ILoveDaffy
Crowing
I was wondering if anyone else likes restoring or cleaning sewing machines? Pictures are welcome, and tips and tricks are fantastic! Hope to get some stories here too!
I know that I love to read stories of how people got into their hobbies, so I'm including one, but feel free to skip to the sewing machine restoration part. I would love to hear your starting stories too!
Intro to my story:
You know how sometimes you decide to try a new hobby and end up finding you actually have an aptitude for it after a while and get hooked? Well, that's what happened to me. My family line is filled with seamstresses. All of my grandmothers and great grandmothers sewed in some capacity. Two made beautiful quilts entirely by hand, one made small things like stuffed animals, another did clothing, and actually owned a sewing shop for a while. All of them were immensely talented in their own field. Unfortunately, they all passed away before I was old enough to learn from them, but looking at their work with what I now know has really given me a new appreciation for it. Treasure those heirloom quilts people!
How I got into it:
Anywho, I decided to try for myself, starting small with a bit of ok embroidery and not so great mending jobs. I LOVED it. With practice, I got better and was given a sewing machine as a gift. It's a 3232 Singer, still pretty new as I got it in 2019. Well, turns out once people hear about your hobby, they are more than willing to encourage it. I received quite a lot of fabric from a family friend who makes quilts for a charity project. Her mother was a big sewer, so she not only has her stash, but also her mother's.
The machine stories:
Number one, my 3232 Singer from 2019. Runs perfectly, love the free arm on it. 10/10, amazing for a beginner, easy to operate and still perfectly adequate as an intermediate machine.
A year or so later, I found my mom's '74 Kenmore in the basement, and asked her about it. No parts, and never ran properly. I'm slowly getting it to where it should be, but it's not a hundred percent. Getting the grease out of the engine was difficult. Good for a machine that made it through a flood though!
Then my amazing neighbor, who had always encouraged me in everything I did, from Girl Scouts to tennis and later, chickens, asked if I would like her old sewing machine. Of course! Who says no to a Singer? Not me. It is a '58 Singer, with table, 66 years old. Tension is definitely fiddly as I was warned, so next on the list is probably disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling the tension assembly.
Well, it's a slippery slope, and here I am with a fourth sewing machine, and another on the way!
Number 4 is a '76 Kenmore that I found for $10 at a thrift store. Good condition, and came in a table, just dirty. Actually, better than my mom's.
Five is to be from a family friend, and it has been in her family for some time. It is a '64 Singer with a table. I love knowing the history of it.
I know that I love to read stories of how people got into their hobbies, so I'm including one, but feel free to skip to the sewing machine restoration part. I would love to hear your starting stories too!
Intro to my story:
You know how sometimes you decide to try a new hobby and end up finding you actually have an aptitude for it after a while and get hooked? Well, that's what happened to me. My family line is filled with seamstresses. All of my grandmothers and great grandmothers sewed in some capacity. Two made beautiful quilts entirely by hand, one made small things like stuffed animals, another did clothing, and actually owned a sewing shop for a while. All of them were immensely talented in their own field. Unfortunately, they all passed away before I was old enough to learn from them, but looking at their work with what I now know has really given me a new appreciation for it. Treasure those heirloom quilts people!
How I got into it:
Anywho, I decided to try for myself, starting small with a bit of ok embroidery and not so great mending jobs. I LOVED it. With practice, I got better and was given a sewing machine as a gift. It's a 3232 Singer, still pretty new as I got it in 2019. Well, turns out once people hear about your hobby, they are more than willing to encourage it. I received quite a lot of fabric from a family friend who makes quilts for a charity project. Her mother was a big sewer, so she not only has her stash, but also her mother's.
The machine stories:
Number one, my 3232 Singer from 2019. Runs perfectly, love the free arm on it. 10/10, amazing for a beginner, easy to operate and still perfectly adequate as an intermediate machine.
A year or so later, I found my mom's '74 Kenmore in the basement, and asked her about it. No parts, and never ran properly. I'm slowly getting it to where it should be, but it's not a hundred percent. Getting the grease out of the engine was difficult. Good for a machine that made it through a flood though!
Then my amazing neighbor, who had always encouraged me in everything I did, from Girl Scouts to tennis and later, chickens, asked if I would like her old sewing machine. Of course! Who says no to a Singer? Not me. It is a '58 Singer, with table, 66 years old. Tension is definitely fiddly as I was warned, so next on the list is probably disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling the tension assembly.
Well, it's a slippery slope, and here I am with a fourth sewing machine, and another on the way!
Number 4 is a '76 Kenmore that I found for $10 at a thrift store. Good condition, and came in a table, just dirty. Actually, better than my mom's.Five is to be from a family friend, and it has been in her family for some time. It is a '64 Singer with a table. I love knowing the history of it.
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