Vince's needlework and occasional drawings

New video in which I do 2 different pants drafts, mock them up & fit them, and alter them into useable fall front patterns. One's more loosely fitted with a narrow fall, and one's tighter with a broadfall. They're for everyday wear, so are not meant to be any specific kind of historical.

you can take it off and add a new motor, or pop it in a treadle table, or add a hand crank. I just came across a video of a 1960's Singer being temporarily put in a treadle cabinet while waiting for replacement electric components, and if I got a hand crank and spoked wheel (which can be bought new!) I could stick them on any one of my electric Singers.

And it works the opposite way too, treadles or hand cranks can be switched to electric. I even remember reading somewhere (though it was years ago and I don't remember where) that when electricity was new you could buy treadle/crank machines packaged with a motor that you could add on later once electricity reached your area!

But imagine my delight to free it from the case and see they also put the set screws in there when they made it!! This thing is attached to the lousy plastic case with one large screw at the bottom, there are no hinges on this machine, but they must have expected some people to swap them to a wooden case or table because the screws are waiting in there!

Hello!

Yes, a lot of old sewing machines can be gotten for cheap or free, if they need work done! They'll cost more if they're refurbished, of course - I paid $200 CAD for the Singer 15-91 I bought when I moved out of my parents house, but my subsequent 6 fixer uppers combined were way less than that. 2 were free, 2 were $20, one was $25, and one was 60. (I have spent somewhat more on parts though)

Anyways, important things to check for:

I wouldn't worry about there being worn down parts on a solid metal machine. My White VS2 saw about 90 years of continuous use, so much that half the decals are gone, and it's totally fine. There is a little visible wear on a couple of animal horn parts, and barely any on the metal parts like the feed dogs. More often things are rusty and/or dirty from improper storage.

You'll need the bobbin casing if it has one, or the shuttle (the little bullet or boat shaped thingy) if it's a vibrating shuttle.

If it's the drop-in style like this, then there's no bobbin case to worry about.

The machine in that picture was missing the bobbin cover plate, but since it's a common make of Singer I was able to buy a new one. The sliding plates on machines can be missing a lot of the time, and they're very important to have.

A lot of old machines are missing the bobbin winder tire, or the drive belt if they have one, or more often it's dry and cracked and gross and needs replacing. This is fine, in my experience, as it's very easy to get new bobbin winder tires and treadle drive belts. For the leather treadle belts you cut them to length to fit your machine and fasten them with the big metal staple they come with! I have also had to shave down bobbin winder tires that were a bit too thick once or twice. Rubber belts for machines with motors are more specific. I've bought replacements for those, but I've heard they're hard to find for some brands. Hand crank machines won't have any drive belts to worry about.

If it's an electric machine it might be ok or it might need rewiring, but new wires and pedals can be purchased, and people who know how to fix electronics (not me) say it's very simple to rewire a motor & pedal.

It also needs to have the presser foot of course, and at least one bobbin and needle if you don't know the size. Some needles and bobbins are very easy to replace and some are impossible to find, it depends on the machine. There are other small bits on the outside that are important, but that aren't commonly missing. I don't think I've ever seen a machine with a missing tension assembly.

The appearance and placement of various parts differs a lot, but no I don't think it's very brand specific just to recognize what's what. Once you're familiar with tension discs and bobbin winders and whatnot it's not too hard to identify them in all their forms. All take-up levers look like take-up levers. There is a LOT of variety in bobbin winders especially, and the vibrating shuttle ones look different from the kind for the newer puck shaped bobbins, but as far as I've seen they're always near the hand wheel and they always have a tire. (This is true of both my 1885 machine and my 1964 machine.)

Machines should also all have a tiny screwdriver (for adjusting the bobbin tension) and a bigger screwdriver (for removing the plate to clean dust out of the feed dogs, among other things) but those are easy to buy elsewhere so don't worry if they're missing.

Sometimes machines come with extra feet and attachments, which is a wonderful bonus! Most of mine have at least a few.

I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing about Polish or Russian sewing machines and I don't know how easy it is to find parts or information, but I'd suggest looking for scans of manuals online. The diagrams in them ought to give you a good idea of what parts need to be there, and you could even keep the diagrams on hand while shopping. Maybe even watch some videos of people actually sewing with similar machines to see what a working model looks like!

Also have a look at what parts are available online to get an idea of what can be easily replaced. I can find many many Singer parts on ebay and etsy, but if I needed a new part for my (much much older) White I would probably never find it. (I actually am missing a couple bits that would allow me to use more of the special feet & attachments, alas.)

Sadly I've never used a hand crank, but I'd say a treadle is almost certainly easier on the limbs! With hand cranks you'd need to hold your hand out in front of you the whole time, but with a treadle your legs are resting on the pedal and you only need to flex your ankles to make it go. If the machine is properly oiled it takes very little effort.

(People who have used both please weigh in! And also people who are familiar with the kinds of machines mentioned in the ask!)

Say no more, here they all are! (I post about them more on my sewing & art blog @vincentbriggs, though I'm afraid I haven't got proper tags for each individual machine.)

c. 1885 White VS2, made in the U.S. Basic straight stitch treadle in good working order. It came to me very dirty and needed a lot of cleaning and a new drive belt & bobbin winder tire.

Singer 15-91, made in Canada sometime between 1936-48. This was my first one, which I bought refurbished when I moved out of my parents house, since it's pretty similar to the one I grew up using. It came with a knee lever but after a few years the speed control box failed and I replaced it with a foot pedal.

1945 Bernina KL 105, made in Switzerland. This is my most recent acquisition and I haven't started on the cleaning & refurbishing yet, but I'm excited to use it! It's a treadle that has backstitch and drop feed.

Gimbels department store branded Singer 15 clone, made in Japan. No idea what the date is, but the style of the logo makes me think maybe 50's? All cleaned and stitching again, though I still need to put the motor back on. The case was too rotten to save, so I've got to learn how to make a new one. Being a 15 clone, it's extremely similar to my Singer 15, but there are quite a lot of differences in the smaller external parts and it has a much better drop feed system.

1958 Singer 99k, made in Scotland. All cleaned and adjusted, and my father helped rewire it, but I still need to finish fixing up the wooden case. It wasn't so bad as the previous one, but it's in no condition to stain so I'm going to paint it. This one's something of a foster kitten, as I've promised it to a friend.

1964 Singer 185J, made in Canada. I've cleaned it up and replaced the missing bobbin plate, but I need to make a new wooden case for this one too because the plastic case it came in was all cracked and warped. It's the same basic machine as the 99k, just in a more space age style shape. The bobbin winder is more stripped down, but other than that the workings are identical.

1970 Pfaff 360, made in Germany. This was the second machine I got, and it was meant to be a backup because this was when my 15-91 speed control was acting up. The pebbled greige paint job is horrendously fugly, but it's a splendid piece of engineering. I still need to get around to taking apart and unsticking one particular area, but if I'm successful in that it'll be able to do zig zag, plus a variety of other fancy stitches controlled by that nice stack of cams on the left.

The 2 treadles were given to me, the 15-91 was bought refurbished as mentioned, and the other 4 electric machines were thrifted.

do you have a pattern? i love those triangles in the construction at the bottom, looks like you could stand it up if needed

@theoffkeydiva replied to your post:

May I ask, what are the dimensions? It’s hard to tell from the photo

​It's super simple, just some rectangles! Grocery bags, being large and not in need of precision, are one of the few things I use inches for. The main body of this particular bag was cut about 51" x 34", because that's how big the largest part of the cotton remnant was, and folded in half and the sides sewn up with flat felled seams. You can't fell down the edge all the way to the corner, but just go as far as possible. The seam allowance for the side seams was a wee bit more than half an inch I think, and the hem allowance for the top was 2".

The handles are 24" x 4" but then they need the corners cut off so the bottoms won't be too bulky when those edges are folded in to form a point. The doodle on the right is the shape the end should be once it's sewn and turned.

Those are sewn with a half inch seam allowance and then turned right sides out, pressed with the seam positioned in the middle, and topstitched on either side as well as down that middle seam just so the layers don't get deformed through use.

For the bottom corners of the bag itself you mark a straight line along the bottom between the two corners. Then you just line up the side seam with that line, and sew perpendicularly across the corner (right sides together) at a width of (on this particular bag) 8".

Then you just topstitch that corner down flat to the bottom, taking a little detour at the tip for the bit of felling you couldn't reach while doing the side seam.

On regular grocery bags I cut the body more like 47" x 21", and I sew the bottom corners a bit wider than the width of an egg carton.

New video in which I do 2 different pants drafts, mock them up & fit them, and alter them into useable fall front patterns. One's more loosely fitted with a narrow fall, and one's tighter with a broadfall. They're for everyday wear, so are not meant to be any specific kind of historical.