Catch & Release–FAIL!

You would have failed too….I know you would have.

I was walking through the antique mall where I found the great flying geese quilt I shared earlier ((More photos on that to come in another post)) and I came upon this room where everything was 30% off the lowest marked price.

I walked around the room, looking at vintage glassware, bowls, plates, kitchen utensils --- rounded a corner and almost tripped OVER a very familiar bentwood case!

The case was in really nice condition – and I was of course CURIOUS to see what was inside ---

A Singer Red Eye 66!  ((Don’t you love that shag carpet?? LOL!))

I checked the price tag – and then checked it again -- -No, that was not a mis-read.  It definitely did NOT say $99 like I thought it did…it said $49.00.  AND 30% OFF!

The machine bed is worn to the bare metal.  Someone loved this machine so much --- and she was a pin-sewer-overer!  The scratch marks are right in the path of where pins would travel as she sewed up the clothing and household needs of her family.

I considered justifying this purchase as strictly a “parts machine” purchase….see that hand wheel?  It’s the large spoked kind and I thought I could trade out the wheel on Gae and dress her up a bit.  The chrome on the hand wheel is shiny with no rust.  The side plate is also gorgeously decorated with beautiful scroll work.  $35 for the case, the side plate, the balance wheel ----that would be worth it, right?

So home it came.

I did try the motor– definitely dead, and the wiring didn’t look great either.

I removed the machine from the base.  The base will easily fit my other base-less full sized machines, like my 1950s Kenmore.  That’s a win right there.

I started to wipe down the dust, the grime, the years of neglect……and it hit me ---The REST of this machine’s decals are in really good shape!  There is no “pin rash” on the arm from pinning to a pincushion that so often was taped there.

The hand wheel turned easily ---but she had not been sewn on in a LONG LONG time – look what I found:

Side view of bobbin area.  Ewww!!

Underside of bobbin area!  EWWWWW!

More eww and gunk behind the side plate!

I got to cleaning – Geeeze ----how long has this been stored like this?

A quick search proved that this machine was made in 1911!

It is almost 102 years old.

Well, you honestly didn’t think I would NOT try to get her working – did you?!

Hello, Baby!

She sews ---I only had to monkey with her tension just a bit!

And here is the thing about treadles – it’s not easy to pop one machine out and pop another one in the same table unless the machines are the same height because you’d also have to be swapping out belts.  The belts are held together with a really strong staple, but you have to use pliers to open the staple to remove the belt from the machine – each different machine is going to have its own length of belt. 

You don't want to constantly be swapping out belts because undoing and redoing the staple weakens it, and it's a huge pain.

The beauty of this machine?  It’s the same body/model as Gae who was made in 1924 --- it automatically fit the belt that was already there!

The singer 66 had a good long run and many hundreds of thousands of this model machine were made in its day.  The reason I love this machine?  Ease of use.  Drop bobbin -- no bobbin case needed.  Standard size needles.  Hard to go wrong with a 66 if you are just starting to collect vintage machines that you can USE.

I did have to remove the bobbin winder – it had some broken parts and would catch on the belt not allowing it to treadle freely.

Other things that are a mystery ---was this machine treadled in a past life before it was electric?  A big balance wheel like this usually went on treadle or hand crank machines.  It could have been a people powered machine in 1911 that was later made electric.  Or maybe balance wheel styles didn’t change until later.

I checked a website that listed popular baby names for 1911.  One name that caught my eye was Mildred ---my grandparents lived on Mildred Avenue in Edina MN while I was growing up. 

Mildred.  I like it!

I know where *I'LL* be sewing tonight! Who wants to join me for Quilt-Cam at 9pm Eastern??