Review of Two New Fix-It Blogs. And a Dragon.

Disclaimer:  this is in no way a comprehensive guide to sewing machine fix-it blogs.  Lately I have been amazed and astonished by the work on two new blogs, and want to share this with you. 


The Vintage Singer Sewing Machine Blog
"Find 'em, get 'em, fix 'em, clean 'em, and use 'em"

The good, the bad, and the ugly

This is a new blog that describes in wonderful detail the work he is doing to his vintage Singers.  Lots of great photographs, excellent descriptions and details.  If you fix up vintage machines (Singers or otherwise) you will find this fascinating.

Lately I have been absorbed by his discussion of screwdrivers.  Screwdrivers have been the bane of my existence for the past year (the length of my obsession with vintage machines) and thanks to Rain I now know why, and more importantly, what to do about it.


I would also echo everything he says about vintage Singers in his first post, Why Vintage Singers? 
I don't limit myself to Singers, but I do limit the amount I will spend on a machine, and it is mostly Singers that come my way in my price range.


**********************************************************************


My Sewing Machine Addiction
"This is about the strip down and restoration of a 1940 Singer 201-2 sewing machine, and probably some other random thoughts along the way."

Singer 201s are reputed to be wonderful machines, and high on my wish list.  One will come my way sooner or later, but if it is totally rusted and non-operational, I WILL JUST WALK AWAY FROM IT.  This woman took a different path and is doing a TOTAL strip down and restoration of a rusted out 201.  She makes it clear on her blog that this is not for everyone.  She used to restore classic cars, and is still driving a 1967 Chevy Malibu that she restored.  My kind of woman!  and my kind of vintage, too---I graduated from high school in 1967.

I have often wondered what it would be like to take a machine totally apart, and thanks to Elle I get to live through the experience vicariously.  She also puts up lots of excellent photographs illustrating her process.  I'm learning a lot from her that will be useful even on non-total strip downs.

***************************************************************

This one is not strictly a fix-it blog, but a nice story of a woman restoring a "Lampzilla":  a Singer 127 or 128 that had been turned into a lamp.  She also recently restored a Necchi cabinet.

I have a couple of machines that I plan to paint someday, so I am always interested in seeing that process illustrated.  Lampzilla will be a nice shade of robin's egg blue, one of my own favorite colors.

yarn, kids, dogs, and a few wierdos


****************************************************************
Finally, why is there a picture of a dragon teapot at the top of the page?  Because a blog without photos is like a day in Florida with or without Anita Bryant, depending upon your philosophy.  And the Anita Bryant reference is a time trap:  if you "get it" you are probably as old as I am!


Really, it is an eye candy gift to my blogging buddy, the "other" Cheryl at Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting.  I don't collect teapots (six is not a serious collection, and one addiction is plenty, thank you very much!) but dragons do perch here from time to time.