Are you looking for a fun vintage machine to take to classes and workshops? Don't want to spend $300 to $500 for a Singer Featherweight? Consider the 3/4 size Kenmores. They may not be as cute as the Featherweights, but the cases are WAY cuter.
The other major reason to buy a mini Kenmore? Well, do you ever want to do more than just straight stitch? If you have a Featherweight you are either out of luck, or you have to install an attachment. And uninstall it if you want to go back to straight stitching. Even the earliest of the mini Kennies had zigzag and the oh-so-useful blind hem stitch and a FEED DOG DROP, and from the 1040 onward they had several stitches.
So why is the Featherweight the most expensive vintage machine? Good old law of supply and demand. Quilters love them and thus they have become trendy among quilters. Supply low, demand high = price high. And they ARE undeniably cute. I have three Featherweights myself, so I'm not dissing them. (Didn't pay the high prices but two of them need some serious work and on the third I just got extremely lucky.)
Very few Kenmores have ever been accused of being cute, or even attractive. There are some early
exceptions but most of them are pretty boring looking. The mini Kennies fall into the boring category, IMHO. But they sell for reasonable prices. For only a few more pounds (of weight, not currency) than the Featherweight you get a whole lot more functionality.
Featherweight, naked: 11 pounds
Featherweight, in its case, 15 pounds
Kenmore 1040, naked: 15 pounds
Kenmore in its case: 17 pounds
Last week Barbara came over and brought some of her mini Kennies. She's a fan. I have one myself and we did a side by side comparison. Here are our results, with additional notes from "folklore", i.e. things we have read but have not personally confirmed. And Barbara is the Mini Kennie expert so most of the folklore is from her online reading.
Introducing the 3/4 size Kenmores
Kenmore 1020
we don’t have one
folklore: not many of them were made
Kenmore 1030
- low shank
- two tone green
- feed dogs drop
- stitch selector and
stitch length are brown plastic
- handwheel must be
turned to release handwheel to wind bobbin (as opposed to the pull-out handwheel on the 1050)
- presser foot
regulator controlled from the top of the machine
- needle plate is one
piece with no pop-outs as later models have. So you have to have two
full needle plates, one for straight stitching and one for zigzag.
1030 accessories
that came with machine
Barbara reports that the same set of accessories came with every mini Kennie
extra needle
plate not shown in photo
bobbins
edge stitcher
on a post compatible with Greist hemmers and other Greist
attachments
straight stitch
foot
case with 12
sewing machine needles
adjustable
zipper foot
set of five
buttonhole templates
seam ripper
set of two
screwdrivers
needle threader
(two are shown in photo, one of those is for a different Kenmore)
Kenmore 1040
- low shank
- two tone green
- stitch selector and
stitch length are plastic painted silver
- handwheel must be
turned to release handwheel to wind bobbin (as opposed to the pull-out handwheel on the 1050)
- presser foot
regulator controlled from the top of the machine
- Needle plate has a
removable insert so you can switch between straight stitch and zigzag
without removing the whole plate, a very dandy feature. And I discovered that I don't have the straight stitch insert for my 1040.
See 1030 for list of included attachments
Kenmore 1045
we don’t have one
Barbara thinks they
added a stitch
Kenmore 1050
Major innovations were included on
this model, including slot threading. I'm a big fan of slot threading.
We've popped the top here and perhaps you can see the thread path.
-
low shank
- feed dogs drop
- stitch selector and
stitch length are plastic painted silver (we think)
- Stitches (in order)
- handwheel pulls out
to wind bobbin
- presser foot
pressure controlled by a numbered dial
- Needle plate has a
removable insert so you can switch between straight stitch and zigzag
without removing the whole plate.
- tensioner on inside, part of the slot threading system
- totally different
look
- beige with dark
brown trim
- Rose embossed case (the last
model to use the rose case)
See 1030 for list of included attachments
Kenmore 1060
we don’t have one
We have read that it has a free arm, so it had to be
taller, so it doesn’t fit in the rose embossed case
Flip Out Tray
This is almost certainly overkill, but hey, we already took the photos and this tray HAS defeated me on more than one occasion. So if you are also a bit 3-dimensionally impaired, here is the definitive guide for accessing, removing, and replacing the tray.
Lift up the cover. You can remove it or not but it takes one of your two hands to hold it in place. I usually remove it but here you see Barbara holding it up and out of the way.
Flip the tray forward.
Open the cover to access the goodies inside.
You can remove the entire tray. But then you have to figure out how it goes back in. This is the part that tends to exceed my brain capacity.
So here I have shown you the correct orientation for getting it back in.
Here it is in place.
And the cover sits on top. The fact that the cover and the front of the tray is discolored and yellowing actually helps me figure out which part of the tray goes in front.
But if yours is also discolored and you want it looking better. Barbara discovered a way to brighten it up. Here's what she says:
"I used the 'developer 40' creme (on Amazon). You brush it on, put the
part in a ziploc plastic bag, then leave out in the sun for 20 minutes. Check
and see if it has lightened. If not, leave out for a bit longer, but
check every 5-10 minutes. When appropriately lightened, wash with soap
and water and then place back on machine. You want to watch the
lightening carefully because you don't want to weaken the plastic.
There's a lot of information on Google and on YouTube. It worked great for me. I
would be careful if applying to metal/paint - could bubble if left on
too long and then you're sc*****."
And
click here here for a post by Retrofixes describing the method, with photos.
Rose Embossed Case
ooh, pretty
But not terribly easy to deal with. Although I'm sure that if it was your go-to machine it would quickly become easy.
On both sides of the case flip the latch down, push the button above the latch and slide it open at the bottom of the case. Then remove the case.
That part is fairly obvious and not too bad. The fun starts when you want to put it back in the case.
First take a look at the inside of the case and you will see that the two sides are NOT the same. The rubber bumpers at the hinge end are closer together on one side than on the other side.
There are four possible ways to TRY to get the machine into the case, but only one of them will work!
Place the front of the case face down with the top of the case resting against the bumpers that are farther apart (the ones to the right in the photo above). When closed the feet of the machine are going to be sticking out of the bottom of the case.
I did put a piece of painters tape inside the case telling me how to do this but I kinda forgot about taking a picture of it.
The piece of blue painters tape that you can see is to keep the tray from flipping out while you are wrangling the machine back into the case.
Then tuck the foot pedal/motor controller inside and you are ready to close up the case.
This is what it looks like if you get it wrong.
And this is what it looks like if you get it right.
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Do you have one of these 3/4 size Kenmores? How do you like it? How do you use it? For instance, do you take it to quilting classes or workshops? Take it in your motor home? Does it stay home with you? Do tell us all about it!
