Remember
THIS ADVENTURE?
The DAY before I left for Louisiana I was running off, in a huge thunderstorm, to rescue a treadle machine that was being sold for $65.00 – clear over in Huntersville, about 70 miles from my home.
And trying to get back in time to do Quilt-Cam that night. And we made it!
The machine….was rather sticky. It hadn’t been sewn on in decades, and it hadn’t been cleaned in at least that long either.
There was gobs of vintage lint and junk in the feed dog area, the bobbin area was wound with old thread and cobwebs.
And she was OH SO VERY STICKY!!
I spent a bit of time oiling and cleaning and trying to get every dry moveable part lubricated….and it was still sticky when I went to bed.
It was still sticky the next morning when I was ready to head to the airport….
But a little voice reminded me that I had been told to just “Lube it and Leave it!” It takes some time for oil to penetrate years of junk….and I had a plane to catch anyway.
Yesterday after my nap --- I came down to the basement studio, and walked over to see how it fared. I was nearly afraid to turn the balance wheel – would it STILL be sticky? And then what?
IT MOVED FREELY!! Oh yay!
She had SOME cosmetic issues…namely THIS:
Rusty Chrome. Before!
I set to work with some
Maas Metal Polish and with a bit of elbow grease we now have THIS:
PRETTY GIRL!
It will never return to the bright mirrored finish of the chrome it was born with, but the soft silver patina of the balance wheel is so much better than the rusty version, don’t you agree?
The bobbin winder needs a new tire..I’ll pick one up today when I pick up the Morse that had a check spring replacement for its tension control.
I need to clean up that bobbin winder..it’s still pretty gunky, but I wanted to see if I could get her sewing.
It may be a bit hard to tell – but if you look at this photo, you can see that the 127 behind it actually has a bigger throat space. It sits taller, as does the 66 who's cabinet I borrowed for the test run here. I removed the 66 to try this 15-30 out.
Because this machine sits lower, I had to change the treadle belt out as well. Luckily the machine came WITH a belt that was still in good condition, so I threaded it through, reconnected the staple and went to sew.
The belt is a bit stiff…I actually think the previous owner adjusted it too short for this machine – the mistake most people make is thinking that a belt needs to be tight….it doesn’t…it just needs enough contact to get the wheel to turn. A belt that is too tight will actually make it hard to pedal. It’s not pedaling as freely as I’d like it to, but you can’t add more length to this belt! I’ll replace it with a tubing belt when I put it in its own cabinet when we move it to the cabin.
GREAT TENSION, Beautiful stitches!
I actually had to loosen the tension just a bit – and I bet it is because of the threads I was sewing with. Our modern threads are finer than what was used in the past…..and other than that small adjustment, there was nothing I needed to do. Check the stitch length…adjust it a bit longer for the stitch I like, and let her sew and sew and sew and work all that oil into everywhere it needs to go to make her a happy machine again!
This is my second machine with the Tiffany decals and this one is by far in the most pristine shape I have ever seen. I am just so happy to be moving this machine to her new home!
This girl was born in 1921!
Our fingers are crossed that the underwriters get the loan approval to our attorney by NOON today – that’s the deadline. And they’ve been dragging their feet on some things..and we are down to the wire…our closing is Wednesday morning at 10am! There is no time for a screw up – with a long holiday weekend in the works, if we don’t make closing, it’s going to really put a delay on everything.
But good thoughts, please!! Blow some winds of luck our way ----and this cabin will be ours by Wednesday at noon!
How about some Quilt-Cam tonight? I’d like to keep this girl going through her paces…and she needs a name. I had asked the previous owner about her history and she knew nothing, she bought her used as well, and had never gotten her up to sewing.
See you at 9pm Eastern!
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