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Now I've Seen Everything...maybe

10/31/2015

9 Comments

 
Confession time. 

I don't know everything about vintage sewing machines.  

There, I've admitted it.  (I feel so much better now.)

It's true.  Dad and I have bought and sold so many machines over the past eight years that it's easy to think we've seen it all.  But the more you learn about sewing machines, the more you realize how much more there is to learn.
​
Allow me to share a couple of recent discoveries. 
Picture
Over the years we've accumulated a lot of miscellaneous sewing machine parts, accessories, and notions.

Recently I decided to clear out some excess inventory.  
(Really, how is it possible to have 75 buttonholers in one garage?  But I digress...)

In a box of odds and ends I found the round black thing-a-ma-jig pictured above.  I didn't know what it was, but it didn't appear to be sewing related, so I tossed it into a bulk lot of notions and craft supplies to list on eBay.

Later that evening, I was reading a post on a Facebook Vintage Sewing Machine group and suddenly a light bulb went off.  Another member had the exact same black object and wondered what it was.
Picture
It was quickly identified by other members and that's when I realized what we had.   We had the top of a sewing cabinet accessory!  

Coincidentally we had just acquired the other half a few days before.   It was the little glass jar pictured here.  

So what is it, you ask?  See for yourself!


That's right, it's an inkwell from a Singer #42 Art Deco-style sewing machine cabinet.  I already knew from an old Singer catalog that some cabinets originally came with an inkwell.   I also knew that the recently acquired little glass jar was the bottom half of an inkwell, but I didn't know what the top half looked like.  Until now.  

Mystery solved, thanks to the online vintage sewing machine community!
Picture
1950 Singer Catalog
That was humbling...

​So I'm not an expert on sewing machine cabinets.  But I do know my 401's.  Or so I thought until this next item turned up.  
We've bought and sold more than thirty 401A machines over the years and I thought we'd seen every conceivable ​combination of accessories, cabinets, and carrying cases. 
​
We've also seen how machine owners have re-purposed household items into sewing tools.  Some pretty strange stuff turns up in sewing machine cabinet drawers!

Our most recent 401A acquisition came with an unmarked vinyl bag with the foot control and power cord coiled up inside.  I'd never seen one before and concluded it was one of those repurposed items.  So I chucked it in the rubbish bin under my work table.  


Bad idea.  (I should have known better after the inkwell incident.)
Picture
Picture
A couple days later, a fellow VSM group member shared her recent 401A purchase...and there was the same little baggie for the foot control.  So I fished the little bag out of the trash, dusted it (and my pride) off, and put it back with the machine.  

Which just goes to show that vintage sewing machines can always surprise us, no matter how many years we've collected and studied them.  

Drat...I can never throw, sell, or give away anything ever again.  It might turn out to be something useful. 


Happy Sewing!
Barbara

OldSewinGear...dedicated to helping you get the most out of your old sewing gear.   
9 Comments
David
1/16/2016 09:47:27 am

Hi Barb. While I have never come across one of those bags for a foot controller and the cords and plugs, I did make one for a featherweight. I didn't like how there is a bracket for the foot controller in the lid, but the cord is just rolled up and put down with the machine allowing the plugs to bump or rattle around on the machine. I sewed a small double-thick black polar fleece bag for the cords to be placed in after rolling them up. This keeps the plugs away from the machine so they can't scratch any paint off.

Reply
Linda
9/25/2016 06:33:50 pm

If you had the opportunity to purchase one vintage sewing machine, which one would be the best one to purchase? I have seen numerous vintage machines for sale recently and want to make the right decision. I do like decorative stitches. Thank you!

Reply
OldSewinGear
9/25/2016 08:21:05 pm

Linda,
If I could only choose one I would choose Singer 403A with a complete set of Special Discs. Sturdy machine, easy to operate, usually quieter than the 401 (fewer moving parts). It's a close call between the 401 and 403. For maximum stitch variety go with the 401.

Reply
Catalina Lopez
10/17/2016 11:13:51 am

TengounacantanteSinger(slant-o-matic401A.SemequebroLapartedondeestael
pieparaprensartelacuandocose

Cathy Lopez
10/17/2016 11:17:33 am

Megustarontodosloscomentarioa.conlapartequeselequebroami cantante.escomomefaltaraunamano ami

Reply
Lori
3/3/2018 08:54:45 pm

I have a couple of those little vinyl bags. I'm surprised you never ran across one before.
My Mom had a 401and it was in a cabinet so it only moved the few times she did. But she used that little bag for little scraps and threads that you end up with when sewing. I remember a neighbor using hers the same. That what I use mine for.

I don't have Mom's machine. She traded that beautiful 401a for a Futura in the 1970s. I never liked her new machine. I do have a 403a now, along with 2 404s, a 500a, a 503a and a short bed tan 301a. I want another 401, just haven't seen the right one yet. I also want a 431g. That's a German singer 401 with a free arm. Sweet machine.

Reply
Jimmie link
11/25/2020 02:33:50 am

Fascinating! My mom sewed a lot, but my "learning machine" was an actual antique/vintage (at the time) Singer treadle machine my parents bought for a lot of money for me to learn on! It was $75 in about 1973, equivalent over $400 now...

Reply
Nathan Otis
5/30/2021 08:04:24 pm

Thank you for this article. My wife and I just inherited her grandmother's Singer 201. This small cup was sitting, complete, in the compartment that you show in the image. We were baffled!

Reply
Barb Stupyra
7/22/2021 11:57:19 am

I have that exact cabinet. It came with a singer 300 machine, 1951.. I just refurbished the machine and works like a champ. I love the lines of it.

Reply



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