAME=USA&bmUID=1116413493312

Brother
ftp://ftp.brother.ca/ENGLISH/SEWINGMACHINE/
or
http://www.brother-usa.com/Manuals/

Feiyue
http://www.feiyueusa.com/Manual/

Riccar
http://www.riccar.com/help/manuals/

Simplicity
http://www.simplicitysewing.com/manuals/
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Enjoy,
Ed

Singer Online Manuals

I thought I would share my list of sources for online instruction manuals and service manuals. I clicked all these links today to make sure they are still active, doesn't mean they will be tomorrow! These are links to Singer manuals, next time I will dust off my links to other manufacturers.

Ed

INSTRUCTION MANUALS
Singer No. 15
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade-Literature/Sewing-Machines/NMAHTEX/0203/
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade-Literature/Sewing-Machines/NMAHTEX/2664/
http://www.parts.singerco.com/IPinstManuals/15.pdf
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Singer 15K
http://www.parts.singerco.com/IPinstManuals/15K.pdf
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Instructions for using Singer sewing machines 15-88 and 15-89
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade-Literature/Sewing-Machines/NMAHTEX/2665/
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Instructions for using Singer Sewing Machine 15-91
http://www.ismacs.net/singer/manuals/15-91.pdf
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Instructions for using Singer sewing machines of class 24 one needle single thread chain stitch for manufacturing.
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade-Literature/Sewing-Machines/NMAHTEX/2670/
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Singer Sewing Machine No. 27. / Vibrating shuttle number 2.
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade-Literature/Sewing-Machines/NMAHTEX/0673/
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Singer 99k
http://www.parts.singerco.com/IPsvcManuals/99K.pdf
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Instructions for using Singer sewing machine no. 115
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade-Literature/Sewing-Machines/NMAHTEX/2682/
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Singer 127 & 128 manual
http://www.ismacs.net/singer/manuals/127-128.pdf
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade-Literature/Sewing-Machines/NMAHTEX/0650/
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade-Literature/Sewing-Machines/NMAHTEX/2678/
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Instructions for Using Singer Sewing Machine 195k / http://www.parts.singerco.com/IPinstManuals/195K.pdf
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Instructions for using Singer Sewing Machine 201
http://www.ismacs.net/singer/manuals/201.pdf
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Instructions for Using Singer Sewing Machine no 206
http://www.sil.si.edu/DigitalCollections/Trade-Literature/Sewing-Machines/NMAHTEX/2983/
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Instructions for using Singer Sewing Machine no. 301
http://www.ismacs.net/singer/manuals/301.pdf
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Instructions for using Singer Sewing Machine no 404
http://www.ismacs.net/singer/manuals/404.pdf
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Instructions for Using Singer Sewing Machine no 431
http://www.ismacs.net/singer/manuals/431.pdf
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Instructions for Using Singer Sewing Machine no 503
http://www.ismacs.net/singer/manuals/503.pdf
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SERVICE MANUALS
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Service Manual Singer 66, 99, 185. /
http://www.parts.singerco.com/IPinstManuals/66.pdf
Adjuster's Manual Singer 15-91
http://www.parts.singerco.com/IPinstManuals/15-91.pdf
Adjuster's Manual for Singer 206k25 /
http://www.parts.singerco.com/IPsvcManuals/206K25.pdf
Swing Needle Service Manual Models 306, 319, 401
http://parts.singerco.com/IPsvcManuals/306W25.pdf
Service Manual for Models 620, 625, 626, and 628
http://www.parts.singerco.com/CPpartCharts/6_6999/620_625_626_628.pdf

I have cruised eBay for many years, researching and buying sewing machines. About once a year, a smaller version of a Japanese 15 Class machine shows up. They usually have cutesy names, like Margaret or Princess and they usually sell for about $75 – much more than a standard size 15 Class machine (and more than I am willing to pay). Last week, I noticed one that did not have a cute name and the dimensions were not noted in the description, but looking at the rear view, the motor seemed considerably larger than normal and the proportion of the throat area seemed odd. Not wanting to ask a question and tip off other bidders, I bid what I considered was a reasonable amount and ended up the only bidder at 99 cents! Shipping brought my total to just under $18.

UPS delivered it yesterday. The length of the bed is 12”, compared to a standard bed of 14”. The space from needle to vertical pillar is 5.75”, compared to 7” on a full size machine. Other than that, everything seems to be normal size, except the length of all the shafts. After cleaning and oiling, it runs smooth, but I haven't gotten around to installing a spool pin to test stitch. I will need to manufacture a base for it – it won't fit in a standard base or cabinet. Before I do, I will try it in a ¾ size carrying case from a Singer 99.

You Can Use Vintage Sewing Machines!

Earlier this month I was packing for a trip to Japan. I couldn’t find the shoe bag I made years ago and didn’t want to put my shoes in a plastic Wal-Mart bag, so I decided to whip up another shoe bag. While I was rummaging through the box of scrap fabric, I noticed a pair of my wife’s discarded jeans. It seemed that the bottom of each leg might make a bag large enough for one shoe. Measuring the shoes I wanted to pack, I cut off 18" of the lower end of each pant leg.




I worked the rest of the project with the denim tube inside out. You can’t see it in this photo, but I tucked in about an inch on each side and sewed across the bottom of each leg.

I opened about 1.5" of the seam in the upper edge of the tube to make an opening for the drawstring and sewed down the two seam allowances.

Next, I sewed a ¾" tunnel for the drawstring and inserted the string.

Turning the bag right side out, it is finished.

Using a higher section of the leg, you could make one bag large enough to hold two shoes, but I thought it might be easier to pack a pair of shoes if they could be tucked into two separate corners of the suitcase. Just to keep this on the subject of vintage sewing machines, I sewed this project on my Singer 111W155 compound feed upholstery machine. That monster made quick work of those denim seams.

I traded an 8-track player for this machine in the early 70's. I had it professionally rebuilt for $295 and have used it for about 35 years now with no further repair. I expect it to last me the rest of my life.