After taking Ray White's basic sewing machine repair class this July, I didn't have much time to tackle one of the project sewing machines that was waiting in my closet. Earlier this week I took this two-tone White machine out that I found on craigslist. It was made in Japan and I think it's from the 50s or 60s. Most of it is very heavy metal but the blue parts are plastic.
After a bit of cleaning, oiling and a conversation with fabric covered pliers (one little knob was so frozen that it had to be gently persuaded to comply with my wishes) I discovered that it was a pretty decent little machine. It zig-zags, does a very nice blind stitch, reverses, drops its feed dogs and makes a beautiful straight stitch. It even came with its original sewing machine manual. Of course there was nothing that could be done about the bobbin winder which fell of the machine! It looked like someone had tried to hot glue it back to the plastic cover! And yes, the case has seen much better days - I think the previous owners could have been a bit more creative with the duct tape, don't you?
I didn't want to keep it because I prefer my other machines but I knew the perfect thing to do with it. A lady at our doll club started bringing a neighbor's young tween daughter to the monthly meetings. Miss D is learning how to sew and wants to make cloth dolls. At last month's meeting she was super impressed with a member's older sewing machine and took pictures of it to show to her parents. I thought that she could always buy one of those Sidewinder bobbin winders for about $20 and have a much better sewing machine than one of those plastic cheap wonders that they sell in the mega retail stores. (I know that a lot of beginners get swayed by those $99 price tags but they're just not worth it. It's not the plastic that is such a problem. It's the thin cheap metal that overseas manufacturers use. Once they get out of time they just can't be bent back into place more than one or two times and then they suffer a terminal failure. The parts are almost as much as the price of another new machine. You're better off saving your money to buy a machine that's several hundred dollars or get a quality used machine from the local sewing machine dealer.)
In addition to the zig-zag foot that came with the machine, I found an open toe foot (very useful for the template sewing used in constructing cloth dolls) and a darning foot for free-motion embroidery (also known as free-motion quilting foot, or hopping foot). Other than a zipper foot these will be all that are needed for a beginner.
Tuesday night at doll club I gave it to her. Wow! The smiles and oohing and aahing from the lovely Miss D told me that this machine is going to a good home!
