Stitch n' Knit

I got this machine last August at the same garage sale as the 99k, and for the same agreeable price of $20 CAD. At first I just bought the 99k, but I came back at closing time and this one was still there, so clearly it needed my help.

I didn't know what kind of machine it was, and it turned out to be a Japanese made Singer 15 clone, which is a thing I'd never heard of! There doesn't seem to be a huge amount of information on them out there, but apparently there are a bunch of these out there under hundreds of different brand names because they could be ordered by businesses who wanted to sell their own sewing machines without having to manufacture them. I've seen pictures of them in quite a variety of fun colours too! This one says "Gimbels", which was an american department store chain. Not sure when it was made, but maybe 1950's?

The overall shape and inner workings are extremely similar to my Singer 15-91, but with the peculiar difference that the bobbin case is mirrored. So they can share bobbins, and feet, but not bobbin cases. This one also has a drop feed, and a setting to lower the feed dogs slightly for delicate fabrics!

It's been sitting partly disassembled on the back of my sewing table for about 6 months, but I finally got back to it a few days ago and now it's all clean and oiled and back together. Except the motor - I want to look inside to see if it has any crud to clean before I reattach that, and I want to watch some videos before I do that because I don't know my way around electronics.

It sewed right away, so there wasn't much of anything wrong with it aside from dirt and a bit of rust! But alas, the wooden case was too rotten to save, and positively reeked of mould. I figure I should be able to make a new case though, with perhaps some help and borrowed tools. There are also some paint chips I'd like to fill in at some point.

Sakura Baby Snake Cross Stitch Pattern on my Etsy Shop:

Chicken, Chicken Nugget, and Popcorn Chicken.