#singer 201k

This is my beautiful hand-crank (converted from electric) early 1950's Singer 201k.

Nowhere near as rare or as old as some, but still pretty good I think.

I bought this machine about a year ago, and I had always intended to convert it.

I gave it a go with the motor still connected - it had a knee bar to run the motor, it had been certified as electrically safe, but the lever was... Sticky. Kept going for like 3 stitches after you'd release it. Very disconcerting.

Anyway I got a spoked wheel a couple of weeks ago, and a hand crank, and finally put it together to work as a fully off-grid sewing machine.

Interestingly! I'd always seen people say you have to get a new bobbin winder when you convert, but this is not so in this case!

My bobbin winder is adjustable. I love this. Someone, an engineer I guess in the electrical era, designed a part for this machine and any others with the same body, such that you could use the same part with a spoked wheel & a handcrank or with the smaller solid wheel & a motor. And it's beautifully cast and finished. Engineering as art and science.

I mean, there's a tiny little registration point on the bobbin winder so you can align the bobbin correctly and it doesn't slide around. On a modern equivalent that would be a casting artifact and a high tolerance for manufacturing imperfections and I didn't even realise for a reasonable while that it was deliberate and deliberately designed.

I'm not quite sure when Vanda Fine Clothing became one of the few artisans I would associate with quality neckties and pocket squares, however, when I received a little handwritten note with my order earlier this year I was certain I was dealing with the finest folk Singapore had ever seen. In attempt to save money on shipping I asked a friend to pay them a visit to pick up the first two items I had ever purchased from them, two Vanda orchid pins - the national flower of Singapore. It would be about eight months after the initial transaction when I decided it was time to purchase a few of their pocket squares, lovely hand rolled squares initially sold on Style Forum that would eventually give them the impetus to start Vanda Fine Clothing. In addition to purchasing a few pockets squares, I made a request: I asked if it was possible for them to send me a fabric swatch along with the order. However, I quickly regretted asking for the swatch as I realised they were selling fabric swatches on their website, I had essentially asked them for a freebie--oh dear, I better be prepared for them to spit on my order. Imagine my surprise when I open up the box in which the squares were shipped in. Inside was another handwritten note with the fabric swatch that I had asked for, a beautifully printed turquoise madder paisley silk swatch.