How did this begin? For the past year I've been sewing exclusively on a 1964 New Home 532 ("The Green Hornet") which I bought from a nice man and his daughter. It had belonged to the man's mother, whom I imagine had recently passed away. This machine was in as good of a condition as a 50 year old machine could be. I really didn't need to do anything to it except learn how to use it and thankfully my purchase included the manual and a lot of other neat accessories. The Green Hornet changed the way I felt about sewing machines - they weren't all my enemies! I had become used to seemingly constant problems. This machine was the first that did not present me with constant problems, which makes sewing a lot more productive and enjoyable. A little oil each week and we are good to go. I even made my wedding dress with it! My only complaint about the New Home is that it doesn't handle heavy loads very well. Tasks like hemming jeans (which is incidentally one of my least favorite things to do - I actually paid someone else to do it once) were very difficult, even with the "humper jumper" (hehe).
I had read in several places that the old Singers were better for these sorts of jobs. I've already told the story of how the Singer 15-90 was acquired - the next thing to do was take it apart, clean it up, and put it back together. I won't go into a lot of detail on this process, as it has been very sufficiently covered on other blogs. I am somewhat mechanically inclined so this was fairly easy for me and also a lot of fun! So much fun that I ended up buying two more vintage machines, to be discussed at a later date.
The 15-90 is great machine and feels a bit different from other machines I've used. I love it! It is worth mentioning that wiring on the original electronic parts was scarily shot, so I ended up buying a new motor and pedal intended for these Singers. Eventually I will learn to replace bad wiring, but I don't have the time right now.
Before we get to the fun stuff, I would like to thank the owner of this blog for an excellent tutorial on restoring this machine.
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| Deconstructed. |
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| Into the red kerosene, which looks very much like Kool-aid. |
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| I raided the recycle bin for containers to soak all of the small parts. |
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| "The Iron Maiden" |
