OldSewinGear
  • Blog
    • Blog Index
    • Site Map
  • Singer
    • Slant Needle >
      • 301
      • 401 / 403 / 404
      • 500 / 503
      • 601 / 603 /604
    • Class 15 Machines
    • Class 66 Machines
    • Featherweight
    • Swing Needle
    • Toy Machines
    • Accessories >
      • Buttonholer
      • Discs & Cams
  • Others
    • Pfaff
    • Elna
    • Necchi
    • Japan Class 15
  • Resources
    • FAQ
    • Links
    • Cheat Sheets
    • Shipping & Packaging
  • Contact
    • About Us

Cadillac of Zigzaggers

8/6/2014

17 Comments

 
PictureGreist Automatic Decorator
Confession time.  I'm a bit of a klutz when it comes to using zigzagger attachments. 

You know, those handy-dandy attachments that make your Featherweight or 15-91 act like a zigzag machine?  They sure are nifty, but I've always found it a challenge to try to stitch in anything close to a straight line. 

PictureEight built-in stitch patterns.
The automatic Singer zigzaggers are an improvement over the early no-frills models, but still leave a lot to be desired in my book.  Granted, I'd probably get a whole lot better with lots and lots of practice. 

But the other day I made a discovery.  My sister gave me a box of miscellaneous garage-sale leftovers and it contained something I'd never seen before:  a Greist Automatic Decorator. 

PictureAttached to a Singer 15-91.
As discussed in the article "To Greist or Not to Greist," some collectors turn up their noses at Greist attachments because they don't bear the Singer name.  But that doesn't make them inferior.  In fact, they can be decidedly superior at times, as I discovered when I tested this one.  

How so?

PictureLever on side selects stitch pattern.
First of all, it's fully automatic, which means that there are eight stitch patterns built-in. 

That's right...no cams or discs to change!  A lever on the side selects the pattern and away you go.  Another lever disengages the zigzag mechanism, allowing you to sew straight-stitch without removing the attachment.

PictureLovely stitch quality & straight rows!
Secondly, the side-to-side zigzag action is so smooth that it's not difficult to guide the fabric in a straight line.  A refreshing difference.   

Third, the stitch quality is the best I've seen from an attachment.

Last, but not least, it's one of the prettiest zigzag attachments I've ever seen.  With its metallic gold jacket it's a perfect complement to the black and gold Singer Featherweight, 15-91, or other low-shank Singer of your choice.

So, would you like to see it in action?  

Well you get to, whether you want to or not!

See what I'm talking about?  The action is smooth and takes very little guidance. 

So where can you find one?  I've only seen one other like it in the years I've been collecting machines and attachments.  The other one had a silver jacket and was made to fit a White sewing machine.  I watch for them on eBay but have yet to see one.  I don't know if that makes it rare...or simply underappreciated.

But keep your eyes open and maybe you'll get lucky!

Happy Sewing!

Barbara 

OldSewinGear...dedicated to helping you get the most out of your old sewing gear.

17 Comments

The Pink of Perfection - Singer Pinking Attachment

6/27/2014

8 Comments

 
PictureWISS Pinking Shears
Feeling frayed around the edges?  If so, you have a lot in common with vintage fashion. 

Fraying seam allowances were a common problem in the days of straight-stitch-only sewing machines.  The advent of the zigzag machine was a step in the right direction and eventually the overlock serger eliminated the problem altogether. 

But what did people do BEFORE zigzag stitch? 

That's a good question and (at the risk of irritating my readers) I'm going to answer it with another question. 

Have you ever heard of "Pinking Shears?"


PictureSinger Pinking Shears
If you haven't, don't feel bad.  They're not terribly common these days due to the modern machines mentioned above.  I grew up with my grandmother's Featherweight and sewing kit, so pinking shears are old familiar friends to me. 

But for the newbies among us, pinking shears are scissors that cut a zigzag or scalloped line.  These days we call them scrapbooking scissors because they add a decorative edge to photos and embellishments.

However, when it came to sewing, the decorative aspect of pinking shears was secondary to their primary function of mitigating fraying of seam allowances.  The scallops meant that a snagged thread along the seam allowance would only fray a short section, not the entire seam. 

Clever, huh? 

PictureSinger ball bearing Pinking Attachment
As wonderful as pinking shears were, they could be a real pain if you had yards and yards of seam allowances to pink.  Literally a pain.  These days we have plastic handles and spring action to reduce fatigue, but vintage pinking shears were all steel, which took muscle to hold and operate.  

Which led to the introduction of the pinking machine, which was roughly equivalent to the invention of electric scissors. 

Singer's first pinking machine was the ball bearing hand operated Singer Pinker, which was a hand-crank model which clamped to the table edge.  A rotary scalloped blade easily pinked the edges of long seams without scissors. 

In the 1930's, Singer improved on the hand-crank model by introducing the automated ball bearing Singer Pinking Attachment (Simanco Part No. 121111).

No more hand cranking.  Simply hook it to your sewing machine, step on the foot control, and voila!

Want to see it in action?  (I thought you'd never ask!)

PictureSinger Pinking Attachment with parts
Pretty cool, isn't it?  I'm continually amazed by the ingenuity of the inventors who dreamed up this stuff all those years ago. 

Now that you've seen it, you're probably wondering "Where do I get one?" 


Well, they aren't terribly common.  I've only encountered two over the years.  They came in glossy black finish or pebbled black finish (as shown).  They do show up on eBay in varying conditions and degrees of completeness. 

If you're contemplating purchasing a Singer Pinking Attachment, examine the photos and description carefully to see if anything vital is missing. Commonly missing pieces include the spring-loaded screw that attaches the pinker to the presser foot bar, the adjustable edge guide and the L-shaped pin that locks the gears to enable blade removal.  The pin can be easily fabricated, but the edge guide and attaching screw will be trickier to replace.  You might be able to get by without the pin and edge guide, but you absolutely have to have an attaching screw.  The instruction booklet may also be missing but pdf copies are available from several online sources. 

So there you have it, the vintage answer to fraying edges.  Are you tickled pink now?  (Couldn't resist that one.)

Happy Sewing!
Barbara

OldSewinGear...dedicated to helping you get the most out of your old sewing gear.





8 Comments

Which Disc is Which?

6/7/2014

20 Comments

 
PictureSinger top-hat style Fashion Disc
Still puzzling over whether that box of Touch & Sew discs will work in your 401 or 500 Slant-o-Matic? 

You're not alone.  In fact, that is one of the most common reader questions I receive..."will these discs work?"

If you've already read the articles
"Disc-o-Mania! Special Discs & Fashion Discs" and "How to Use a Singer Special Disc" then you already know that the 400 and 500 series Slant-o-Matics use a hard black plastic fashion disc with a raised center, commonly referred to as a "top-hat" cam.

So you're in a thrift store and see a set of top-hat cams in box marked Singer Touch & Sew Model 648 or 758 or whatever and you wonder...will these work? 

The simple answer is: maybe yes, maybe no. 

Let's take a look a the different discs Singer manufactured between 1950-1975. 


Singer Fashion Discs & Flexi-Stitch Discs.
Fashion Disc and Flexi-Stitch discs - bottom view
Pretty confusing, right?  So which disc is which and which machine do they work in?  Let's take a closer look.

Note:  I've only listed model numbers that are known to work with the disc shown.  Discs may also work in other models but have not been tested.

PictureSinger Fashion Disc
Fashion Disc
Small, flat disc fits vertical needle machines such as 306 and 328.


PictureSinger Special Disc (Type 1)
Fashion Disc / Special Disc (Type 1)
Top-hat style disc with slim center ring with 2 adjacent holes.  Fits 401, 403, 411, 431, 500, 503, 600, 603, 626, 648

PictureSinger Special Disc (Type 2)
Fashion Disc / Special Disc (Type 2)
Later top-hat style single-layer disc with wide center ring surrounded by 4 holes.  Fits 690, 700, 758. 



PictureSinger Flexi-Stitch Disc
Flexi-Stitch Disc
Double-layer disc with top-hat center ring surrounded by 4 holes.  Fits 690, 700, 758
. (Often packaged with single-layer type-2 special disc.)



PictureSinger Flexi-Stitch Disc
Flexi-Stitch Disc
Double-layer disc with top-hat style center ring with one adjacent hole.  Fits 740/760.  (May be packaged with single-layer type 1 special disc.)



PictureSinger Futura Disc
Futura Disc

Flat reversible disc has a pattern on each side.  Fits Futura models. 


So we can see at a glance that the small flat disc and the larger white discs WON'T work in a 401 or 500 machine. 

(The white discs are double-layer discs designed to work in machines with two cam-followers.  This allows patterns which move the fabric forwards and backwards to produce complex designs such as Greek Key, Flowers, or Ducks.  While Elna and Necchi were producing double- and triple-layer discs as early as the 1950's, Singer didn't catch up until they introduced the 700-series Touch & Sew models in the late 1960's.)

So the white discs are out, but you may still be confused by the two styles of black top-hat discs (I personally call them Type 1 and Type 2, but it's not an official name).  So let's compare them side by side:
Type 1 (left) & Type 2 (right) Special Disc comparison
Type 1 (left ) and Type 2 (right) Special Disc comparison - bottom view
PictureType 1 and Type 2 Special Disc comparison
Except for the thicker center ring and number of holes, they look pretty identical, don't they? 

Which means either one should work, right?  

Wrong.  A closer examination reveals that the later disc is also slightly shorter.


This difference in height combined with the fatter center ring means that this disc doesn't snap firmly into place on the 401/403, 500/503, and 600/603 models.

The issue can be clearly seen when comparing both discs side by side in the machine:



As you can see, the overhanging lip on the later disc hangs up on the post, preventing the disc from seating firmly.  The disc sits crooked and eventually wobbles loose, resulting in an erratic stitch. 

The simple solution is to make sure you purchase the correct disc in the first place.  But what if you can't find the correct disc? 

There is a creative solution.   A dremel tool with a sanding tip can be used to grind down the overhanging lip which will allow the disc to snap into place.  Be careful to remove as little plastic as possible so as not to compromise the structural integrity of the disc.

So there you have it.  Now you know what to look for to select the right disc for your 401 or 500 Slant-o-Matic.  And if you accidentally wind up with the wrong disc, there's still a way to make it work! 

That's what I call a win-win.  

Happy Sewing!
Barbara

OldSewinGear...dedicated to helping you get the most out of your old sewing gear.
20 Comments

Shanks for the Memories

3/30/2014

5 Comments

 
PictureElna, Singer (2), Kenmore, & Bernina feet.
So you've picked up a vintage machine and you'd like to get some attachments for it.  You take a look on eBay or your local thrift store and you see a box of accessories descsribed as "low shank" or "slant shank" or something like that. 

And you realize you don't know which kind your machine takes!

Let's see if we can shed some light on the problem.


PictureWhite zigzagger attachment.
Different sewing machine manufacturers solved the issue of interchangeable presser feet in different ways.  The distance between the sewing platform and the attaching point on the presser foot bar varied widely and the method of attachment might be a screw or a clamp.  

White sewing machines had one of the more unique attaching designs, which involved a clasping wrap and locking pin. 

Over time, however, certain designs became standard and are referred to as low-shank, high-shank, slant-shank, etc.

So what does this look like?

As shown above, presser feet heights vary widely.  The attaching point on an Elna foot is 1/2" while the clamp attachment for Bernina feet is over an inch. 

The most common Singer styles are referred to as "low shank" and "slant shank."  Let's take a look at them side by side:

Low shank Singer
Slant shank Singer
PictureSinger low-shank and slant shank feet.
As you can see, the Singer low shank is short and vertical, and the slant shank is tall and slanted.

But what if your machine is a vertical needle?  Does that automatically mean that it's a low shank model? 

Not necessarily, because there are some differences between Singer's low-shank and the similar feet used by Pfaff, Elna, and Necchi.  And some Kenmore models use a taller "high-shank" foot. 

So how do you tell the difference?  Well, it helps if the foot is marked with the manufacturer name.  If it's short and vertical and says "Singer" then it's a no-brainer.  Otherwise, you'll need to measure from the sewing platform to where the screw attaches to be sure, as illustrated by the Singer and Elna feet shown here:

Singer low shank
Elna
PictureGreist buttonholer box with presser foot chart.
Singer's low shank is slightly taller.  The bottom of the screw slot sits at 5/8" while Elna's measures in at exactly 1/2".  

If you don't have a presser foot, you can measure this on the machine.  Drop the empty presser foot bar down and measure from the sewing platform to the bottom of the screw.  This will tell you which foot to use.  Using the wrong foot will result in too much or too little pressure on the fabric as you sew. 

One of the best quick-reference guides for presser feet can be found on the bottom of the Greist buttonholer box.

Because Greist manufactured buttonholers for many different machines, they made it simple to select the right one for your machine.  I like to keep one of these boxes handy for reference.   



So the next time you find a mystery attachment and wonder if it will fit your machine, take a close look at how it attaches, how tall it is, and whether it is marked.  Genuine Singer feet will have a Singer or Simanco part number stamped on them. 

Happy Sewing!

Barbara

OldSewinGear...dedicated to helping you get the most our of your old sewing gear.

 

5 Comments

Hide and Seek - Singer Sewing Machine Cabinet.  

12/15/2013

4 Comments

 
Looking for a convenient way to use and store your vintage sewing machine?  Sewing machine cabinets offer several benefits, including a flat surface at just the right height for long hours of sewing.  The knee lever keeps those pesky cords and pedals off the floor.  And when you're done you can tuck the machine away, close the lid, and forget about it until the next time.  

So exactly how does a cabinet work? 

If you've already read the article Rock-a-Bye Baby: Singer 301 Cabinet Cradle you've seen pictures of the 301 installed in a sewing cabinet.  But would you like to see it in motion?

Setting up your Machine: 

Stowing away your machine: 

And there you have it.  Quick and easy to do.  So if you're interested in a cabinet, keep your eyes open at your local thrift store or garage sales.  There are many different styles to choose from, some with drawers, some without.  Some large, some small.  

Happy Sewing!
Barbara
OldSewinGear...dedicated to helping you get the most out of your old sewing gear.  
4 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    News, Reviews, 
    & How-To's

    See "Article Index" for list of past articles by title. 

    See "Frequently Asked Questions" for quick answers to common questions.  

    Check out "Cheat Sheets" to download printable reference sheets.

    See "Resources" for links to useful websites and forums. 

    Contact Us

    Questions, comments
    ​or suggestions? 
    Contact us!  

    Categories

    All
    15-125
    15 91
    192 Spartan
    201
    221 Featherweight
    301
    328
    401
    403
    411
    500
    503
    600
    603
    626
    99
    Adjustment/repair
    Appraisal & Pricing
    Attachments
    Bobbin
    Centennial
    Checklist
    Dating
    Greist
    Historical Info
    How To
    Japanese
    Miscellaneous
    Model Comparisons
    Reviews
    Shipping
    Singer
    Slant Needle
    Tips & Tricks
    Toyota
    Toys
    Treadle
    Video


    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    August 2019
    March 2018
    October 2015
    August 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012


    About Us

    OldSewinGear is the collaborative effort of retired repairman Gary and daughter Barbara.  We love old sewing gear and enjoy sharing what we've learned in our vintage sewing machine adventures.  We are located in Roseburg, Oregon. 


    RSS Feed

© 2019 OldSewinGear
  • Blog
    • Blog Index
    • Site Map
  • Singer
    • Slant Needle >
      • 301
      • 401 / 403 / 404
      • 500 / 503
      • 601 / 603 /604
    • Class 15 Machines
    • Class 66 Machines
    • Featherweight
    • Swing Needle
    • Toy Machines
    • Accessories >
      • Buttonholer
      • Discs & Cams
  • Others
    • Pfaff
    • Elna
    • Necchi
    • Japan Class 15
  • Resources
    • FAQ
    • Links
    • Cheat Sheets
    • Shipping & Packaging
  • Contact
    • About Us