We had a lot of things going on this summer and didn't have a chance to take a good look at the machine right away. When we did, we found it was a tad dirty, which was no surprise. Take a good look at the feed dogs. Not the worst we've seen, but still pretty icky.
We cleaned the machine, oiled and greased it, polished the chrome parts, and replaced the light bulb with a cooler, brighter LED bulb. E used gold acrylic paint on the stitch length regulator so we can see the numbers. (See how to do this at http://vssmb.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-restore-your-stitch-length.html). Before he did this, the numbers weren't visible at all.
He took off the motor, inspected it thoroughly, cleaned a few things, and replaced the wicks. We started thinking about the reasons someone would disconnect all of the wiring from a machine and decided the number one reason would be to keep the house from burning down, so we replaced the power and pedal cords. As we worked on the machine, we ran it through its paces using the hand wheel (no power) many, many times. When we finally plugged it in and gave a cautious, light press on the foot controller, the machine didn’t smoke or burst into flames. In fact, it ran steadily and smoothly. Yay!
I had to read the instruction manual to figure out how to thread it on top – In my defense, it’s a bit odd. Then, I sent a bunch of scraps through and it made a nice, even stitch. Its new home is a cabinet (with a knee controller) we found at a thrift shop and refinished a while ago. Now all I have to do is decide what to sew for its first project as a new-to-me machine. Happy Sewing Everyone!
One of the very first machines I bought when I started thrifting was a 15-91. I still have it. It sews the prettiest stitch and the machine is so quiet. It used to be downstairs on display, but when I needed more room, it came upstairs, and it is in my kitchen, sitting at the end of my counter, the closed cabinet being used for extra counter space, with our toaster and a few 'foo foo's for eye pleasure. I haven't had it out for a long time, but I do love it.
ReplyDeletehttp://lifewithlou.blogspot.com/search?q=singer+15-91
It looks like I need to declutter my kitchen counters again. They don't look like they did back in 2008!
Thanks for the link, Michelle. I've learned a lot from reading your blog. If you can see your kitchen counters, you are a few steps ahead of me!
DeleteOne of the very first machines I bought when I started thrifting was a 15-91. I still have it. It sews the prettiest stitch and the machine is so quiet. It used to be downstairs on display, but when I needed more room, it came upstairs, and it is in my kitchen, sitting at the end of my counter, the closed cabinet being used for extra counter space, with our toaster and a few 'foo foo's for eye pleasure. I haven't had it out for a long time, but I do love it.
ReplyDeletehttp://lifewithlou.blogspot.com/search?q=singer+15-91
It looks like I need to declutter my kitchen counters again. They don't look like they did back in 2008!
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