My friend Janet -- someone I have become friends with through this blog and through her own, the very entertaining Suck It Up, Buttercup -- had found a Meister 101 in the wild, specifically Whitefish, Montana and offered to retrieve it for me. (She lives in beautiful Kalispell.) Like a true collector, she found yet another machine in my neck of the woods (the Seattle metro area), a Necchi BF Mira in excellent condition which I purchased for her; we agreed to meet in Spokane the aforementioned weekend to exchange machines and meet each other in person.
Janet's daughter Mariah was with her and according to Janet's own account, she remarked that though we had not met in person until then, it was as if we were continuing a conversation we had begun many years ago in which long stretches of absence never matter. Janet is as friendly, funny, generous, and genuinely nice as her blog posts and comments and in person even more so. The sewing community is filled with great people and Janet does our hobby proud; a shared interest often facilitates such meetings and I'm very glad we agreed to have a machine exchange. Thank you, Janet! I hope we can do this again.
As she knows, I'm particularly fond of German mid-century machines and this 1953 Meister 101 is a really wonderful example of the kind of engineering that makes them so smooth, powerful, and to me, desirable. I admit I haven't run the machine except to test that it works (and does it ever), but it is the beauty of the design and the cosmetic and mechanical condition that help make it such a great acquisition.
The width and length levers have an extremely long travel, facilitating very small adjustments. The hand wheel is large and set apart from the body, the needle position lever on top also being large and easily adjusted. I love the oil port arrow decals (and the red oil ports on both sides of the 1.0 amp motor), the hand wheel direction decal, and the limiting switch in the width lever. Sometimes found badged as a Sewmaster (though neither version is very common), much of the Meister's design reminds me of the Anker RZ, another German machine I really like.
The hand wheel moves with an ungodly amount of smoothness and without a single drop of oil I found it both heavy and free with the only sound being the rise and fall of the feed dog mechanism, a very soft click typically made by a precision instrument. The shafts and rods of this machine are very thick, particularly the secondary drive shaft. Like the Anker RZ, the Pfaff 130 and 30, and other German machines of this era, there is a semi-industrial level of quality here.
The nose plate reminds me of several German machines, notably the Anker RZ and some Pfaff models, although the Meister has an angled back edge that sets it apart.
Clearly this particular machine has seen very little use. It's near-mint and I am extremely pleased to have it. Once again, my gratitude is to Janet, a collector who has the eye and the passion for fine vintage machinery. The Meister 101 is more than a keeper -- it is among the top few machines in my collection.
(Hard to believe it's about 62 years old! Also hard to believe is the price: $30!)
Yes! I think next time we need to have lunch together so we can spend even more time talking (without getting rained on). I am so glad the Meister found a home with you. It wasn't being appreciated where it had been abandoned. I haven't yet played with the Necchi because I need to do some rearranging of machines, but I have the top off of the case so that smell will go away (the lavender helped a lot, thank you) and so I can look at how pretty it is.
ReplyDelete(The machines were piling up in my office and the husband wondered if I were in danger of being crushed by them, so I moved some upstairs and pointed out to him that now that I have spread the machines around the house, it doesn't look like I have so many, hahahaha.)
I DID try some of the TR-3 on that burned White treadle from my neighbor's barn fire and was amazed to see the decals again! Wow. I thought that machine might be permanently blackened. Amazing stuff. I suspect it makes the lame to walk and the blind to see.
Also, the chocolates are delicious and I booby-trapped the smoked salmon so that no one eats it without my permission. :)
Thank you again for making my trip to Spokane so much fun!
I would be honored to have lunch next time. That Spokane trip was so enjoyable; meeting you was the best part. You impressed my mom. :)
DeleteMmmm -- salmon, chocolate, and TR-3. None of it lasts very long around here, especially the salmon. There's a place here that does kippered salmon that's fantastic. I'll try to bring some next time.
I hope the smell from the Necchi case dissipates eventually. I've tried a few techniques to get rid of musty odors from those cloth/particle board cases (leaving them in the sun to bake out the smell, bleach solution, eucalyptus -- which has anti-microbial properties, etc.) and I've never been very successful. The case is genuine, vintage, and in good shape so it's a shame it smells. I hope you have success. The machine is such a nice one.
Have fun with all your new finds! Thanks again for offering me the Bel-Air and I kind of wish I could have taken it in but with moving, I have to get rid of more machines than I'd like and so I'm having to be ruthless in what I acquire. I know it's got a great place with you. I'm interested to see what the TR-3 might do on the beater Singer 15 you picked up. I recommend Maas metal polish for the shiny bits.
Your mother is a lovely and elegant lady.
DeleteYou know, that smell in the Necchi case doesn't bother me that much, probably because it smells just like my Great-Grandma Chochol's house used to smell. :) I seem to remember reading somewhere that the smell is from the horsehide glue they used in those cases? My Featherweight suffers from the same problem. I don't want my whole house to smell like it, but it is making me a bit nostalgic.
I was itching to try that TR-3 yesterday and wondered about the beater Singer, but it's out in the storage container. I have hope, though. I will report back. And if you ever want that Bel-Air in the future, we can talk. :)
Hello friend.really like your machine.Will you like to exchage with my brand new JUKI TL98 Mail me 811984133@qq.com
DeleteThanks for your offer but this machine is among my most honored machines not only due to its quality and condition but for how it came to me. It will be with me for a very long time.
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
I own an original 1953 Meister model that was my mothers. I have many fond memories of watching her sew everything from a mans suit to a king size down quilt. Halloween costumes, prom dresses, pillows, everything you can imagine went through that machine. I even still have the original manual with the warranty complete with her name and date. She bought it from some place called Sewing Machine Mart. I can only find that name in Alabama now but I know she bought it in California.
ReplyDeleteYour mother had a really great machine. These are really, really nice: smooth, strong, make great stitches. We were a Singer family and my mom had a 1960s model that she sewed on when the mood struck her. A decent machine but not in this league. Hopefully I can add value to this one by making some great stuff with it.
DeleteHello! I found your blog a few weeks ago after first seeing a Meister on Ebay Germany and then proceeding to search the internet frantically for more information about them. As luck would have it I found one for sale this week and am so thrilled to have my own. Some of my favorite machines are non-electric Vestas, and the Meister seems to be an incarnation of their ZZ302 model. By any chance do you know where to find a manual for the Meister 101? Thanks so much! And thanks for the informative blog full of great info!
ReplyDeleteHey, EB -- thank you for visiting and your comment. I do have a manual for a Meister but not this exact machine. It is for the other Meister I own. It is similar enough that I believe it might be helpful. If you'd like me to scan/upload, let me know and you can download it from this site.
DeleteEnjoy your Meister. It is an excellent machine.
Thank you! I really appreciate it. I would love to take you up on that. Do you need my email address?
DeleteI'll post it here with a link. I'll let you know with a reply. Please wait a several days and if you don't see it, post a reply and I'll figure out what's up. Sometimes Blogger doesn't update and/or doesn't correctly link source material on a host.
Delete