Necchi BF Mira

So here is yet another in my series of green new-to-me sewing machines.  I can't decide if it's actually green or tan.  There is a hint of blue in it but it's mainly golden olive -- the kind of olive you find stuffed with pimientos, stored in tall glass jars with brightly colored lids hailing from Italy.

Also delicious is the BF Mira (Bobbina Famiglia), a straight stitch version of the BU Mira (Bobbina Universale).  It's basically the same machine but without the zig-zag function.  It does include the same fine motor and with dedicated speed (High and Low) and light (On and Off) switches.  After the usual cleaning and oiling (which wasn't too bad, considering this is yet another Goodwill machine), I had it running as well as any I own.  For a brief moment, I threaded it incorrectly and thought I may have a problem machine but I was rewarded by a re-thread (w/out manual, of course) and it laid down a line of stitches worthy of a Medici waistcoat.

My friend Janet loves these machines in particular.  In fact, I picked up one of these for her and I became an instant fan.  To have found one at such a good price ($27) was a really nice surprise as these Necchi straights seem to be fetching a lot of money lately both in my area and online.  While not in perfect shape, it's certainly nice enough just to gaze at and of course run.  The same quality is everywhere in evidence: the tightness of the threaded controls, the numbered upper thread tension dial (and this machine holds its tension extremely well), the numbered pressure indicator on the nose, the red light indicator on the nose, the sympathetic limiters on both top and bottom of the length lever whose stop is a simple thumbscrew, the spring-loaded bearings in the oil ports, the thread rest on the bobbin winding assembly...  There's so much to admire here.

I'm not sure where I'd place this BF in the pantheon of many, many fine straights.  It's up there, way up there -- right along with the Singer 201-2, the 301, the 15-91, the Adler 152, Pfaff 30/31, the 131, and so many others.