Take a look at this sewing machine bought by a friend in a local charity shop.
Singer 99k in Cheney case
It’s a 1954 Singer 99k hand-crank with the most wonderful faux-croc case made by suitcase manufacturer Cheney.
Cheney clasp
Its delighted new owner was a little crestfallen when the machine refused to form stitches; the needle moved up and down OK and everything appeared to function, but her test fabric revealed only a disappointing line of holes and some straggling threads.
There are several reasons why this might happen. The thread quality might be poor, or the needle might be blunt (or of poor quality), or unsuited to the thread/fabric. I began by removing an obvious problem: a thread jam around the bobbin case. Then I gave the machine a really good brush to remove any unhelpful lint build-up and gave it an oiling with good quality dedicated sewing-machine oil, took out the needle (and found it had been inserted incorrectly), wound some Sylko onto a bobbin and tested it on a scrap of calico.
Lo and behold, she worked.
Forming stitches
Just a little tension adjustment here and there and she was up and running again and ready to be used exhaustively by an 11-year-old eager to hone her sewing skills. Nice.
Up and running again
If you have a vintage hand-driven Singer sewing machine in need of some TLC, I’d recommend visiting Sid & Elsie’s helpful blog. These cast iron machines were certainly built to last and it may be surprisingly easy to get yours running again. You don’t need many tools: just a couple of screwdrivers and a small brush (the hammer there on the table is a red herring, by the way – if you find yourself wanting to resort to using a hammer, please take your sewing machine to a professional!).
It’s important to have a manual for your machine (to find out how it’s supposed to be threaded, for instance, and where to oil it), so if you don’t have one to hand, plug the machine’s serial number into the Singer website to find out your machine’s name/model/date of manufacture and seek out the appropriate manual on the internet. The last time I looked, you could even find some available for nothing.
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Gorgeous machine. My mum had one which I learnt to sew on. I can remember the feel of the handle turning. It occurs to me now that as both me and my mum are left handed it must have been quite hard to manage as the machine is designed for right handers.
That's really interesting, Sue. I haven't given much thought to the handed-ness of sewing machines. Come to think of it, I've never seen a machine with the crank on the left. Have you? Were any ever made, I wonder? I would think a left-hander would almost do better with the usual arrangement of crank, worked by the right hand, leaving the left to steer the work. Strangely enough, my left-handed mother used to iron right-handed, and adamantly preferred it – dunno why. Whichever hand does the churning on a sewing machine, manual-cranking takes a bit of getting used to but is rather fun. I learned to sew on them too – in school lessons in the 1970s.
Great post, thank you. I'm on the hunt for an old Singer machine at the moment having seen the one I'd been waiting for – promised by a relative years ago – gifted to her other great-niece instead. (I am also hatching a plan for tattooing promises they've made in the past onto the back of the elderly's hands where they see them all the time and can't possibly forget them!)
Oh, how disappointing, Annie! I wish you luck in your sewing-machine quest. I hope you find something even better and more beautiful than that promised machine (like a 222K going for couple of quid in Oxfam… one can dream).
I have a machine exactly like this one….it was given to me by my mother. However I can't get the bobbin case out
I've just got some spare parts and am going to try to get it all working again.
Ah, good luck! Is thread wrapped around it, Gillian? You may be able to free it with some careful snipping, pulling the threads out gently with a pair of tweezers. A full service isn't a bad idea, to get it fully up to speed again.