Side Roads to the Buttonholer Rabbit Hole

 (An earlier post was all about buttonholers and how I went completely down the rabbit hole and spent three weeks testing, evaluating, photographing and writing about them.)

 

While I was testing the low shank buttonholers for straight stitch machines,  I wandered down some side roads from time to time.  This is what I am enjoying about lockdown--the time to do things slowly and get something completely done with no time pressure.

I used my personal favorite straight stitch machine, an apple green and white ModernAge 250 manufactured by Toyota and of the type nicknamed "15 clone" because they are a direct copy of the Singer Model 15.  This machine has worked flawlessly for years even though the check spring had broken off.  Back in the pre-pandemic era I was using it to teach someone who had a 15 clone of her own at home, and it bothered me that this machine was missing the check spring (it didn't bother the student at all btw).  So I spent some time dis-assembling the tensioner, replacing the check spring, and then re-assembling it.  Took me two tries and a google search but once again the machine is working flawlessly.

 

I figured I would test some of the buttonholers on the Necchi BU Nova that I discussed in a previous post, and then correct the "fixing" I did and then thought better of.  Comments from readers made me realize that I had probably just created a future problem by my "fix".  Thanks to Dre in PA and another person who contacted me privately.  Plus, it was still sitting on my dining room table.  Problem was, that Necchi is a high shank machine, and I don't have a single high shank buttonholer.  This led me down another side road as I went through two small boxes of high shank feet and dug through them selecting the best one of each type to dedicate to the Necchi.  And photograph them for a future blog post.  There went another afternoon.  And I did fix the Necchi by undoing the previous "fix", by thinking about what was wrong and why it might be so, and then by swapping out the clutch knob from the Necchi with the terrifying wiring.  Problem solved, machine put away, spot cleared on the dining room table for the next machine to test buttonholers on.

 

Another machine I planned to use for testing the buttonholers was a Wards Signature 220, which was a lovely machine that I had restored in November and low shank.  But the buttonholer simply would not fit.  The configuration was just wrong and it absolutely would not go onto the presser foot shaft.  Guess what--another side road because I decided to write a Craigslist ad and accompanying blog post about it.  

It has the four step buttonhole feature, so it really doesn't need to have a buttonholer.  Moved it off the table to make way for the next machine to test those buttonholes.  It sold quickly on Craigslist and went to a good home.

 

Another buttonholer testing fail with a really lovely dark teal and white vintage Japanese zigzagger, which also turned out to be a high shank machine.  I took time to write up a blog post about it and sold it on Craigslist to help combat the Great Sewing Machine shortage of 2020.

Singer 223

 

I have a few other vintage machines that I restored some time ago, but I don't remember what type of shank they have and I wasn't in the mood to find out that they wouldn't work.  So I unearthed a Singer 223 with a completely chewed up needle throat plate.  

 

Because I knew it was low shank, that a Singer buttonholer would fit, and that the throat plate wouldn't be an issue because it would be covered up anyway.  And this did work.  And I need to spend some time searching for a vintage parts vendor to see if I can find a throat plate for this.  This model is one of my favorites (OK, I know I say that about a LOT of models but it's always true!) because it has both a zigzag stitch and a blind hem stitch. 

 

This makes it an absolutely perfect machine for a dressmaker looking for a good vintage machine.

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Big things going on in my personal life which have directly affected my sewing machines.  Can't talk about any of it online yet but I am super busy right now, so what I said up above about enjoying the relaxed pace of pandemic life has flown out the window.  

So how did I manage to get this post out?  Because it was already written.  I usually keep a couple of posts in progress and work on them off and on until they ripen.  This one was all done so up it goes.  And you will hear from me again in the future but it might be a while.

 If you are one of my personal friends who knows what is going on please DON'T mention it in the comments below.  Not because it is any kind of giant secret but there are reasons.  Thanks.