Singer 316G

I'm supposed to be looking for houses and I'm half-heartedly doing so.  One incentive to get me driving around in these God-forsaken towns is the possibility of a sewing machine (or two).  Convenient, don't you think?

I saw this machine's listing and it turns out the seller lives in the same general area as a possible house I was to look at and so I contacted him.  This is a German Singer zig-zag made in Karlsruhe and is most closely similar to a 306, although it has several advantages: uses class 15 bobbins and needles, has feed dog drop on the bed, and the slide plate actually slides.  It's also built to tighter tolerances and so it's quieter and smoother (although not by so much that the difference affirms the silly, ignorant maligning of the Swing Needle machines -- the 206, 306, 319/320).  Like the 306, it has adjustable needle position and takes cams for decorative stitches.  It weighs in over 50 lbs.

My machine came in a wood base but lacks a case.  Additionally, the lamp shade is missing and the lamp socket housing is cracked.  I have ordered a vintage lamp but it is black, so I'll either have to paint it or be satisfied with it as-is.  By the way, these lamps are quite expensive.  Luckily, I found one in Germany for just $17 plus shipping ($9) but all the other sellers had theirs well over $50 and higher.  They're not rare, just expensive.

Although this is a Singer, the Germanic pedigree is evident immediately in its sewing characteristics.  The machine runs beautifully; I can see why these are such coveted machines: quiet, strong, adjustable down to the slightest differences in width and length.  I love the styling, too -- reminds me of the 15-125, for example.  One question I always ask myself when I acquire yet another machine is whether I plan to keep it and for how long.  The 316 will be in my permanent collection.

If you find one of these beauties, don't hesitate, especially if you can find one for well under $100 as I did.  You'll be glad you bought it! 
 

Adler 189A Adlermatic Zig-Zag

There are times when there is a particular model a collector has wanted for years and after spending those years looking high and low (price and location), that collector finally realizes that in order to acquire it, some fairly serious cash will need to be spent or a refurbishment will be necessary.

That collector is myself and the machine is the Adler 189A Adlermatic.  I knew I had to have one the first moment I spied a dark, grainy picture of its gorgeous green self.  The rounded, bulbous shapes, the beautiful levers with red increments and numbers, the cam door that slides up and open, the nose plate that opens clam-shell style toward the left, the Pfaff 130-like rear access plate, the steel cams, the belt cover, the speed and strength, the ungodly smoothness -- it was a heady mix for a still-learning collector and perhaps these shapes and features imprinted my impressionable mind so deeply that I couldn't let go.  And now I finally have one.  Well, almost.

I decided not to spend a fortune and bought a 'For Parts or Repair' example.  It's missing the motor.  (Yes, you read that correctly.  I bought an electric, heavy-duty sewing machine with its motor missing.)  It's missing the thread tension assembly (except the post, check spring, etc.).  The thread take-up lever has been broken right off at the face plate.  No cord, no controller.  The cord that it has was a seller attempt and he actually wired the lamp correctly, so that works.  The hand wheel turns very smoothly and the knobs and levers all appear to be working as intended, although I need access to a manual to be sure.  This is not a simple machine.  No cams, no presser feet, no bobbin case (although the Pfaff 130's does fit and that means they are plentiful and fairly inexpensive).  It also needs a very thorough cleaning and adjusting.

But I didn't just buy it on impulse.  I knew it was a project machine and so the question with any somewhat rare machine is where to buy parts.  How much would it cost to purchase all these necessities for a working machine -- preferably original parts?  Well, I found an eBay seller who sold me a huge lot of Adler 189A parts (including the motor, the rear access plate, the hand wheel, the face plate with the cam door, levers, hook, innards, take-up lever, gears, etc., zig-zag and cam assemblies, rods and shafts, etc.) for the princely sum of $50.  So I bought the machine with a pending Best Offer on the parts and had my shorts in a wad for only about 2 hours hoping I could have a complete machine in about a month of studying the service manual.

Cosmetically, I've seen better examples of this machine but nearly every other 189A I've seen has at least some small areas of paint loss.  Since I'm very interested in a complete refurb, a paint-matching trip to the auto parts store is on the agenda not only because I want the machine to look its best but also to keep the existing paint around the dings from flaking.  However, I think the machine looks pretty good for a 'For Parts or Repair' -- what do you think?

Anker RZ Matic

I've decided that eBay is a venue that is by and large too expensive for sewing machine purchases.  Shipping charges put many machines beyond my casual (and increasingly rational) addiction and shipping damage is always a concern.  Yet, my tastes have changed.  I acquire the low-priced common machines -- Kenmores, etc. -- mostly via CL and once in a long, long while will purchase a hard-to-find model from eBay if one is available at a price (+ shipping) that's not unreasonable.

Sometimes I even buy a fixer.

Case in point: the Anker RZ Matic zig-zag.  I've been lusting for one of these for a while, having purchased an earlier Free-Westinghouse version.  I've seen them in better shape but with price tags far above my self-imposed limit.  So, when I saw the ad for this one (with 14 watchers), I figured I should probably pounce even though it's missing a slide plate, power cord/pedal, and most of a front decal.  Other than these hopefully surmountable flaws (I see a cord/pedal combination for sale on eBay for more than I paid for this machine -- not going to happen) and despite a few small paint dings, it's actually in pretty decent shape.  A standard Class 15 bobbin was included in its oh-so-common case and the hand wheel moves smoothly, quietly, and as heavily as a high-powered, over-engineered German machine should.

The machine has some very interesting features.  The dual tension assembly is punctuated by the dual retractable pins and the forward-facing hook/race means double-needle sewing is de rigeur.  Decorative stitching?  You bet, all with a Wonder Wheel-like assembly powered by a third pulley off the hand wheel (first the interior motor, second the bobbin winder) and its own thread path with guides shared by a nifty bobbin winding assembly with automatic or manual stop-mechanism (see the small black Bakelite lever below the hand wheel).  The top is reminiscent of a car hood, opening to a hinge that holds the open position until squeezed inward, releasing to the closed position.  The stitch limiters around the width control are a beautifully designed pair of levers with numbered plates extending from the main knob, one each for both directions of the needle bar.  This really is superior to the more typical thumb screws (and likely more expensive to manufacture and install).  The setting release latch in the width lever doubles as a thread guide(!).  Very cool.  The length knob has a more standard cylindrical captive screw.

As a side note, I love the color: a deep sea green with dark green painted logo.  The contrast with the nickel and black is stunning.  Everyone should have at least one green sewing machine, don't you think? 

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it despite not knowing how it runs.  I have a Phoenix with a similar male connector and I will attempt a hook-up later today when I've some more time.  I will append this post as soon as I have more information and have done a bit more cleaning.

I've also acquired a few more cheap paintings and will post a little gallery tour as well.

I hope you're all doing well.

 

Pfaff 360

Today was a stressful but productive day, overall.

I was squeezing work into a bunch of other errands.  (Was it the other way around?)  Some of you may know that I'm looking for a new house, as I'm seriously in need of downsizing (but my sewing machine purchases have sadly kept apace); I have to sell a condo, a Volvo, about 30 sewing machines (at least), some other items, start boxing up/selling/storing/throwing/donating/etc. a bunch of stuff, and on top of it all, I have to take care of my mother who fairly recently suffered a heart attack.  I am my mother's caregiver because the rest of my family will not step in to help.  I love my mom but having her live with me has been a difficult adjustment.

Today I looked at a house.  It was a decent house -- mid-century modern, a good design -- and I liked it but thought it had cheap finishes and would require at least 100K to make it 'nice'.  Adding that to the price of the home and I think I'm better off looking at more expensive houses to begin with; basically, I'm in the process of:

• Finding the sweet spot in the current real estate market, which is very hot right now
• Figuring out what I can afford
• Figuring out what I am willing to spend
• Deciding on which new neighborhoods and communities I would like
• Packing and throwing 
• Thinking about how much house I need vs. how much I would like vs. how much is available
• Doing a lot of driving and stressing
• Refusing to put my mother in a nursing home while wondering about my sanity

In addition to the above, I found a very nice machine, a Pfaff 360:

I love Pfaffs and I've wanted a free arm (360 or, preferably, a 362) so I bought this one.  The seller realized it didn't have a power cord or pedal, so lowered the price to $45.  I think that's reasonable, as it's in excellent shape and I already have the cord/pedal from my 260, my 230, etc.

What's important about these Pfaff Automatic machines is that you have to have the levers in the exact positions to achieve the stitches you want and you have to follow the sequence of lever positioning.  So, you need the handy dandy Pfaff stitch wheel, which I don't have.  (There are full-color downloads and I can run those through a laminating machine, then insert a brass brad in the middle to spin it.  An easy hack.)

These machines are exceptional sewers but one of the best features is the shallowness of the arm itself.  This will likely be my free arm machine in a future sewing atelier with a Kenmore as a back up, as this machine cannot do several stretch utility stitches that are very useful on cuffs, for example.

OK, gotta go look at house listings and swallow hard.  This weekend is a busy one.

Meister 101

This past Saturday was a day I had been anticipating for several weeks.

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!)
        

 

Pfaff 139

I saw this machine on CL and withstood the pressure until I couldn't take it any longer.  Another $40 machine for another Gritzner-Kayser badged machine, this one a Pfaff 139 basic zig-zag machine with adjustable needle position.

If you can find one of these (they were made by Gritzner and badged Gritzner, Pfaff, Kenmore, White, and Domestic), they're great machines.

This one is frozen solid and I've given it a preliminary cleaning and oiling.  Kerosene is soon to follow.