Made It! At Least I Didn't Go A Whole Calendar Year Without Posting

I received a comment from Michael asking if I had abandoned the blog, so figured I better let everyone know I'm still around.

Yeah-yeah, bad blogger, no 2022 updates.  But I haven't abandoned sewing machines.  See-

Well There Goes The Neighborhood - 1967 Elna 62D

 Here's the deal.  Once I treadled the 221 I started looking around at other machines that "can't be treadled".  There are two machine in particular I've been looking to show that anything can be treadled.  The Singer 500A and the other was The Elna Supermatic (the green one).  I've had the repainted 500A sitting on the side for a bit.  I haven't done it yet because I'm planning on that machine being my zigzagger at Philmont over the summer.  So a Supermatic would be first. I wiffed on the green, but came up with this off goodwill instead.

Changing The Narrative - Singer 15-91 (The Wicked Queen)

 My daughter is coming up from Florida to visit.  We are in clean up mode and it may be a week or so before I get another post up.  I couldn't stand the idea of people landing on the blog randomly and seeing Touch and Sews at the top so I'll just leave this here.

Yes, Turn To The Dark Side, Young Jedi - Singer 750 Touch And Sew.

Well the 635 bombed out.  I did get a good pedal out of it.  And I guess a spare PA motor I can work on another project with.  But every day is a new hope, right?  I bought this off Shopgoodwill and it showed up today.

Heresy! Singer 635 Touch And Sew

WARNING! Rants ahead.

Okay in my defense this was an experiment.  I've been reading about the 'hack' to run the dual speed 1 amp, Golden Touch and Sew motors in 301/4xx/5xx machines and thought I would try it.  So I found this as a local pickup on Ebay.

Shhh, Super Secret "Project FWT" - Singer 221 Treadle

 I've hinted around about planning this for years. Well I've finally gone and done it.  

It's not a machine conversion, the 221 still has all its super-cute little parts attached.  It's more of an adaptation to of a treadle to  drive a 221.

Carving Stitches With Marge's Singer VS2 Death Machine

 I have to say this is an impressive machine.

Treadle From Random Pieces For The 107W5

 I don't think I've ever shown putting together one of the random parts from Norm treadles I do.  So let me show you how it goes.

Of Course I Got It - 1885 Singer Improved Family

 Spring is coming, that means more time up in the sewing room.  I'm working on a couple of new posts.  One for the 107W5 going into a treadle and one for Marge's Death Machine Black Side VS2.  While messing about with those I saw this guy on Shopgoodwill.

Adventures In Aerospace Engineering And Some Painting/Cleaning For The 1935 Singer 221

As you may recall when we last left the newest 221 we were in a bit of a bind with the throat plate screws.

Singer VS2 Blackside! Cause That's How We Roll In The Shire

A month or so ago one of the guys on Victorian Sweatshop pointed me to a Chandler patcher on Facebook Marketplace.  I hemmed and hawed about it long enough to miss out.  But while going back and forth on the Chandler, this popped up.

Emergency 221 Purchase. And Happy 50th Singer day.

 I've spent the last couple of days trying to get the blog entries caught up.  This morning I was working on the entry for the VS2 I picked up a couple weeks back.  When I'm at the computer I pop over and check Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and Shopgoodwill just incase any 'must haves' show up.  In this case it was this guy popping up on Facebook for... $75!!  What the frack!?

New Furniture For The Sewing Room, And Another Machine - Singer 15-91

 For a while now the only chair I had up in the sewing room was a folding lawn chair.  It was a little awkward to sew with.  I occasionally checked Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for a replacement.  Finally this sorely misused guy showed up nearby for $35.

Another Poor Beat Down Goodwill Machine - Singer 27-3

 I was trolling through Shopgoodwill a few weeks ago and saw this guy a few times with no bids.  Normally I would pass as well but eventually I checked the serial number they had a picture of.  Turns out it's an 1897 machine.

Sewing Room (Slow) Progress Update

 I do continue to work on the sewing room.  Progress isn't quick.  Me and the boy did a bit of work last year, but kind of lost most of the year to the plague and building out some more gardens.  This winter has been looking at heating solutions.  I had finally settled on a wood stove, then found out that wood stoves aren't allowed in buildings in which gasoline powered vehicles/equipment are stored.  Bummer.  Since I'm limited to 40 total amps of electrical it makes it hard to stick with electric heaters permanently.  So still looking.  But the we did get the walls nearly complete.  So here's the current layout.

I'm A Rocketman! (Sorry Sir Elton) - Singer 500A

 After getting the 500A apart I took some pieces down to Sherwin Williams (I read the reviews of their do-it-yourself phone app and they weren't good).  They guys were actually excited to try and mix some paint for something other than interior walls (one of them is a sewing machine fan as well).  They spent almost an hour experimenting and came up with these.

Yeah, I Knew It Was Going To Happen - Singer 500A

 It's one of those machines everyone gets eventually.  But I promise this one was an accident... Kinda.

Tilting At Windmills with the 107W5 - Allbrands.com Adventures (?)

 This is pretty much a post about how retired guys keep themselves entertained.  

 As you may remember from the last post I'm currently in the process of converting the 3.9 amp Singer motor into something I can use to make the 107W5 a sorta-portable machine.  And here we sit.

Domesticating The Singer 107W5

 Right now I have five industrial machines.  The 29K72, the 95-40, the 96-10, the 103 and now the 107W5.  The 107W5 is the only machine without propulsion.  The 103 is in the industrial treadle, the rest have clutch motors assigned to them.  So that needs to be fixed.

Charity Sewing Continues

 Even though we can't get together at the library, the charity sewing group continues to work on projects.  These days they are kind of social distanced drop-off-completed/pickup-supplies-for-next-round in the library parking lot affairs.  The past few go arounds we have been doing baby quilts for local newborns.

'Modern' Machine Annoyances - Aligning Singer 401 Needlebar

 I'm working on some baby quilts for our charity sewing group - more on that in another post.  Today I decided to jazz things up a bit by putting a cool zigzag stitch one of of them.  I pulled out the not-so-trusty 401 and while setting it up noticed this:

More Shiny Bits! 1931 Singer 15-91 Nickel Plated

 I've always been interested in the first year 15-91s that have all the plating on them.  Black Swan is even wearing the Stitch Indicator Plate off of a '31.  So there was palpable excitement in the house when this little, umm.... beauty(?) showed up on Shopgoodwill.

Great British Sewing Bee Series 6

First off props where they are do.  Series six was much better than series five.  Joe has reigned a little of his more cringe inducing behavior that was a massive distraction for me with series five, becoming an overly annoying clown (see photo) less often.  He's still not in the same league as Claudia Winkleman, but at least he is less horrific.

Happy Birthday to Me! (Part 2) - Singer 95-40

 This one was more of an adventure for the wife than the 107.  And even more of a double surprise.

Oops, Forgot One - Singer 101 (1923)

 I didn't really forget it.  Just kept putting it off.  I mentioned it before when I talked about our 2018 road trips.  This was one of two picked up from Miriam, a friend from Victorian Sweatshop, when we passed through Indiana.

Happy Birthday to Me! Singer 107W5

 I complain about zigzagging a lot.  If you've read any of my posts about the 401/403/Automatic Zigzagger you probably know this already.  Now just imagine how much my wife has heard it.  I'm kind of thinking that's why for my birthday this year she went down to Norm and asked for a zigzag machine that would shut me up.  And here it is.  A 1940 allotted Singer 107W5

Goodwill Singer 15-88 Converted. But Does It Sew? (And Treadle 328 Gets A Cover)

Here is my quandary.  Right now getting more treadle parts is kind of not a happening thing.  I know where to get them.  My contact has plenty, but neither of us are all that excited about breaking home alone rules.  So I'm down to four sets of irons to mount machines in.  And two of those sets are Davis irons.  So while cleaning the new 15-88 I was also getting the black paint on a set of Singer irons (the boy does the gold after I get them painted).

Singer 15-90- nah, 15-88 From Shopgoodwill

This is number seven of Shopgoodwill.com purchases I've made.  So far the score for packing has been: 2 excellent, 2 average, 2 oh my god, how do you breathe!?  This one is the tie breaker. Let's see how Waco faired.

The Sewing Room Is Coming Along

I've shot some videos up in the sewing room, usually just showing the five or six square feet that wasn't silted under with crap.  This week the boy is on spring break from e-school so rather than just watch him play Mega Death Killer 39 for another fourteen solid hours, I dragged him up to the Sewing Room and we got some work done.

Singer 101 - My x01 Straight Is Complete

So even though I was traveling most of last year doesn't mean I wasn't still picking up the odd bit of sewing machine coolness on the way.

How To Make Decent Masks Video

The hospital in my home town decided after a month of turning down donated masks that, oops, they actually needed some.  My sister has started churning them out.

With so many people giving 'tips' on how to make them there is a lot of bad recommendations floating around.  So I thought I would add my own, but hopefully not as bad.

Great British Sewing Bee - Revisited

Oh well, it's still the only show on TV that has a bit of sewing in it I guess.  Series 6 is on the way, so here's what I thought of series 5.

Making Masks - Like Everyone Should Be

Yep, if you can sew you should be pumping these guys out whenever you can.  Even if your local hospital isn't taking donations (not very bright) you can always mail them to someplace like:

Yale New Haven Health System

Regional Operations Center

Attn: PPE Donations

600 Derby Ave. (Route 34)

West Haven, CT 06516

It's Been One Of Those Years

Hi all.  Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still around.  Got distracted by life (and Warcraft) for a while.  Have a few posts in the mill, not sure how soon they'll get up but quick run down includes a couple of Singer 101s, (Yay! my 01 collection is complete).  Also, some sewing projects (yep I'm sewing masks for our local hospitals).  I missed the NETOGA last year because of a minor family medical issue that forced, forced I say, me to ride my motorcycle to Oklahoma for an unscheduled vacatio- umm... emergency visit.  So I have a bunch of flying geese blocks I need to unload at some point, d'oh.  Still doing charity sewing each month, though we are on hiatus until social distancing is eased.

As like most everyone else we are sitting tight and not getting out much at all, but all here are good.

Do all you need to stay healthy.

Craigslist Rescue - Singer 404

Like I mentioned in the VS2 post, I'm a avid Craigslist cruiser.  Yesterday while making my usual rounds I stumbled onto an ad for this guy.

New And Improved! 1892 Singer Model 27

I don't have any great expertise on checking the providence of machines.  Pretty much what I do is look for sources online.  I don't have access to any secret documentation or anything.  Usually I trust what I read.  Unless it's a place known for egregious mistakes, like Wikipedia or Needlebar.  So from what I've read 1891 was the year that the VS2 transitioned to the Model 27.  This one just misses the cut of being a first year, and comes in as an 1892 machine.

My First Singer VS2 - Do Spiderwebs Count As Patina?

This was kind of a weird Craiglist find.  I scour it pretty regularly.  A couple of days ago I saw the ad for this guy, along with a 27 I'll post next.

Sewing For Charity At The Simsbury Public Library

I finally made it to one of the charity sewing meetings at the library here.  The last two I've tried to attend were snowed out.  Snow, another reason to want to leave Connecticut.

Feeling The Power - Singer 103 In An Industrial Treadle

The 103 is finally back together. Temporarily at least.

Twofer Cleaning Day On The Singer 15-30s

The 1904 was in pieces on the floor and I got to thinking that I might use some of the pieces of Hyman Workman's 1927 to get the '04 back together.  When all was said and done I didn't, but I did use it as an excuse to clean both machines.

Charlie Brown's Sewing Machine - 1904 Singer 15-30

I'm always on the look out for old, sad machines.  I really like taking one that has been beat down hard and getting it back in shape.  They don't get much rougher than this one.

Singer 201 Spa Day. Using A HA-1 Numbered Needle Plate On A 201

If you watched 201 treadle conversion video you may have noticed a couple of photos where I had the 1953 201 stand in for Swan Queen for some expounding on what I was doing in a couple of places.  When I shot those pictures it was pretty obvious that the 1953 needed a bit of cleaning.

Converting Another Singer 201-2 To A Treadle Machine

I was trying to keep the naming theme of the treadle 201s the same.  I couldn't very well call it "White Swan", it would be wrong just on the face of it.  So I went back to the original source for a name.   Introducing, Swan Queen.

128 Gets Its Singer Hand Crank

I have been toying with the idea of buying an original Singer hand crank for a 'portable' machine for a while.  I had the modern knock off that I've used for a couple of years with little complaint.  Once I got the 128 it just seemed like the right time to get an original.  Of course that meant hitting up Helen Howes.

Prepping For NETOGA, About Six Months Early

As I mentioned in this post, I wanted to have my quilting blocks done for the NETOGA (North East Treadle-On Gathering and Academy) before panic time set in around July.  Doing some experimenting I made four Dutchman's Puzzle blocks last week.  On Sunday I decided to get the other dozen completed.

Tuning Up The 401, Again. Supergirl Is Pure Fantasy

This 401 has been sitting on the shelf next to Black Swan's cabinet for a few months now, right next to the 301.  I had brought it in to do some zig zags to overcast some raw edges.  It didn't go well and I put a zigzagger on Black Swan to do the work.  Today I decided to see what was up.

Happy Valentine's Day. Making The Wife's Gift Using Black Swan, Wicked Queen And The 29K72 For The Win.

During one of our pilgrimages to Osgood Textile a couple of years ago we had bought some leather along with a few dozen pounds of other fabrics.  My wife had asked me to make her a bag out of it.  The same style as this one I had made her.

The Heartbreak Of Taking The 1949 221 To Market

Well the Goodwill 221 is listed for sale.  We'll see how it goes.  It's my first 'for sale' machine, so I made sure to get into every nook and cranny to clean it up.  Which it needed.  But dangit, it's so cute!  I'm not sure if I can really sell it. Even my wife is constantly commenting on how cute it is whenever I'm working on it. The 221s suck you in, don't they?  They are the tribbles of the Singer family.

Getting The 128 Ready For A New (Old) Hand Crank

If you read the post about the 128 my sister bought for me in exchange for the 221 I bought her, then you might remember this picture.

Cleaning Case For The 1949 221

The Goodwill 221 arrived a couple of days ago and is in pieces for cleaning.  I'm going to do a post about getting it ready to sale.  I thought the case would be just one part of that post but it became a day long job by itself and so I thought I would run through what I did in a quick initial post.

Playing Sewing Machine Detective

If you have read a lot of the previous entries you know one of the things I enjoy about collecting machines is finding out their history.  Well today I had an internet adventure thanks to the 1953 201-2.

Stepping Out Of My Comfort Zone

I've been sewing, casually, for about 39 years.  Sprinkled in that time there have been spans where I sewed more rigorously.  When I sew, it's usually things like this.