Old machine - keep or Freecycle?

Keep it! Keep it! you say its in a table? put another machine on top........

Michelle Giordano

A Stitchmaster is probably a Singer clone made in Japan after WWII. So, I would decide based on the cabinet. I have some sewing machine cabinets that are fine pieces of furniture, and others that are utilitarian. The nice old furniture pieces function as end tables, bedside tables, entry tables for mail incoming and outgoing.........well just about any way an occasional table would function in one's home.

Chances are very good that the machine will work well after a cleaning and oiling. The monogrammer you have works on a slant-needle zig-zag Singer, I believe, and probably not on the machine you have there. I'm also guessing that the Stitchmaster is a straight-stitch machine, although it might be one of the earlier zigzaggers. It won't have a slant needle, though, because Singer owns that.

As for "we have no room" -- how many golf clubs or fishing rods are in your house? How many lawn mowers? Not that this is a competition, but I am tired of hearing about men who have no room for their wife's things, but no lack of room for their own.

BRAVO!!!!!!!

Michelle Giordano (Although my DH has come to realize that if I want something.....I will find room!)

You are correct! it is made by "Sanshin" and the manual contains wonderful English instructions like " can easily is be determind" - their spelling, not mine.

It is a zigzagger, though. (Precision engineered, even! :) )

Here's a picture:

Not the greatest. But I have decided that I'm going to keep it and play with it for a while. It has lots of levers to mess with, and some cams that I can switch around to make different patterns!

Not that I have ever in my life thought about putting a pattern on anything, but still...

It also has about 20 different types of feet. Some I already have, but some I don't.

What is a "slant needle?" It stands to reason that the monogrammer did not work on this machine, as it really is in great condition. It is just like this one on eBay:

Ya know, I really am married to a great guy. Sad to say, that we both tend to collect clutter. His passion isn't so much tools as it is music. Guitars and albums and sheet music and magazines and amplifiers.....etc etc etc... Me, I have loads of antiques that have been in my family for a couple generations now. So, I have to say my "stuff" takes up more than his. Plus we just moved into a house that is smaller than our old house. For this, I freecycled some old bookshelves and a silk plant. He might not even notice!

Angie

That looks like it will be a lot of fun to play with.

If it's marked for a 750, your best bet would be a Touch & Sew. Be careful to get one with intact gears.

You and me both, except that it has taken nearly 28 years to get to this point. Funny how he never started changing until I quit trying to change him. I now tell young women "what you see is what you get" so if you don't like something now, you'll grow to really hate it in 20 years.

Thanks for all your help here, Joanne.

Aren't they all? A couple of the feet are really neat. You guys probably have them all, but I now have a foot with rollers on the bottom, a button foot, and a rolled hem foot.

Here's a question though - how am I going to find a belt for it? The manual doesn't say anything about it.

It definitely says it is for the Singer 750 slant needle series.

No, this definitely does not do that.

So they did make a monogram attachment for the straight stitch machines? Oh goodie!

Yes, I can find it, I'm sure.

What happens to the gears?

Angie

Always glad to share information with another potential addict. ;-)

Belts are easy to come by. Almost any sewing machine store (including WalMart) has a package hanging on the hooks that contains a belt and a bobbin winder tire. I have a lot of them I've picked up off clearance tables - probably not such a good idea since the rubber dries out.

Yup.

All except the very earliest Touch & Sews have the "modern" nylon gears which tended to dry out and crack after 40 or 50 years. The parts are cheap, the labor to replace the gears is costly. There are still T&Ss out there that are intact and work, some because the gears were replaced already, and some where they were coddled somehow and the gears have lasted. If you get really, really lucky, you might find one of the first T&Ss that have metal gears.

Is it a "one size fits all" deal? I might have a chance then.

Yes, my treadle machine has a belt, but I'm not even going to try it until I get around to getting a new belt for it. After 35+ years, I can just bet it is quite ready to snap.

If it's a separate motor and takes a belt, it's pretty standard and the belts are rubber anyway. There are some machines with a friction drive with a part that presses against the handwheel and those often need a new "sleeve." The hardware store has suitable material.

You can use an old belt as long as it hangs together. I've seen some that have been "pieced" in several places, but it doesn't need to be very tight to work. In fact, you don't want it too tight as it makes for hard treadling. Rope or heavy cord makes an acceptable substitute. There are even rubber treadle belts nowadays.

No, nothing like that. The belt fits around the little pully on the motor, just like my other two machines.

Oh, when does school start?!?

It's year-round at TreadleOn University.