A little while ago I posted Here that I had bought a little vintage sewing machine on eBay from a hospice.
It was sewing a straight stitch well but I did notice that it was difficult to quilt using the walking foot as I realised the needle wasn't in the middle of the foot plate. I guessed it was something to do with the fact it wouldn't do a zig zag stitch & that the needle bar was stuck in the wrong place. The alternative was that something had broken off but everything seemed to move when I turned the levers.
I contacted Helen Howes who runs a great website with lots of advice about restoring vintage machines. She's a textile artist & designer & also sells lots of parts & I got my replacement Singer stitch lever from her.
Her advice to me was "oil, heat & wiggle".
So I oiled it yet again, blew the hairdrier on it a few times & eventually after about 15 minutes & wiggled the needlebar. Yes it released it & now it does some lovely special stitches including a lovely overlock stitch. Amazing!
So I now have a lovely little machine that works perfectly, I contributed to a hospice and I'm helping to save the planet by not buying a plastic throwaway sewing machine.
Feel a bit of a Heather Small moment coming on! Love this song.
It was sewing a straight stitch well but I did notice that it was difficult to quilt using the walking foot as I realised the needle wasn't in the middle of the foot plate. I guessed it was something to do with the fact it wouldn't do a zig zag stitch & that the needle bar was stuck in the wrong place. The alternative was that something had broken off but everything seemed to move when I turned the levers.
I contacted Helen Howes who runs a great website with lots of advice about restoring vintage machines. She's a textile artist & designer & also sells lots of parts & I got my replacement Singer stitch lever from her.
Her advice to me was "oil, heat & wiggle".
So I oiled it yet again, blew the hairdrier on it a few times & eventually after about 15 minutes & wiggled the needlebar. Yes it released it & now it does some lovely special stitches including a lovely overlock stitch. Amazing!
So I now have a lovely little machine that works perfectly, I contributed to a hospice and I'm helping to save the planet by not buying a plastic throwaway sewing machine.
Feel a bit of a Heather Small moment coming on! Love this song.
Still not used to that bobbin being under the needleplate though! Absolutely daft!!!
About all I can do right now is refuse a straw in a restaurant unless they have paper straws. None of them do. I can't remember the amount, but I recently saw where a crazy amount of plastic is in our poop.
ReplyDeleteT least in the USA you use paper bags more than than we do. There are still far too many plastic bags here. The plastic is in landfill so eventually ends up in the water we drink. It's in the soil so we're eating it in fruit, vegetables & grains. The seas are badly polluted so it's in the fish & seafood too. Goodness knows what it's doing to us.
DeleteI'd say you managed to get a bargain there, I've always enjoyed sewing from school days.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
~Jo
Awesome that you found the way to fix it! Love the song also. I had not heard it before. The plastic situation is so annoying me! I try to use store bags that I bought and are reusable ....but sometimes I forget them. I really wish that manufacturers would stop using all that thick plastic to pack items in. And all stores would only use paper.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Winifred. Hope 2019 will be a good year for you and you can continue sewing!!
ReplyDelete