Kenmore 158.13413

I was up north, innocently purchasing a sewing machine of all things.  How innocuous, right?

I dropped by the local Value Village to shop for a few things and just happened to walk through the furniture aisle.  You never know what you'll find, AM I RIGHT?  Now, I love a good formica end table with one end of the handle falling off, a side strip of the laminate coming unglued, and a water stain from a houseplant.  Don't you?

OK, let's cut the crap.  I went in that store determined to find a sewing machine -- hoping and praying for a Kenmore -- and lo and behold, this 8-stitch beauty was sitting fat and sassy, ready for my greedy mitts.  Perhaps that water stain was my drool, I'm not sure.

It was filthy and still has a fair amount of dirt in the crevices and seams.  I'm going to be cleaning this one every time I run it, seeing little lines of dirt and old oil between every panel.  Ah, the price we collectors must pay for our indulgences.

It's one of the lower-end Jaguar/Maruzen Kenmores built in Taiwan in the late '70s, probably 1977 or '78.  (No wonder the transition to Janome was so uneventful.)  I'm happy to report that it is as smooth and heavy as its Japanese counterparts.

It has plenty of small dings and fine scratches but all the knobs, spool pins, thread guides, etc. are present and in good working order.  It's been sitting in the sun, as it has a light case of UV on several of the plastic panels.  No attachments or manual were included -- not even the power cord/pedal.  Fortunately, I have an extra cord/pedal that I believe will work, once I dig it out and see if it has the proper plug configuration.

The model tag states 'Simpsons-Sears, LTD. (LTEE.) - Canada.'  It's possible this machine was purchased in Canada and brought south, as I found it near the Canadian border.  I haven't seen many of these 8-stitch models; perhaps these were made primarily for non-U.S. markets.  Once I get it fully oiled and running, I'll update this post and hopefully give two thumbs up.

This is exactly the kind of machine I love to find and the $4.99 price tag makes it all the sweeter.

Kenmore 158.1813

Here is yet another Kenmore I found at a thrift store.  This is one of the wonderful 1970s machines with a built-in cam stack, cam assembly, and many other features -- a deluxe machine.  It's in very good shape, as is the cabinet.

There's only one problem: it's missing the stitch selector knob that spins within the width dial.  These knobs are common to several Kenmore models.  Logging into eBay, I quickly found one, placed my order, and I will be fixing this machine within the next week or so.

This machine runs beautifully.  Strong, quiet, smooth, makes excellent stitches that are uniform, and the tension is balanced.  Everything you'd want in a domestic machine and all for $10.  Once the $5 knob is added, this will have been another great score that I'll enjoy using.

Kenmore 158.18150

 

Walking through a thrift store near my home, I spied two Kenmore sewing machine cases sitting snugly next to one another on the lowest shelf gathering dust.  It was 50% Off Day at the local St. Vincent de Paul and I began to open the hard plastic cases (one in golden yellow, the other a mint green) with the odd mixture of hope, intrigue, amusement, trepidation, and excitement common to my other thrift store jaunts.  

At this point in my collecting, I wasn't a fan of Kenmores.  I grew up in a Singer household and we looked down on those who bought Kenmore machines.  These two machines I purchased that fateful day convinced me that while Singer began to cut corners and produce inferior machines in the late '60s and 1970s, Sears' contracts with Jaguar/Maruzen and Soryu in Japan ensured they would be selling wonderful, all-metal, powerful machines into the early '80s.

I tested both machines at the store's testing station.  The 1815 hummed as if it were brand new and despite a series of small scratches on the front rim of the bed, is in great shape.  The other machine, a near-mint 158.19461, stalled and moaned.  I tried moving the stitch selector, moving the needle bar by hand, checked under the top -- nothing changed.  I took both to the register, explained the problem, and the employee very generously lowered the price of the 1946 from $20 to $2.  And since this was 50% Off Day, I paid $10 for the 1815 pictured here and a whopping $0.99 for the 1946.

After figuring out the 1946, I soon found that I had purchased two very, very nice sewing machines.  Smooth, powerful, quiet, beautiful stitches, consistent tensions -- these are keepers.  The 1815 is a higher end model, as it has a substantial cam stack with utility stitches as well as a cam assembly for decorative options.  That it's in a portable carrying case makes the machine even more valuable to me as I'm 6'2" and the tables in which one often finds these machines are too small for my long legs, often of questionable quality after decades of Big Wheel dents and science projects, and take up space in my increasingly small sewing space.  

Have you ever engaged in Kenmore discrimination?   

Kenmore 158.18023