Acquiring Some Vintage Sewing Machines
I have been on eBay a bit the past few weeks. Instead of buying books or yarn, I have bought:
What? A Kenmore 148.13100, made for Sears by Soryu in 1974. This machine is quite similar to the Kenmore my mom had when I was a child learning to sew. My Brother is a nice machine, but this vintage one is a heavy metal machine (cue metal music.) Once I have finished oiling it back to life, I hope this will be my machine for heavy denim, leather, and quilting. So far the power and motor work but some of the settings and feed dogs are a bit frozen. All the vintage machine forums say to oil and to heat with a blow dryer to soften the old oil. These machines are nearly indestructible, so I welcome the opportunity to learn more troubleshooting and simple repair skills.
I also did this:
It's a child's sewing machine made for Montgomery Ward, maybe late 60s. It just arrived yesterday. The hand crank and electricity to motor work, but feed dogs are frozen. I might need to open it up to see if it has a belt (motor makes noise, but doesn't make machine move; hand crank does make needle go up and down.) Once I fix this baby, I will have a chain stitch machine that can be used safely (at lower speed) by my grandchildren. This is a nice machine--not a plastic toy. I found the right size needles on Etsy.
I did do some sewing this week, too. I finished some black ponte pants. Then I cut out a black batiste blouse and used my ruffler attachment for the neck and sleeve ruffles. Also finished my denim skort. Photos will be coming soon.
What great treasures you found :) Without a doubt, the old machines are the best, they support all kinds of fabrics and projects. Even the kids machine looks sturdy. I hope you enjoy them and that you can put both to work ❣️.
My mom worked at Sears for 45 years, so we had Kenmore everything--kitchen appliances, Craftsman tools, and especially the sewing machine. I am teaching myself about machine repair because it is hard to find people who do this skilled work anymore. !CTP
How exciting, now you have put an idea in my head!
We have a supplier locally who will repair vintage machines and who always has a beautiful selection of Singers waiting to tempt you.
The old Singers are so pretty with their black enamel finish. Some day...but only after I get these 2 machines running well. !CTP
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Ooooh, really nice machines, dear @fiberfrau !! I love older machines too, obviously... and have such a cute bird's-egg-blue one, which I bought for £10 in 2006. It needed a new motor, which is a bit cumbersome looking, but it is such a solid and strong machine, and has never failed me - even though it was left for a few years not being used. I hope all your machines continue to function and improve! Blessings!
I love the color in some of the older machines. Sewing is more of a pleasure with a pretty machine. !CTP
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Cool, i havea vintage butterfly machine I use currently, and it works perfectly for me too, at first all parts were kind of frozen as you stated above, since it has not been used for long, what I did was to loosen the parts I could and added enough oil, Viola, it came back to life, gradually though, with regular usage, you won't feel that friction anymore.
Those vintage machine don't go down easily, talk of their heavy metal🙂
Maybe when I get my metal machine running my son will let me join his band for a music video. I will be so fierce with my heavy metal machine...
!CTP
I completely agree with you: old models are sometimes much more efficient in work than new ones. great purchase!!!!
!CTP