How to Market a Black 15 Clone

Distinguishing characteristics of the 15 clone

Hello dear readers.  Lots going on this summer and if I get a minute I'll blog about it.  Lol.

But as you continue to wait in suspense for the 2,000 photos of my trip to Newfoundland, here's something about sewing machines.  I know you are here for the sewing machines.

I have written about Singer 15s and their clones before.  And I wrote about them again when I was Interviewed by Leah Day for her video podcast.  Which you can watch here if you missed it last year.  Or if you just remember how good it was and want to watch it over and over again.  Kind of like Princess Bride.

I removed the original motor and added a modern hand crank to this one.

I got an email a couple of weeks ago from a quilt guild buddy who wants to offload an old machine and asked for advice about selling it.  I gave her the quickie version and now I am going to share the bad news with everyone here, which is

Good luck.  You are going to need it.

There are a bazillion (technical term) fantastic vintage sewing machines out there.  Millions and millions certainly.  At least half of them are straight stitch only machines.  And only 3 people in your state are looking for one*.

*not verified scientifically in any way, statement not subject to review or approval by any intergalactic legal authority.  Your mileage may vary.

Now quilters love Featherweights and so do I.  They love them because they are cute and trendy and portable and so do I.  They fall in love with that absolutely perfect straight stitch.  And fail to realize that grandma's old machine down in the basement will do the EXACT SAME PERFECT STRAIGHT STITCH.  There are serious engineering reasons why a straight stitcher makes a better straight stitch than a zigzagger but it boils down to this:  straight stitchers were designed to do only that one thing.  And they do it brilliantly.

I have been buying and selling vintage and antique machines for about 10 years, only as a hobby and I do NOT make money doing this even if you DON'T factor in the labor costs.  So I have some idea of what does not sell in my market (I'm halfway between Raleigh and Greensboro NC).

Vintage zigzag machines I can sell all day long (what that ACTUALLY means is that they only spend a week or two on CraigsList).  All my machines are fully serviced and guaranteed for 30 days btw, which helps them sell.  If they are a pretty color they sell better, and I ask more for them.  And sorry, but I never ever put any pricing info on this blog for a multitude of reasons.  But for the price I ask for an excellent vintage machine you could buy a plastic wonder from Walmart, designed to last for months rather than decades or centuries.

Vintage multistitch machines are a MUCH harder sell even though I tell buyers that we can set it up for the zigzag stitch and they never ever have to turn those scary dials for the other stitches.  Doesn't matter.  Many buyers find those extra functions intimidating and just don't want them.  Modern manufacturers seem to be missing this point btw.

Scary

Scarier

Scariest.  These are all the same machine btw.

As for the straight stitch only machines, I do sell the pretty colored ones, often to a savvy seamstress who is looking for an extra machine in her studio and knows why she wants it.

But I had no luck selling the much more plentiful black straight stitch only machines until I stumbled on a marketing strategy.  Which I am going to share with you after the disclaimer that after the first donor machine in the story I  have sold a grand total of TWO on the following basis.

Here's the story:
My friend Nancy asked me to check out her plastic machine.  When I went over there to pick it up her partner Don threw in a black 15 clone from his workshop.  It was a very sorry and beat up looking machine.  He said he just wanted to get rid of it and would I take it?

The front of Don's 15 clone BEFORE cleaning

Little did he know, mwahahahaha.....

So I cleaned and oiled Nancy's machine and reset the tensioner.  Machine was fine for a plastic machine.  Then I tackled Don's.  Thorough cleaning and oiling and maybe a new bobbin winder tire (this was years ago).  Replaced the slide plate.  Scraped off the flaking areas of paint and touched them up with a Sharpie oil paint marker (not a regular Sharpie).  I won't claim that it looked like a million bucks after that but it looked respectable.

The back of Don's 15 clone AFTER cleaning

And then I loaded a size 18 needle in it, which is the largest size that a domestic machine will take (and still work lol).  I wound a bobbin with heavy duty thread.  NOT buttonhole thread which has a waxy coating and is not meant for machine sewing.  I set both the upper tension and bobbin tension for that thread.  I got some heavy duty canvas and tested how many layers it would sew through.  And got that lovely perfect straight stitch.

When I took Nancy's machine back I also took back Don's. I explained to them which one was the better machine (although hers does do zigzag which is definitely a good thing).  I suggested that he keep his as a workshop machine and that it would be perfect for boat cushions, a project I knew he had done before.

And then I went on to sell other machines (uh, the aforementioned two) using the technique highlighted in bold above.  I have a standard description of the wonders of vintage machines I use for CraigsList ads and to that I add a headline of "Workshop Sewing Machine" and stress the heavy duty nature of it and mention the boat cushions.  I also advise that this is not an industrial and if they are planning to manufacture boat cushions (or whatever) and run a machine on heavy duty stuff all day for weeks at a time,  what they really need is an industrial.  But this model is perfect for home workshop use.

So Susan from guild, if you made it this far I hope this might be useful information for you.  And for all the vintage sewing machine addicts out there who also need to offload some machines, let me know if this marketing technique works for you.

I do my best to avoid accumulating black straight stitchers these days but if another one shows up on my front porch, this is how I will attempt to get rid of it.