Imaginary Friends and the VSMAD Lifetime Achievement Award

Singer 503.  Photo by DragonPoodle.

First of all, a shout out to my two new friends.  One Imaginary Friends (someone I only know online), and one Formerly Imaginary Friend, Sarah.  Sarah lives in a town near me, found this blog, and emailed me.  We started messaging back and forth in March at the beginning of social isolation.  By now we have had several nice outdoor, masked, and generously socially distanced visits, trading supplies, sewing goodies, and stories.  It's getting a bit hot by now for outdoor visits in North Carolina but hopefully there will be enough cool spells for this to continue.  She bought a Singer 503 for a song shortly before I sold one on Craigslist. The photo is of mine.

Da'Shonna and I met on the Self-Sewn Wardrobe Facebook group because she said she was looking for a good all-metal vintage sewing machine so of course I had to chime in about that.  We Facebook messaged back and forth as she looked at Craigslist ads and I gave my opinions about them and hopefully some useful info also.

I'll tell you right now I have NEVER seen anyone hit the ground running with VSMAD* as successfully as Da'Shonna.   She had clearly spent a lot of time doing her research and learning about vintage machines before she dipped her toes into the stream.  She recognized the good stuff when she saw it, knew what types of machines she wanted, and was willing both to snap up a bargain or to pay a fair price for an outstanding machine.  Most astonishingly, she has not made a SINGLE mistake.  I can't say that about anyone else I know.  Certainly not me, I have bought plenty of machines that I lived to regret.
*Vintage Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder

Personally, I attribute this to the fact that she is in the military.  As a former college professor* I taught many former military folks, and they were usually extremely successful in the classroom.  Perhaps something about knowing how to achieve an objective?  Da'Shonna's objective was to acquire all the machines she needed for a comprehensive sewing studio.
*oh, that sounds so grand!  In reality the title "adjunct assistant professor" translates to "hired help, no benefits, no job security, pay right around minimum wage".

The photos in this post by Da'Shonna are used with her permission.

Within the first week Da'Shonna had acquired

Da'Shonna's 12 came in a lovely case

• a Singer 12 fiddlebase hand crank machine which she plans to use as a decorative accent in her sewing room

I think the term "fiddle base" is self-explanatory

A nice decorative feature for a sewing studio!

She also acquired:

Singer 128 with the ever-popular LaVencedora decals

• A Singer 128 with not-too-bad LaVencedora decals, which she plans to convert to a hand crank.  Do any of you know if the Singer 12 crank would fit a 128?

The motor controller is inside the bottom of the case.  The knee lever to operate it was missing

But since the wiring was terrifying and she thinks it would be nice to have a hand crank machine in the studio, this won't be an issue

The front slide plate bobbin cover is also missing, as it so often is.

Since Cindy died and Jenny retired I no longer have a source for vintage sewing machine parts to recommend.  I've really slowed down on the restoration activities here at DragonPoodle Studio and I haven't needed to buy anything recently.   I only recommend things and people I have personal experience with.  So if you have personal experience with a parts source, please leave a comment below!

Rounding out week one of Da'Shonna's total immersion in the VSMAD plan:

• A Necchi BU Nova in pretty rough shape, but which she got for free! More photos by Da'Shonna.

Looks pretty bad, right?  Although this model is legendarily awesome, the paint job is legendarily NOT.

The cabinet was so bad as to be virtually useless. 

Da'Shonna opted (very wisely I think) to send the motor and wiring off to a pro for a re-do.

She got it wiped down, oiled up, motor off, and tested it by threading it and turning the hand wheel manually and IT FORMED GOOD STITCHES.  This is the magic moment when you know everything is going to be OK.  The motor is in the hands of a professional and everything else is just cosmetics.  Last time we talked she was debating her options on the paint job.

It is clear to me that Da'Shonna has contracted quite a serious case of VSMAD, Vintage Sewing Machine Acquisition Disorder.  As you all know, there is no cure.  However, on the upside she has not yet made any serious mistakes.  Such as thinking that she should be sewing on that Singer 12.  I'm naming no names, but someone out there as her first purchase bought one for the purpose of sewing with it AGAINST MY CLEAR AND REPEATED ADVICE and lived to regret it.  You know who you are, lol.  Trust the DragonPoodle, I always have your best interests at heart.

Here endeth the first set photos by Da'Shonna, and here beginneth some DragonPoodle photos.  

One of the nice features of the Necchi BU Nova is the way the needle plate pops off, which makes access to the bobbin area much easier.

Looks like a normal screwed down needle plate.

But you don't have to unscrew anything to remove it, it just pops right off.  And back on again just as easily.

And every little bit of extra room definitely helps when you are reaching into a machine to remove or put in the bobbin case.  But the best thing about this is the visibility.  It's obviously much easier to get the bobbin case into the machine IF YOU CAN SEE WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!

And an update on my Necchi, which I last wrote about here.  I got some excellent information and advice from readers that led me to completely re-think the problems with the clutch, and I came to the conclusion that it was probably just a problem with the clutch knob. I un-did my funky fix with the rubber band.   Since I have three of this model of Necchi sitting around I just swapped out the clutch knob from one of the others (and therefore merely postponing a REAL solution).  Hey, presto, that worked.  Thanks to Dre in PA and another reader who responded to me privately.

This continues the hallowed traditions of DragonPoodle Studio, in which I report on the results of the stupid things I am willing to try.  My motto ought to be:  DragonPoodle makes the dumb mistakes so that you don't have to!

Now back to Da'Shonna and her VSMAD.  You didn't really think we were finished yet, did you?  Another DragonPoodle tradition is the excessively long blog post.

Readers, after acquiring three vintage machines in that first week, she was just getting started.  And by this time we were bypassing Facebook Messenger and talking for an hour at a time on the phone.  Since that was last month I have forgotten some of the details.

Within the next couple of weeks she also bought:

• A Pfaff 11 treadle.  I have experience with a Pfaff straight stitcher of this vintage but not this model and it was a superior machine.  I AM a fan of the old Singers but several manufacturers made much better machines than Singer ever did, and Pfaff and Necchi were two of them.

I have heard that Pfaff did a superior job with the treadle itself also.

Da'Shonna probably told me on the phone what was in the bags of accessories but my memory is taxed if asked to delve back earlier than lunch today.  So I have forgotten.

•  A modern Janome coverstitch machine.  A coverstitch machine is a wonderful addition to any studio, especially (but not only) if you work with knits.

•  A modern BabyLock serger.  A serger is the perfect addition to all this vintage wonderfulness, and I believe it when I hear that BabyLock makes the best ones.  I absolutely love mine, and Da'Shonna got this one at an estate sale for 1/10 of what I paid for mine, which I got new from a dealer.

As I was peering at this photo looking for the model name I noticed something interesting

The logo is in Japanese.  Da'Shonna was able to find manuals in English that are similar enough for her to be able to use all the functions.

 As if all that wasn't good enough....I've saved the best for last.

• A Pfaff 260, from the original owner, in the original cabinet, and with a full set of original accessories.  Folks, the good finds just don't get any better than this!  

 
The Pfaff 260 uses cams to make a variety of stitches, and illustrations of the stitches are shown on the helpful circular diagram above.

 Beautifully clean inside and out.

Da'Shonna wins the DragonPoodle VSMAD medal for accomplishing a lifetime achievement in the space of a month.  While working.  With two teenagers.  And also hunting for a new house at the same time.  During a global pandemic.

Like I said.  Military people can impress the socks right off of your feet.  While your shoes are still on.

And this was taped to the lid of the Pfaff 260 accessories box.  

What else is there to say?