She's HERE!!!
Kate Dicey
My friend came to pick me up, and we went to her house to look at it.
It was tucked away in the corner of the gallery (they live in a
converted barn - very beautiful mediaeval structure converted to
interesting house with mezzanine in the living room!), and had been
gathering dust there for years.
Let me describe her:
Brown painted oval section tubular metal legs with touch of rust!
Cast metal treadle and flywheel
Wooden table top with 4 small drawers, each with round wooden knobs and
a circular moulding that looks a bit Art Nouveau; there are oval ones on
each end.
Small 'secret compartment' bit that flaps down at the front, revealing 3
small compartments
Plain wooden table top (badly marked, but recoverable), that flaps open
Machine head very plain 15-88 type with chrome face plate and inspection
cover at the rear. Decals quite worn, black Japanned finish shows signs
of having been damp at some point - there's a slight 'bloom' to parts of
it, like a black grape! I'm sure I can find out how to improve this!
The poor old thing is very grubby, even though I have dusted it to bits
already! I oiled her and turned her over, and removed several hard
wodges of oily lint (fossilized!) from the bobbin case and under the
stitch plate, and she works fine as far as I can tell without threading
her up. Once I have a belt, I shall do some serious cleaning to the
machine head, grease the bits that need it, and oil whatever looks like
it might soak up a little more oil, and set her to work.
I asked DH if he'd teach me to use the sander so I could sand the table
and varnish it, and he said no! It would be quicker to do it himself!
I will have to ask him how I can sort out the rust on the legs
tomorrow...
I will take pix of the head and the table as I sort them out, and I will
do some tomorrow of the state she's in now. It looks much worse than it
is because of the dirt and the top looking like it has spent several
years under slightly incontinent houseplants!
>From information I have gleaned so far, I know that she was built
between 1936 and 1948, in St Johns, Canada. Cathy's grandmother, the
original owner, lived in both Canada and Trinidad before settling back
home in Lancashire (whence Cathy hales), so this would fit fine.
Unfortunately, while the manual and attachments have all come down to
me, the original bill of sale has not. It has a JB serial number, and
Singer tells me that this series does not have complete records, so
there may be no more to glean from them. Alan Quinn's site leads me to
think that a date of 1940 would be closer to narrowing it down, but we
may never know for sure.
The box of attachments contains a ruffler, a tucker, a bias binder, an
adjustable hemmer, and a rolled hem foot, and a screw-in seam guide!
Treasure indeed! These all look exactly the same as the ones I have for
Spinning Jenny, that came from my mother's 1950's machine, so I have no
doubt that we can make them work. They are in their original dark green
cardboard box ('slightly foxed' as the book people might put it!).
To get it here, we had to pack it into Cathy's car. To get it down the
stairs, I took the machine head out of the table, and we carried the
table down. It wasn't going in whole, so we up ended it onto the table
top, not worrying about the odd scratch because of the present condition
of the top anyway, and unscrewed the legs! The legs/treadle mechanism
fitted in the boot, the table fitted in along the folded down split fold
back seat, and the machine head went into the passenger foot well. We
piled in on top, and brought it here, where I cleaned it as much as I
could for now, and put the table back together. I left the screws out
for now, as it will all have to come to bits again for restoration, but
the machine head is back in place. We had to cut the old belt to get it
all to bits, but this is no problem as it was dead anyway, and new belt
can be had from Wilf by the mile.
So, while DH is slightly annoyed at the use of space in the dining room,
*I* am a happy bunny tonight! :)
I also lost 3 lbs at Weight Watchers, so am doubly happy! Specially as
the only exercise this week has been one 3 mile walk, a shopping trip
with James to buy school shirts and PJs, and today's sewing machine
shaped weight lifting!
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!
JJ
DD who is now the proud owner of the Raymond Treadle. She said it was a big
help to her.
http://www.demon.co.uk/quinn/care/index.html
JJ
"Kate Dicey" <ka...@diceyhome.free-online.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3F298CAB...@diceyhome.free-online.co.uk...
Emily
refurbishing it. And if Alan is going to sand it for you, he does not
dislike you having it deep down. Looking forward to the pics.
Emily
Valkyrie
time trying to get that cleaned up on mine. The neighbor guy turned me onto
Naval Jelly. It's goopy stuff and you need to be outside and keep the kids
away and wear good rubber gloves. I painted this stuff on (the consistency
of the 60s hair set gel Dippity Do) let it sit for about an hour and then
washed it off and scrubbed it down with a wire brush and steel wool. Then I
sprayed it black again with Krylon metal enamel paint. It turned out
beautiful! It had been so crusted with rust flaking up from under what was
left of the paint that I thought it was a goner but when I got through it
looked factory fresh.
I'm not sure if this will help you for what you need to do but it sure
worked slick for me on all that ornate grill work! Congratulations on your
new baby!!
Val
"Kate Dicey" <ka...@diceyhome.free-online.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3F298CAB...@diceyhome.free-online.co.uk...
Joanne
> Kate, Take a look at this site for tips on restoration. I've sent it to my
> DD who is now the proud owner of the Raymond Treadle. She said it was a big
> help to her.
> http://www.demon.co.uk/quinn/care/index.html
> JJ
>
Alan Quinn's site is a terrific resource, as is Dick
Wightman's at http://www.treadleon.net/
There is a product which I think is called Extend, which
you paint onto rust, and it chemically converts it to
solid metal. It turns a dull grey-black, which can then
be painted.
Congratulations on your new acquisition. I wish you many
happy years with it.
--
Joanne <mailto:stit...@singerlady.reno.nv.us>
http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/
Kate Dicey
Alan Quinn's site i have had bookmarked for ages, but not Dick
Wightman's, so thanks for that - I shall be looking!
Kate Dicey
>
> If you are looking into cleaning those ornate legs and foot plate I had a
> time trying to get that cleaned up on mine. The neighbor guy turned me onto
> Naval Jelly. It's goopy stuff and you need to be outside and keep the kids
> away and wear good rubber gloves. I painted this stuff on (the consistency
> of the 60s hair set gel Dippity Do) let it sit for about an hour and then
> washed it off and scrubbed it down with a wire brush and steel wool. Then I
> sprayed it black again with Krylon metal enamel paint. It turned out
> beautiful! It had been so crusted with rust flaking up from under what was
> left of the paint that I thought it was a goner but when I got through it
> looked factory fresh.
>
> I'm not sure if this will help you for what you need to do but it sure
> worked slick for me on all that ornate grill work! Congratulations on your
> new baby!!
>
> Val
Sounds like good stuff. I shall look into it, though these are plainish
legs made of flat oval metal tube stuff. It's really only the tops of
the legs that are affected, so I don't think it will take too long.
Kate Dicey
>
> Hello Kate,
>
> I know how excited you should be. Here is a picture of my grand mother
> sewing machine that I inherited. The machine sew very well. It is a Singer
> model 127 made in 1911. And as you can see, I use it all the time. She is
> in my sewing room with 5 other sewing machines. I love to sew
> Lili
That's a lovely machine and a beautiful kitty! Please don't post pix to
the group, though - it's not a binaries group and lots off folk will
only get gobbledegook that takes forever to download!
There are good options for sharing pix at places like Webshots, or have
a look to see if your ISP includes web space in your package. Mine
does, so we made the website - hit the URL below to see what I and my
kitties get up to!
My machine is in the same type of table top though the legs and the
carvings are different.
SewStorm
>already!
Kate, this reminds me of my sewing room poster--it's a black & white photo of
an old, anciently old sewing machine, draped in cobwebs. Love this poster!
Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati
Two x over
name.......
(though, she is adorable, with the red eyes and all....)
betsey
betsey
"we do not inherit the earth, we caretake it for our children"
Kate Dicey
Do you think 'Ruby' would suit your machine? In think this one might
end up as either Homely Joan or Plain Jane! We shall see when she has
her facelift - she could end up as Cinderella!
Two x over
story)...my dad ( a retired truck driver) has a friend (also retired long
distance truck driver) who keeps sheep as pets. a couple years ago, got a
black lamb, named her ruby...after (as he told his wife) a "lady of the
evening" who used to frequent truck stops!!!! so, alas, while ruby is
appropriate for her red eyes, it does make me think maybe she lived ina
brothel????? <grin>
Kate Dicey
Hehehehehehe! Oh, well, maybe Rosie might be a little better?