Divots

The model 127 machine is over 110 years old. It had some serious damage to the finish in the form of divots down to the metal. I didn't want to sand the whole machine down so I decided to build the divots back up. I went in search of a filler and came up with this; J-B Weld 50172 25 ml MarineWeld. It worked quite well. I filled the holes then sanded it down to make an even surface.

My thought was that it must be strong and water-proof if it was meant for boats. It didn't take much. I mixed it on a thick paper plate and applied it with a popsicle stick to make it fairly flat from the get-go. I then tossed the stick and plate. No mess.

The Base

Bases are not always necessary depending on the machine. I didn't want to sell this one without a base whether it needed it or not. So I went hunting in search of reasonably priced bases. I wasn't really concerned about covers as a set was not only difficult to find, but nowhere near reasonably priced. I found a couple of sources and decided to try them both. 

The first one was a build-it-yourself kit from a cabinet company. They would make a pull out box in whatever size you specified at a very reasonable cost. So I ordered one to fit a full size machine.

The second option which looked viable was a company on eBay which created bases for Singer machines. They cost a bit more but came with the hardware (hinges and feet) if you ordered it that way. At the time I needed three bases and these were on sale. So I ordered two from them.

For the 127 I used one of the bases from eBay. I stained it and finished it with clear coat. I thought it turned out pretty darn good.

Recently Sold

I recently sold one of the tiaras I made a few years ago. I wrote about the first one in this blog post. My tiara making skills came quite a long way. I based this on the Swedish cameo tiara but wanted to see it in blue. I also added a necklace and carrying case I made.

Quick rant: I was shocked at how much eBay charges in fees these days. Also surprised they charge the seller a surcharge on the taxes they collect and remit to the buyer's state. After being in business for myself for almost 20 years I know the state pays a percentage back to the collector. They are making a killing just charging state sales tax. Rant over.

I will say I had some fun embroidering the beads on the little upholstered top of the box. Haven't done bead work in a while. Always good not to go too crazy with them.

This is headed to the post office this morning. I hope the buyer will be pleased with it.

Parts

Now that the cleaning and sanding was underway, I started looking for the missing parts. Fortunately, I have several sources. The front slide plate was a story in itself. After ordering the part three times, from three different sources, SewLowTeck was able to deliver the right slide plate within a couple of days. The whole process took over a month. For that one part. It's worth noting here that the model 127 and 128 do NOT take the same slide plates. I don't care what any vendor says, they are not the same length.

Meanwhile the sanding continued. Other parts were duly purchased as I found them. See below. More to follow.

Sanding Metal

As just about any fan of vintage machines will tell you, once you start taking them in they start following you. People are so happy to find someone who knows what to do with them. So it was that I ended up with three vintage/antique sewing machines which needed some work. The model 127 was the worst so I started there.

The Sphinx decals were worn off completely in places and rust was everywhere. I looked around for the same decals but was sorely disappointed in what was available. So I decided to start over and paint the whole machine. That meant sandpaper. The jappaning was quite damaged and had to come off almost down to the metal. I used sandpaper from about 150 grit to 3000 grit. Gotta love the multi-packs.

Once everything was broken down to the degree I felt would work, I placed screws and other small parts in crud-cutter rust remover. It worked OK but the sandpaper was simply better. To get into the tiny spaces I used Dremel tips in my electric screwdriver. I find the Dremel a bit excessive for just removing rust. I was pretty pleased with how the parts were looking at this point. More to come.
 

A Little Background

I never thought of myself as a sewing machine collector. I had different machines which did different things and I used them all. But when I moved into a new house I needed to decide what the sewing room would look like. I started looking for inspiration on Pinterest. Most of the storage items I had were white so I went with that idea. The image to the left was my inspiration.

I needed to arrange the machines where they would be easily accessible but just as easily put away. Realizing my machine cabinets were not white, I decided to find some stick-to-anything white paint. The experiments took a while since what worked for wood didn't always work for laminate. In the end, I came up with places for the machines in their (mostly) newly painted cabinets. 

All was well in the sewing room until... I found a Singer 222K online for $800. It came with everything and was in perfect condition. I certainly didn't NEED it but I really really wanted it. When it arrived I decided to take a picture of my Singer machines together. That was the beginning of the collection. More to come.

It's been a while.

I won't bore you with why I've been gone since 2013 but I was asked to share details of what I've been up to. I sew quite a bit and started collecting antique machines in 2019. They generally need some type of maintenance at the very least. But sometimes it's worse; much worse.

 I'll describe the process I went through with my Singer 127 at the request of a kind redditor recently. I acquired this antique in a lot of three sewing machines and two bentwood covers. By far the item in worst shape was the 127. The decals were pretty much gone (including the word Singer) and the finish was missing chunks where you could see the metal. It was also missing plenty of parts and the wiring was so bad someone had cut the cord from the power supply so it couldn't be plugged in. Even the bentwood tops were in better shape!

So what did I do? I started with that one of course. Below, left to right, Singer 66 (1914), Singer 15-91 (1950), and the Singer 127 (1914). More to follow.