Tag Archives: Singer

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

Model 99 and 66 bobbin case and feed dog cleaning

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Also applies to the 185, 192 (Spartan), 285 and 292 models.

Probably one of the most neglected areas of a sewing machine is the bobbin area.

We stick a bobbin in, sew, replace the bobbin, sew some more.

It’s often not until one day when we’re sewing and suddenly there’s a nest underneath the needle plate (throat plate) that we have to cut out, or worse, the needle breaks and now we have to dig the shrapnel out.

You remove the slide plate, and the needle plate and horror of horrors, you find you’ve been knitting felt and birthing thread bunnies underneath there.  Maybe even worse, the bobbin case just won’t come out, no matter how you wiggle it.  Continue reading Model 99 and 66 bobbin case and feed dog cleaning →

Sewing Machines

Number 10 – is it a 48 or a 51?

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Last weekend ended with a huge win.  Of the two ads that responded to me, the machine we looked at last came home with us.  The picture below is what I saw in the ad. If you squint really hard, you can make out that it’s a model 15, but the picture isn’t giving a lot more than that away.   The bentwood case though caught my attention.  Continue reading Number 10 – is it a 48 or a 51? →

Sewing Machines

Oops, I did it again! – Updated with Pictures

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Saturday was Morinville’s Town Wide garage sale.  Every spring, the town has a garage sale, where people can rent a table at the Sports center, or just put their stuff out for sale at their homes.  The town publishes a list of the “registered” garage sales, and tons of people show up from far and wide to take a peek at people’s stuff.

This year, with my “new” hobby, I set off around town with my treasure map in hand, to see what I could find.  I promised from the outset that I wouldn’t buy any more sewing machines, unless they were exceptionally special.  No more rescues for now.   I can’t even find enough time to work on the ones I have.

At first it was easy.  I kept finding late 70s machines to mid 90s.  No temptation at all.

Ah, the best intentions… Continue reading Oops, I did it again! – Updated with Pictures →

Sewing Machines, VSM Repair

What a Pile of …. rebuilding your carbon pile button foot pedal. A complete tear down.

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Don’t get me wrong, I don’t detest the button-style or bake-lite foot pedals.  I just don’t trust them.

Last night, I was sewing my very first applique.  The tedium of the cutting and pressing finished, I thought I’d sit down to do some of the stitching.  This is slow speed sewing, especially because I’ve never done it before, and satin stitches on my first machine would spark many colorful arguments between myself and the machine.

I made it about half way around the perimeter. Then, speaking of sparks…

I heard them.  It was the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard in a sewing room. bzzzzzzt, pop pop…. a weird sound like rushing water, a hum that got louder, and then crackling noises coming from below my sewing table.

This was accompanied by some warm toes

Continue reading What a Pile of …. rebuilding your carbon pile button foot pedal. A complete tear down. →

Sewing Machines

A find at the local V.V. Boutique

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Or Value Village to the uninitiated.

Normally this is a place I avoid, but my recent quest to find all of the books in the “Singer Sewing Reference Library” has me haunting all of the thrift shops I can find.  Next weekend’s quest will lead us to the flea markets.

I was really only looking for the books, honestly.  Then I decided to wander over to the furniture section, to see if there were any machines there, just for fun.  So many of the machines I’ve been finding in the thrift stores are incomplete or “not working”, so I felt not a lot of risk.  Besides, hadn’t Ryan and I just been talking in the truck on the way over here about me not looking for another machine?  Really, I have all that I need, the only one that I might look for would be a really good “zigzagger”, for some finishing work, but it really wasn’t a priority…

Then it happened.  Continue reading A find at the local V.V. Boutique →