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.

Sorry about the focus.  The machine is in the sewing room and it was about 20 degrees out there, so I kind of went fast.

It's pretty evident right off the bat that the machine isn't in the best shape.  It's not terrible, just missing bits and bobs to make it whole.  The biggest being the  bobbin cover plate.  But also the small access cover next to the spool pin.  

Plus the finish is a little on the rough side. But hey, round potted motor cover! Right?!

It also gets cool points for having the pull chain Singerlight.  And the 1923s still had the electrical box as part of the base casting (thanks to Jim from Victorian Sweatshop for pointing that out). 

But... This one does have a negative associate with the wiring.

The wiring almost looks factory.  Excccceeeept for that hex/phillips head screw serving as the grounding lug for the chassis.  Yeah, that's not a Singer part.  And the whole, three lead wiring on a home appliance before the 1970s thing.  But just in case, thinking Singer might have been fifty years ahead of everyone and it might have just been a case of the original screw getting lost, I asked on the forums.  Lori from WI replied that her neither of her two pre-1925 machines have a chassis ground.  So, props to whoever in the past had the safety consciousness to put a ground lug on this beast.  But it would have been a lot bigger round of applause if they went with a screw that didn't act like beacon "after market add-on".  I'm probably going to rerun that wire into the electrical housing with the two other leads and attach it out of sight so it's not as obvious.

But once again, round potted motor cover = WIN!  If only they had worked a reverse paddle like the 103 had.  Oh and they made better stitches, there is that.  But I haven't sewn on either that much, so who knows, maybe once they get some yards ran through them and remember what a sewing machine is supposed to do? 

Thanks to Miriam again for sharing part of her collection with me.

Oh-Oh, bonus! I almost forgot.  She did let me slip out with this as well.

So, yeah, I'll be the coolest kid at the sewing club (whenever we get to meet again) when I roll with with my 301 strapped to the back of my Road King in this bad boy.  I was thinking about maybe redoing the surface and putting new leather on it with the 29, but wouldn't a 'biker's sewing machine' have a bit of roughness to it?  Maybe even paint it black? Nah, but definitely keep it rough for a while.