Just One More

One would have thought when I bought my Singer 99 that I'd stop looking for another sewing machine.  Whatever the reason, I left my Craigslist search bookmarked in my browser.  My regular machine had been behaving.*  Yet, I still wanted a real backup machine; one that might fit into my existing table.  It's bad enough I wanted another machine, I didn't need another table and chair too!

Lo and behold, this portable Singer 15 appeared late July.  Not only that, no one else snatched it up when I waited at least two weeks before responding.  To top it off, I got sick for a couple of weeks and couldn't pick it up.  I told the woman if she could sell it to someone else, go for it.  I'd contact her again when I felt well enough to come look at it.

It was late August when I went for a test drive.  The machine was clean, stitched nicely and hummed along.  The bobbin winder didn't want to grip but eventually wound with a bit of coaxing.  I'm confident I can adjust that.  Obviously it had to come home with me.

Since we'd made the trip to Duxbury, the seller suggested we take a little time to head into town.  She recommended a pastry shop and a fish market.  Guess which one we stopped at?  Oh, delicious!  It was a pretty drive through town with old homes and beautiful landscaping.  All in all, a very successful trip.

The seller threw in a box of assorted sewing stuff as well, which I figured was going to be mostly junk.  I tossed out a bunch of old spools of thread, rotted elastic and pieces of bric-a-brac not worth keeping.  However, I found at least a dozen good spools of thread, some had never been used.  I salvaged two boxes of pins, a plethora of brand new sewing machine needles in assorted sizes, a few clean sharps, several 15 and 66 bobbins and some buttons.  There was also a couple of yards of dubious quality fabric that could be good for practicing quilting.  The box and about a third of its contents (including feet that don't fit this machine and some clothing) will go to Goodwill.  I ended up keeping a little less than half of what was in there.  I felt a little guilty.  The sewing machine was reasonably priced - I made out like a bandit with the extras.

Next step is to tune up the machine, get the bobbin winder working and install it into my table.  Initial measurements indicate it should replace the 714 Graduate with little-to-no modifications.  That would be terrific! 

* Well, right up until the humidity gummed up the belt earlier this month and now my needle timing is off... I'm so peeved at myself for trying to finish up a project when I knew the machine didn't feel right.  I'm hoping I can adjust this myself - I'm not ready for another trip back to the shop!