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?

Sewing Machine Maintenance on Repair Cafe TV

Exciting announcement:  I will be demonstrating basic sewing machine maintenance on August 3, 2020 on Repair Cafe TV.  You can see the description here

If you want to watch it live (and ask questions or offer helpful suggestions) you will need to register in advance for the Zoom session.  Register here.

Don't worry, your photo or video will NOT show up on Zoom for the world to see UNLESS you want to show us your sewing machine.  Both you and the host have to turn your video on for this to happen.

If you don't catch it live, it will be posted later to YouTube and I will come back and add a link then.



I began volunteering at Repair Cafe back in November 2019, repairing sewing machines primarily and occasionally mending stuff if there were no sewing machines to work on.  Repair Cafe brings together people who have broken stuff with volunteers who will do their best to show them how to fix it.  There is no charge for our repair services although you can make a donation if you like.

We're a local branch of an international movement with over 2,000 local chapters.  Normally we meet once a month, alternating between the Cary Senior Center and Scrap Exchange in Durham.  The pandemic shut all that down and now we have taken it online through Repair Cafe TV on Zoom. 

The pandemic has also stimulated a lot of interest in sewing, and our hope is that this workshop will enable and embolden people to dig Grannie's machine out of the closet or attic and get it up and running again.  With vintage machines often all they need is a good cleaning and oiling and I will be showing you how to do it.

My plan is to demonstrate maintenance on three types of machines:

• a modern one with computerized functions
• a vintage multi-stitch machine with gears
• a vintage straight-stitch only machine

After the demonstration there will be a question and answer session.  There's a chat feature where you can type a question, and also provide answers to other people's questions.

I'm fairly new to Zoom myself and have found it easy to use.  So why not join us on August 3 and have some fun.

Because if you are a reader of this blog, you already know how much fun sewing machines are!

Universal MZ ZigZag Machine

I have another all metal vintage sewing machine for sale on my local Craigslist.  You can see the ad here, and it will disappear when the machine is sold.  It is a high shank machine with a left homing needle, and it takes class 15 needles.  It comes with a set of high shank presser feet, shown at the end of this blog post.

Made in Japan in the post WWII period when machines were built to last for a couple of lifetimes.  I have no way of dating it but my best guess is sometime in the early to mid 1960s based on the styling and features.

The brand name "Universal" is not the manufacturer, it's just a name.  The crown on the logo makes me think that it was manufactured by Toyota but I don't know that for sure.

I do not have the manual for this machine but I can email the seller a generic manual for zigzag machines.  Because there is no manual I have used this blog to show the controls and the thread path for this specific machine.   Read on for that!

It comes in the usual style vintage case.

With the usual assortment of dings and scrapes accumulated over the last 50 years or so.  If you want to upgrade, it should fit in a standard modern plastic sewing machine case, available online.

I cleaned it, oiled and lubed it, and checked all of the features.

I don't know how well this shows in the photo but stitch length and width work.  The tensioner also works.  The photo shows what happens if it is loosened and then tightened properly.

The reverse stitch works.  You will be able to examine these stitch samples for yourself if you come to see this machine, and test it yourself on my front porch (weather permitting).

Bobbin winder not engaged.

I don't know how well you can see it but in the photo above the bobbin winder is not pressed against the hand wheel, and therefore not in operating position.  The latch to the left is in the up position.  Press it down to engage the bobbin winder.

In the photo below the bobbin winder IS pressed against the hand wheel.  The bobbin winder spins and winds the bobbin.  The latch releases automatically when the bobbin is full.

With this or any machine, if the bobbin winds unevenly you can guide it with your finger. I adjusted it a bit after this photo was taken and it is working well but not perfectly.  So keep an eye on it as it winds and shift the thread a bit from side to side as necessary.

 The control are simple and easy to use.

The dial shown below controls the stitch length.  Push in the button above it to create a reverse stitch.

For both the stitch width and the stitch length you have continuous control, meaning that you can set it anywhere between 1 and 4.  For example, just a smidge wider than 2, 2-1/2, 2-3/4, etc. anywhere along the dial.  You don't get that kind of control with a modern machine.

The dial in the middle shown below allows you to set the stitch width.  Turn the knob to lock it into place. 

Three presser foot positions

One unusual feature of the machine is that the presser foot has three positions

Position 1:  All the way up

Position 1 is the usual all-the-way-up position for removing or inserting work under the presser foot.

Position 2:  Hovering a bit

Position 2 is the unusual one in which the presser foot is hovering a bit over the work.  I can make some guesses but I really don't know what this is for.  I sometimes make teddy bears out of fake fur and I can imagine that this might be useful with that type of extremely thick fabric.  But that's just a guess.

Position 3:  All the way down

Position 3 is the usual one where the presser foot is all the way down and holding the work in place under the presser foot.  Keep in mind that you need to move the foot all the way down to this position.  If you only put the foot down part way into position 2 the fabric won't feed.  Making this mistake is how I discovered this feature of the machine.

Thread Path

I'm not going to show the bobbin threading because the generic manual does a fine job of that.  Top threading is also pretty standard as you discover if you work with many machines.  But most people are not vintage sewing machine addicts and only work with one machine.  So I will show you the steps to threading this particular machine through the pictures below.

Bobbin Cover and Needle Plate

One of the things I like about this machine is the way the bobbin cover and needle plate work.

Bobbin cover and needle plate

The bobbin covers slides very easily.  Not true of all machines!

The needle plate LOOKS like it is screwed down as most are, but it is not.  It lifts easily.

The fact that the needle plate removes so easily means that it is not a pain in the neck to clean below it.  A lot of lint accumulates in here.  A lint brush is also included.

Needle plate slides off

 But the REALLY great thing is how much easier it makes it to change the bobbin.  It only gives you a tiny bit more room for your fingers (and every little bit counts) but the fact that you can see what you are doing is the real plus.

Here the needle plate is removed completely.

 The needle plate goes back on just as easily as it comes off.

The presser feet are stored in a vintage plastic box

This machine is a high shank machine, which describes the way that the presser feet attach.  If you need presser feet other than the ones included with the machine, you need to be sure to look for “high shank” feet. The good news is that most modern industrial machines use high shank feet and there are literally hundreds of types available.  There are adapters available on eBay in the $5 to $10 range that claim to work with regular snap-on feet.  (I have no experience with them). If you are interested in snap-on feet I will be glad to provide some at no additional cost by request.

These high shank presser feet (and a seam guide) are included

Most modern home sewing machines are low shank, which means that presser feet available at Walmart or Jo-Ann will not fit this machine.  

Presser feet in their storage box

The zigzag foot is installed on the machine.

Adjustable zipper foot

If you are a beginning seamster and wondering how many presser feet you will need, most people use the zigzag foot and zipper foot and rarely use any others. 

Straight stitch foot

 If you are a quilter a straight stitch foot is nice to have.  

Button holder foot

I'm quite fond of the button holder foot (also included) which will allow you to hold a button in place while you use the zigzag stitch to keep the button from moving while you sew it on.  

Narrow hemmer foot

There is a narrow hemmer foot included.  These only work with very thin fabrics, such as were popular for baby clothes, lingerie and handkerchiefs back in the 1930s.  I don't know anyone who uses them and my opinion is that manufacturers keep including them just to fill up the attachments box!  If you find yourself in need of a hemmer you won't have any trouble finding modern ones in larger sizes more useful for the types of fabrics we sew on today.  At the time this was written Amazon had a set of three sizes for around $10 for the set.

Invisible zipper foot

Invisible zippers are a special type of zipper that is not visible when sewn.  Just as the name says.  They require a special presser foot.

Cording foot

I must confess that I have no experience with this foot and had to look it up to determine what it is.  It's pretty obvious that you can feed a tiny cord through the foot.  If any of my readers have used one, please let us know in the comment section what you use it for!

Seam guide

The seam guide attaches to the bed of the machine and allows you to maintain an even seam width.

Also included with the machine:  ten class 15 bobbins in a case, a lint brush, a bottle of sewing machine oil with a brass telescoping spout for pinpoint control, and the two screwdrivers that normally come with a sewing machine as original equipment.  The larger one allows you to tighten presser foot screws and other attachments.  The tiny one is for adjusting the bobbin case, something that you rarely need to do.

If you decide to buy this machine, or if you already have a Univeral MZ zigzagger of your own, I hope you find this information useful!