Pearly Green 15 Clone

Here's another machine I am selling on CraigsList.  This post will highlight it's features for anyone interested in buying it.  Regular readers of this blog are welcome to take a look too.

The pandemic porch pickup plan has been working very well for sewing machine sales.  The machine will be on a small desk on my front porch, plugged in, threaded, and all ready for you to test.  Stitch samples and accessories will be laid out on a table.  I will be able to see you and talk to you through my video doorbell, so you do not have to worry about personal contact during a global pandemic!  You can leave the money on a table on the porch, cash only please.  The price is listed in the CraigsList ad (which will disappear once the machine has been sold).

This machine is a lovely pearly green color and is an all-metal straight-stitch-only machine manufactured in Japan after WWII, the golden age of sewing machines.  It is of the type known by the nickname "15 clone" because it is a line-for-line copy of a Singer model 15--with improvements.  For one thing, all the Singer 15s were made in black.  The Japanese made them in a variety of colors.

The paint job on this machine is very glossy as you can see by the reflection in the photo above.  The paint is in good but not mint condition,  There are a few small scratches and some chips along the edge of the bed, not at all unusual in a machine 60 to 70 years old,

It has been thoroughly cleaned and tested and is in excellent working condition. One of the ways I test a machine is to see how well it will stitch through multiple layers.  I take a long length of fabric and fold it in half.  I stitch a few inches down the length through 2 layers.  I fold it in half and stitch through four layers.  Fold it in half again and stitch through eight layers.  For this machine I was able to fold it in half again and stitch through sixteen layers, with perfect stitches and no problems with the tension (perfect stitches top and bottom). 

This machine should be able to handle anything that will fit under the presser foot.  I used a size 14 needle and quilting cotton weight fabric for the test.  For denim or canvas I would use a larger size 16 or 18 needle.

The photo above shows the bobbin winder.  Although I don't have a printed manual for this machine, I will send the buyer a digital copy of a manual by email.

The stitch length lever is shown above.  The locking screw is missing but this doesn't affect the functioning of the lever.  

The motor that came with the machine was in bad shape, but it is an easy matter to replace the motor.  I added a motor from a green Singer 185.  The color is not a perfect match, but it looks closer in person than it does in this photo.

 

The other improvement that the Japanese made to the model 15 (in addition to pretty colors) was to add a feed dog drop, shown above.  "Norm." is for normal stitching, where the feed dogs are their regular height above the bed of the machine.  The "Silk" setting lowers the feed dogs a bit for use with very delicate fabrics.  The "Embr." setting is for embroidery or darning, where the feed dogs drop entirely below the bed of the machine and the fabric must be moved by hand.  This setting is also good for machine quilting.

This photo shows some of the small chips in the paint along the edge of the bed of the machine, and also shows its glossiness.

I don't have a carrying case for this machine.  If you need one, they are available on amazon.com.

This machine did not come with a light built in.  I am including an Ikea Jansjo light.  This is my favorite because you can position it to shine the light exactly where you need it.  I use these in my studio even with machines that originally did come with lights.

Below I have positioned it in front of the machine just so that you can see what the light looks like.

 

Other goodies will be included in a vintage-style sewing box in good, clean condition. 

Below, from left to right:  Tri-Flow sewing machine oil, a lint brush, an assortment of nine new sewing needles in three sizes, and an extra half a dozen class 15 bobbins, three metal and three plastic.

Also included are several presser feet and attachments, some of them vintage

Top row:  Ruffler, zipper foot, edge stitcher, seam guide.  All tested and easy to use.  I can send you a copy of a vintage Singer manual for using the attachments, including those in the bottom row:

Narrow hemmer, shirring foot, and binder.  The vintage narrow hemmers and binders work ONLY on the thinnest of fabrics, which were much more common in the past.  Modern hemmers and binders are available online if you are interested in doing this type of work.

The ruffler makes tiny pleats as you sew and has settings that allow you to vary the spacing of the pleats as shown in the photo below.  "1" makes a pleat with every stitch, "6" makes one pleat in every six stitches, and "12" makes one pleat in every twelve stitches.  There is another setting shown on the rufller as a star which makes no pleats at all, which means that you can go back and forth between regular stitching and straight stitching without having to remove the ruffler from the machine.

This machine has a standard low shank attachment for presser feet, which is still the most common configuration with today's modern machines.  This means that you can buy additional modern presser feet that will fit this machine, such as a Teflon foot or a roller foot.

And although I love having all the vintage attachments and presser feet, you will find that the straight stitch foot and the zipper foot will meet 99.9% of your needs with this machine.  So don't feel that you will need to master all of these! 

All of the extra goodies fit into the vintage-style sewing box.

The straight stitch foot is installed on the machine.

Also available, upon request and for an additional charge:  a vintage Singer zigzager which will fit this machine.  It will allow you to create a zigzag stitch, a blind hem stitch, and a couple of purely decorative stitches.

Contact me through the CraigsList ad if you are interested in seeing this machine.

Local sales only, I do not ship.

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A question for my regular readers:  What pretty colors do you have in 15 clones?  I have had this one, a blue one that I sold to a student (whose name will remain private) and a pink one that went to Barbara.

EDIT:  I forgot to mention my favorite apple-green-and-white ModernAge 250, in my permanent not-to-be-sold collection, which I believe was made by Toyota.