Singer Model 99 Clean Up

I received this poor girl a few weeks ago. Her bentwood case was cracked and had pieces that were loose. Her motor was loose, due mainly to a too small belt.  It looks as if someone had started a restoration on her without doing enough research and then simply gave up.

This is base all cleaned up.

I had to glue back in 3 of the 4 corner pieces. The were rolling around loose in the case bottom when I got her.  The top hinge was pulled up and nearly out of place due to the missing corner and some side wood pieces. Here they are all back in place.  (Sorry, it's a bit hard to see the red circles.)

She was pretty filthy when I got her.  Just look at the picture I bought her from.



And here she is, put back together, cleaned up and ready to find a new home.  I used plain vinegar to soak her face plate and bobbin slide plate, along with a few screws, for a few minutes. They came out much shinier than they went in.  I followed that up with a Carnuba wax refresh and quick bugg to bring some luster back. Too bad photos can't show it quite the same way it looks to the naked eye.

She's up for sale on my Etsy site for $55, plus shipping. I have her owner's certificate from Singer stating her date of manufacture of 1927 and a PDF version of the instruction manual.

Wood Glue is your Friend!

I just received another vintage Singer.  (Yes, I'm in a full blown addiction here).  I purchased her strictly for the case's locking hardware, and not the machine.  When she arrived it's obvious why I got her so cheaply and why the didn't test her completely.

She's an old model, with the electrical components installed into the case and it's all original.  I had planned on selling off the machine by itself.  A JoAnn's employee has been looking for a decoration piece and I was thinking this one might be perfect for her.  It may end up being usable as well.

I've been wood gluing, clamping, and piecing the poor case back together.  Whoever had it didn't realize that the wooden pieces that were loose needed only to be glued back in place and are critical support pieces for the machine.  As a result the hinges have pulled forward and one completely broke through the wood.  This has been the toughest part of the piecing job.  Shame on me, I forgot to take "before" pictures, so you'll only have "after pictures.

I'm hoping to have her polished up and placed back in case sometime tomorrow.  For now I've named her Mustang Sally.  Her decals are in near perfect condition and once she's cleaned and oiled she may still work.  I won't try her out as her wiring is pretty rough, but she could be converted to a hand crank fairly easily for whoever owns her next.

I'm having fun working on these machines.  Tomorrow it's adjust the tension on the Neechi day to do some polar fleece projects on.  If it won't cooperate, then it's back to my Crinkle finish Model 15 for the heavy duty work.

Who remembers Girl Scout Hot-Chocolate?

I still remember the feel and smell of my Brownies uniform and cold, dreary days remind me of my mom making us hot chocolate during our meetings to warm us up (and perhaps calm us down a bit).  My mom was my leader through Juniors and we made our own hot chocolate mix that we took on scouting camp outs, backpacking, and pretty much anywhere we couldn't haul the cold stuff.

Many years ago I made up a bunch of packages for family members for the holidays, coupled up with a cute Christmasy mug, and some cookies.  I've decided to do something similar this year but "dress" it up a bit, and thought I'd share some of the newly updated versions with you.  I've had to switch from MilkMan powdered milk (which was amazingly yummy) to Carnation as the company that made MilkMan closed it's doors.

Traditional Hot Chocolate

22 1/2 oz. (box) Carnation Powdered Milk
16 oz. CoffeeMate Powdered Creamer
1 lb.    Nesquick (a.k.a. Nestle's Quick) Chocolate Milk Drink

Optional:
2 cups sifted Powdered sugar

Mix it all together and keep it in an airtight, moisture-proof container.  When you're ready for some hot chocolate, it's usually 1/4 cup of mix to "standard" coffee mug.  You may need to add more if you have a different sized mug.

Now for the fun stuff!  CoffeeMate has introduced a lot of fun new flavors making more "adult" versions possible that don't require the toting around of Peppermin Schnapps (although hot chocolate and Peppermint Schnapps remains one of my favorite holiday treats!).


Peppermint Hot Chocolate

22 1/2 oz. (box) Carnation Powdered Milk
16 oz. CoffeeMate Powdered Peppermint Mocha Creamer
1 lb.    Nesquick (a.k.a. Nestle's Quick) Chocolate Milk Drink

Yum!!


Vanilla Caramel Hot Chocolate


22 1/2 oz. (box) Carnation Powdered Milk
16 oz. CoffeeMate Powdered Vanilla Caramel Creamer
1 lb.    Nesquick (a.k.a. Nestle's Quick) Chocolate Milk Drink

Other powdered options include:
French Vanilla
Vanilla Latte

Cinnamon Vanilla Creme

I'm stopping on the way home tonight for ingredients to try out the Vanilla Caramel version...it sounds heavenly.

Speaking of Old and Vintage Things

Technically speaking, my truck is a Vintage Machine.  Anyone who's known me for more than 15 minutes has heard about my truck.  I love it.  Bubba Truck is old, getting rustier by the hour, is dented, has some "challenges" with it's interior, and some people won't be caught dead in it.  I still love it.

Bubba is rapidly approaching it's 22nd manufacture date and is counting down towards it's 324,000th mile.  It's a 1990 Ford Ranger 4x4 Custom with an extended cab, manual transmission, locking hubs to engage the 4x4 transfer case, dark grey (where it still has color) and it's had a heck of a life.  It's hauled everything from groceries to my 4H group's entire rabbit herd, a pair of pot-bellied pigs, and office equipment.  It's an awesome little truck.

So, why am I mentioning my truck on a crafter's blog?  Because I'd like to overhaul it, but to do that I have to earn enough money (outside of my normal IT gig) to pay to do that.  It's about a $10K job - still less than the cost of a new truck.  So, I'll be busy cranking out stuff for the Christmas/Chanukah-Hanukkah season in the hopes of making some cash to start saving for the overhaul.

In addition to the normal crafting stuff, I'll be putting up a couple of vintage machines over this holiday season to find new homes.  One will definitely be a "decorative" piece as it'll be non-functional, another one will be functional but may or may not be in a nice case.  It depends on how some other things work out.

Please take some pity on my truck, and check out my etsy site.  You never know, you might just find a gift for that "hard-to-please" person.  And if you're buying a tote - remember, a portion of the proceeds goes to charity (and not me or my truck).

New Toys!

I finally unloaded my latest vintage machine wins and got pictures of them.  The Singer I purchased for the cabinet, not for the machine.  Good news is the parts will work on my Grandmother's machine just fine, so I may have a replacement deck with perfect decals.  I need to get a picture of the deck anyway, so a company I'm working with can make replacement decals.

Here's my $6 win:

As you can see, the varnish is having issues and a full strip, restain, varnish is in order.  The machine itself has been recently used (based on it's new belt and nicely moving parts), so I had to gut it completely.  Instead I think I'll simply swap what I need and either donate or sell this beastie cheap once I check it all out.  Here's a better idea of the damage to the cabinet.

My other win is a Singer Stylist 533.  After taking it out of the case I see there's a part missing.  Still, not too bad for $8.  And it does have the removable table stashed inside the case - right where it belongs.  Wiring is in great shape, so now it's just time to clean it well and stitch up a small project.

Fun "Naughty" Christmas Boys Fabric

I just "had" to have this fabric.  It's way to fun, and I know my BFF will get a HUGE kick out of it as a tote bag.  And since I will make it reversible he can keep this cutie pies with him all year round.

I also added several Christmas items to my Etsy site.  Drop on by there to see what are strictly one-of-a-kinds and which ones can be custom ordered.

Next week at some point I'll be posted again on tips for refurb'ing those vintage machines I love so much.  I do have one tip for you: Do Not leave your sewing machine oil where a it can be tipped over.  I've lost most of mine unexpectedly, even though it was in a sealed bottle and in a closed ziplock baggie.  It got tipped over and it leaked.  Not a happy find.

Oh, I did win 2 more vintage machines.  Pictures will come soon!

Singer Sewing Machine Manuals ARE Free

I keep running across posts on different boards where folks are asking where to find a particular vintage sewing machine model's manual.  For Kenmore owners it's a tough nut to crack and you may end up paying $10 or more to someone who's simply scanned in an original manual (marks, missing pages, and all), put it in a PDF and wants money in exchange for their time.  Occasionally you'll find a seller who is offering the elusive original manual for sale/auction.  Grab 'em when you can for those hard to find ones.  And if you do score one, do the rest of us a favor if you scan it in and make the PDF available for free somewhere.

However, Singer owners - of all age machines - will happily find free PDF versions off of the Singer website.  For those in the USA it's www.singerco.com.  And if you can't find a version, email them, they'll get you a link or may even send you the PDF.

Here's the list of Singer Model PDFs I've downloaded for free so far:

15 and 15-91
66, 66K and 66-91
99 and 99K
101-1
201
301
Stylist 533

There are also parts manuals available for Singers, for free.  I've downloaded those as well so that I can check part numbers should I need something.

My addiction is growing as I've just picked up the Stylist 533 today and will be checking out it's gears.  (Apparently they're a bit prone to breakage).  And I need to check inside the case to see if the table extension is hiding in there.  Otherwise, this little beastie will be a free-arm machine for as long as I hang onto it.  Pictures will follow soon!