Wilcox and Gibbs Chainstitch Machine

I went to a yard sale today and saw this treadle.  I had to have it!  Can you blame me?  It is filthy and the top is in terrible condition.  But it was a great price.

I was on my way to the sew in day at the local art gallery.  Judy had asked me to help her convert a 99 she bought, into a hand crank.  The wiring was shot on it.  She had already cleaned it up some and I showed her how I cleaned a machine and the materials I use.  When we started, it did not want to turn, but after cleaning and oiling her, she works like a charm!

While she worked on her machine, I worked on cleaning my new machine.

After three hours of cleaning, this is how she looked.  She still needs some more cleaning, but already looks a lot better!

I can't wait to finish cleaning her up and find out more information about her.

I'm not sure where to find the serial number at.  If anyone can tell me, I would appreciate it!

Missy

Singer Class 66 and 99 Machines

Today I want to talk to you about Singer Class 66 and 99 sewing machines.  

First I want to let you know how to find out what year your sewing machine was born in.  You need to go to ISMACS to get that information.  Here is the link.    It stands for International Sewing Machine Collectors' Society.  All you need is the serial number on your machine.

My first machine pictured here is the Singer class 66 treadle with Lotus decals.

This was a machine I wanted for a long time!  I looked up the serial number and it is a 66K born in 1910 in Clydebank, Scotland.  From what I understand, most of the Lotus decals were manufactured at the Scotland plant although some were made in America.  They made 6500 of these machines that year,  She is 107 years old and works great!  These machines were made as treadles, handcranks, and later motors were added.  I wonder how my Scottish machine ended up in America?

closeup of the Lotus decals

My next machine is also a Singer Class 66.  The decals on this machine are called Red-Eye or Redhead.  It is more commonly called Red-Eye because the decals look like a big red eye.  The proper term to use is a heated discussion among collectors.
My machine was born in 1918 here in America.  All of the machines with this decal were made in America.  She will be 100 years old next year and I still use her all the time.  I put her in an old sewing machine cabinet since she did not have a base.
Not all Class 66 machines have these pretty decals on them.

She was not an original hand crank, she was converted.  I have an interesting piece of information I just learned.  The way you can tell an original hand crank from a reproduction hand crank is by looking at the handle.  It will be either wood or ceramic.  The one below is wood.

If it is a reproduction, it is plastic, like the one below.

This hand crank is on my Singer Class 99.  A 99 is exactly the same as a 66 except that it is 3/4 of the size.  These are excellent machines and I highly recommend buying one if you come across one.  They make perfect stitches and will sew through just about anything.  I converted her from an electric machine because her knee bar was missing.  A knee bar does the same thing a foot pedal does except you press with your knee.  See that little hole on the right of the base?  That is where the knee bar goes.  

My machine was born in 1925, she is 92 years old!  Since she is in a base and smaller than my other machines, I use her as my "travelling" machine.  She has some beautiful decals also.

Please excuse the basket of clean laundry that needs to be folded!

Class 66 and Class 99 machines will use a class 66 bobbin.  You can see what a class 66 bobbin looks like here.  A class 15 bobbin is the most common bobbin used nowadays.  They have a lot of little holes around the outside.

You can see the inside of a class 66 machine here.

You can get more information about these machines from Alex Askaroff here. 

If you have any information to share, please feel free to!
Missy

Picture of Vintage Sewing Machines/Or My house the Museum

Last week I shared pictures of the projects everyone brought.  Today I will show you how I set up my sewing room and living room in anticipation of talking about my machines.  I will share information about the machines in several posts, this is just an overview.

The first pictures are of my sewing room.

Singer 66 Redeye hand crank next to attachments and a puzzle box

Singer 16 Industrial Treadle

Singer 66 with Lotus decals

Singer Featherweight

Japanese 15 style "clones"

My design wall on the right, and the quilt I'm working on draped over the TV

Featherweight, Industrial head, modern Janome, Japanes 15 clone(dark green)

Japanese 15 style "clones"

My living room

Singer Model 12 treadle

New Home converted to a hand crank

On the coffee table Singer 99 converted hand crank

I forgot to take a picture of the Franklin treadle I had in front of the fireplace
You can see a picture of it here:  

Counting my two toy sewing machines and one electric not shown, I have 16 sewing machines.  I'll give more information about the machines in later posts.

How many sewing machines do you have?

Missy

Sewing Machine Social

I have a Homemaker's Group I go to the second Thursday of the month in the afternoons.  We take turns hosting, and this month was my turn.  I did a talk on my vintage sewing machines.  I will have to show you the machines in another post.

The picture below is of Miss Norma making a mug rug on one of my handcranks.  Miss Norma learned to sew on a treadle but had never used a handcrank before.  I also demoed my treadle, unfortunately, those pictures did not turn out.

 We had a show and tell and everyone brought a craft they wanted to share.
Debra, who does not usually come since she lives an hour away, shared a baby blanket she made. She is Miss Norma's daughter. The baby shower was that night.  I'm sorry about the pictures, the sun was not cooperating for good pictures.

 Linda, on the right, is a friend of Debra's and came with her.  She shared several quilts that she made.

 The below one is cross stitch and embroidery.

 The bluebirds were blocks a lady in a nursing home had started but could not finished, so Linda finished them for her.

 Pat loves using her embroidery machine and sewing.  She embroidered these towels for a college student.  She also made and embroidered the sweatshirt she is wearing.

 Here is a baby bib she made and embroidered for a new baby in our church (we go to the same church).  Cupcake joined our party.

 Garnet  crocheted this baby blanket for a new baby in her church.  I love the ruffly edges on it.

 I delinted and vacuumed all the cat hair on the furniture.  This chair is not in great shape so I keep a quilt on it.  Oreo decided to put the cat hair back on the chair and sleep on it before the guests arrived.  I used my string quilt to cover the TV.

 I had four sewing machines in the living room.  Here I have my New Home(1920) and in the back is my Singer model 12(1881).

 Here is a corner of my clean sewing room.  I had to clean it for my demos.

I promise to do an upcoming series on my blog about my machines.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a journal.  You can enter here. You have until Monday to enter.

We have a different theme each month for our group, next month's is gardening.

Aside from quilt guilds, are you involved in any other clubs?

Missy (currently with a clean house but I doubt it will last long)

Feline Friday and Machine Update

Almost every morning Muffin crawls under the covers to go back to sleep (he gets up with my husband).  The cats wake my husband up early but know it will not do them any good to try to get me up.  I always wake up around seven, even on my days off.  They wake up my husband between 5:30 and 6:00.

Pippi has a basket she likes to sleep in, so when I brought home my new papasan chair, she thought it was a new basket for her!

Check out the link below to see a video showing how the presser bar works.  I can't seem to get my videos to work this week.

https://youtu.be/nf2A30pO3HY



 I got my machine fixed.  I cleaned the inside with goop and then oiled it with sewing machine oil.  I let it sit overnight and then had my husband loosen the nut on top for me.  I thought you would be interested to see how the presser bar lifts up and down.  I got it stuck by tightening it too much.

This picture is missing the lever, but thought you might like to see the inside.

Do you fix your own machines or have someone else do it?  That is one thing I like about the vintage machines, they are usually pretty easy to fix.  I call my Singer 16 my Big Old Lady, she is 126 years old.  She was born in 1891.

Here is an update on my wall.  I promise that it is not a load bearing wall.  There is even wire mesh on the ceiling, it is in the way of getting the big board off the ceiling.  Such a pain.

I'll be having a giveaway next week, be sure to check back.

Have a great day ya'll!

Missy

A "Grey" Day

We have been trying to get this half wall torn down for five months, I've wanted it torn down since we bought the house in April. We thought it would be a quick one day thing, like on TV. 

 Unfortunately, when we started tearing down the wall, we found that it was laced with metal webbing and hooked into the ceiling with metal bars.  Those took a while to take down since we did not want to tear down the other wall, ceiling, or floor.  Then before we could knock down the drywall (which I had fun doing), DH had to move the light switch and plug, which he had never done before.
Now he needs to figure out how to remove the thick board across the ceiling and across the floor.

We did pull out two of those boards that you see on the left.  I also kicked one of the nails sticking up, wearing only socks.  It hurt, but I'm glad it did not break the skin or I would have had to get a tetanus shot!

Did I mention I have a group of ladies, my homemaker's group, coming to my house next week?  Not to mention a baby shower cake to make on Friday for a baby shower I'm helping to host. Ladies Bible study on Friday.   I'm not sure when I'm supposed to have time to clean since I work on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.

I was hoping to finish my quilt so I could show and tell it Thursday at the homemaker's group and quilt guild that evening, but my sewing machine broke yesterday.  The part that lifts the presser bar that is connected to the foot, snapped loose last night.

I took the face plate off and proceeded to clean the inside.  It was nasty.  You have to remember that this machine is 126 years old.  That is a lot of gunk build up.

This is the lever that lifts the presser foot up and down.

The presser bar is the one with the spring on the left.  It is stuck and will not move.

I oiled everything down and am going to have my husband try to loosen the top nut on the presser bar. Hopefully if he can loosen it, it will become unstuck.  I think what happened is that when I put the "new" hopping foot on it(I found it in my stash), I had to tighten the presser bar a lot.  I must have tightened it too much and caused too much pressure inside or something.  If I can't fix it, I will have to take it to the Northeast TX T.O.G.A. in April and have someone help me fix it.

I declared yesterday a "grey" day!  LOL

Have a great day ya'll!
Missy