Reading Heather Ross' thoughts on vintage sewing machines inspired me to dig this old serger out of the garage (one of my mother's thrift store finds) and find a cord for it. After a bit of research and some price comparison shopping, I located the correct part on eBay and bought it straight away.If it works, maybe I'll start using it, and then I can return the other sewing machine to my mother. Or maybe she'll prefer the older, pinker SergeMate.
There is also this antique Western Electric machine, but I'm thinking that one will need to visit a repair shop if it is to ever sew again. Perhaps it could just be cleaned up and used as a prop or something? Hmm.
**UPDATE: I've received a number of questions about where to find sewing machine manuals for old machines like these. The only place I could find that sells a wide assortment of old manuals (and replacement parts) is Sew4Less; I've never bought anything from them so I can't vouch for their service, but they may be worth checking out. Another option: if you're lucky enough to have a sewing machine repair shop near you, see if you can find what you're looking for there--if anything, they'll probably at least be able to shine some light on the idiosyncrasies of your machine when it comes to threading and other common issues.
5 comments:
O.M.G.
That is THE cutest serger I have ever seen! I hope it works. I saw a pink vintage machine in a local shop a year or two ago that would have made a nice companion for this sweetie.
I am all for vintage machines that work, but if it can't keep up, it's got to go. So the question is, "Will you use it?" Cause if you won't really want to use it if it's a pain to use, it will end up taking up valuable space, which seems counter to your goal of simplifying. (Not a judgement, I'm pretending I have your discipline and that's how I would try to rationalize through it.)
However, even simple homes have decorative items. :)
How funny - my husband just bought me Heather's book as part of my Mother's day gift.
I have this same sergemate companion serger 5040 and yes it is pink.I've been using it for over 20 years and it still works.As a matter of fact I'm using it today.I use it everyday.It works like a charm.
I've got this same serger, too and have used it without problems for years- I'm thinking it must be at least 18-20 yrs old. It's started skipping stitches lately, though. I'll be sewing along just fine, no seams or anything, just straight fabric and all of a sudden, it won't pick up any of the threads. After several inches, it will start doing fine all of a sudden. Any ideas what might be up with that?
Laura
Laura, I have no idea what's wrong with your machine--it sounds like a very curious problem indeed and I hope you get it figured out somehow, it'd be a shame to have to give it up after so many years of happy use. I actually have never used a serger, was hoping to start upon the successful repair (getting that all-too-crucial part, a working foot pedal), but since that didn't work out, I haven't tried again since.
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