I really love sewing on vintage machines...they were built to last. A few years ago I picked up a Visetti (early 1960's) for free at a recycling center and recently was given a 1958 Singer 401a. Cleaned and oiled both and they sew beautifully. Don't overlook these vintage beauties often found cheaply at thrift stores, estate sales or even given away. Their manuals can usually be found online. ❤
I signed up for the sewing course you provide. Learned several critical knowledge bits right away. I am certain to notice improvement in my hand stitching from this moment forward. As for the tensioners, that was a primary hope to resolve. And you did! Thank you ❤
My grandmother had a singer that had been converted to an electric machine too. The lever you have, which controls the speed of sewing, is actually meant to point downwards (and the machine therefore has to sit much closer to the edge of the table). The lever is controlled with your knee pushing to the right. Great exercise for your legs as it's exactly the muscles used help stabilise you and prevent falls as you age. This brought back such a wave of nostalgia to see the knee press controller and made me fondly remember and miss my grandmother. I think you've got a Singer 66 or similar there. From memory the thread path is slightly different from how you've described. It goes through the tension discs, then under the hook to the left. Then it goes through the thread uptake lever and wraps around to the left to clip into the little hook on the left hand side, then as you've described it goes through another hook and through the needle. I love vintage machines so much. Especially pulling them apart and cleaning them. Wonderful video. Thank you! I love all of your videos and am currently bingeing and saving them so I can re-watch. 😊 Very grateful for all of your work documenting great techniques.
Oh! I just bought a converted antique machine that sounds just like that- I’d never seen a knee lever before. My mom has a true blue treadle machine and I have a 1950s ish electric machine and we both have a modern machine but the knee lever was so cool and in such a cool cabinet I HAD to buy it 😂. Now I wanna give it another go to use!
I just inherited my mother in law’s 1970’s Husqvarna 2000 SL 6440 and am setting out on the adventure of learning how to use it. The explanation of tension was immensely helpful. I feel less intimidated and better equipped to problem solve any problem I’m encountering with my stitches. Thank you.
You can usually find a basic threading guide for old Singers on the internet. The make fantastic stitches because they only do a straight stitch and move so smoothly. Also some old Singers in a table had a clamp for to hold the pedal under table. You then operated them with your knee. I have machines that thread from the fronts, one that threads from outside in and one that threads inside out. Often have to refer to my manual to refresh my memory.
The machine I prefer to use is the 1914 Jones Family hand crank machine. All my electrical ones give me grief. I accidentally started collecting them. The youngest one I have is an 80's Singer and it's awful, I thought I hated sewing, turns out I just hated sewing with it... its favourite trick was to spit the thread out of its tensioner and make terrycloth on the underside of my piece... the late 70's Kenmore suffers from some bad design decisions so it likes to miss stitches and snap threads, the 1960's Universal behaved well enough to make some swimsuits this summer, I haven't used the Minnesota A treadle machine yet because I don't have a band for it, and I just got a late 60's/early 70's Kemnore that I need to open up and clean because it worked beautifully until I got some fluff from a repairr stuck in it, and I almost ended up rescuing a 1950's Singer similar to your vintage machine.... I've found manuals for all but the Universal for free online. The Jones Brothers hand crank one also threads from the side. I think the treadle machine does too. Both the really old ones have a shuttle rather than a bobbin and they both take needles with round shanks rather than the ones with a flat side like all the modern machines take. I'm told that Singer still makes all the parts for every machine they've ever made, and some of those might work on other vintage machines. The Universal and one of the Kenmores have a bobbin assembly like the Singer with which you demonstrated oiling. I always do a tension test with every new thread or fabric. I regret every time I don't do that...
The singer 201k needle is threaded backwards right to left not left to right as normal modern machines and the flat part of the needle needs to be on the left hand side. It confused me forever when I first got mine. I have one as a hand crank and boy she flys fast making a quilt I’m too old school to covert to electric I prefer her hank crank ticking it’s so therapeutic
I really love sewing on vintage machines...they were built to last. A few years ago I picked up a Visetti (early 1960's) for free at a recycling center and recently was given a 1958 Singer 401a. Cleaned and oiled both and they sew beautifully. Don't overlook these vintage beauties often found cheaply at thrift stores, estate sales or even given away. Their manuals can usually be found online. ❤
I signed up for the sewing course you provide. Learned several critical knowledge bits right away. I am certain to notice improvement in my hand stitching from this moment forward. As for the tensioners, that was a primary hope to resolve. And you did! Thank you ❤
My grandmother had a singer that had been converted to an electric machine too. The lever you have, which controls the speed of sewing, is actually meant to point downwards (and the machine therefore has to sit much closer to the edge of the table). The lever is controlled with your knee pushing to the right. Great exercise for your legs as it's exactly the muscles used help stabilise you and prevent falls as you age.
This brought back such a wave of nostalgia to see the knee press controller and made me fondly remember and miss my grandmother.
I think you've got a Singer 66 or similar there. From memory the thread path is slightly different from how you've described. It goes through the tension discs, then under the hook to the left. Then it goes through the thread uptake lever and wraps around to the left to clip into the little hook on the left hand side, then as you've described it goes through another hook and through the needle.
I love vintage machines so much. Especially pulling them apart and cleaning them.
Wonderful video. Thank you! I love all of your videos and am currently bingeing and saving them so I can re-watch. 😊 Very grateful for all of your work documenting great techniques.
@@siobhancapell thanks for the explanation, super helpful!
Oh! I just bought a converted antique machine that sounds just like that- I’d never seen a knee lever before. My mom has a true blue treadle machine and I have a 1950s ish electric machine and we both have a modern machine but the knee lever was so cool and in such a cool cabinet I HAD to buy it 😂. Now I wanna give it another go to use!
I just inherited my mother in law’s 1970’s Husqvarna 2000 SL 6440 and am setting out on the adventure of learning how to use it. The explanation of tension was immensely helpful. I feel less intimidated and better equipped to problem solve any problem I’m encountering with my stitches. Thank you.
You can usually find a basic threading guide for old Singers on the internet. The make fantastic stitches because they only do a straight stitch and move so smoothly. Also some old Singers in a table had a clamp for to hold the pedal under table. You then operated them with your knee. I have machines that thread from the fronts, one that threads from outside in and one that threads inside out. Often have to refer to my manual to refresh my memory.
Appreciate your explanation on correcting thread tension as well as Bobbin tension. Very helpful
Wow, I had no idea you could adjust the bottom thread tension as well. I guess I was lucky enough that my stiches looked good, so far 🤣
The machine I prefer to use is the 1914 Jones Family hand crank machine. All my electrical ones give me grief. I accidentally started collecting them. The youngest one I have is an 80's Singer and it's awful, I thought I hated sewing, turns out I just hated sewing with it... its favourite trick was to spit the thread out of its tensioner and make terrycloth on the underside of my piece... the late 70's Kenmore suffers from some bad design decisions so it likes to miss stitches and snap threads, the 1960's Universal behaved well enough to make some swimsuits this summer, I haven't used the Minnesota A treadle machine yet because I don't have a band for it, and I just got a late 60's/early 70's Kemnore that I need to open up and clean because it worked beautifully until I got some fluff from a repairr stuck in it, and I almost ended up rescuing a 1950's Singer similar to your vintage machine.... I've found manuals for all but the Universal for free online.
The Jones Brothers hand crank one also threads from the side. I think the treadle machine does too. Both the really old ones have a shuttle rather than a bobbin and they both take needles with round shanks rather than the ones with a flat side like all the modern machines take. I'm told that Singer still makes all the parts for every machine they've ever made, and some of those might work on other vintage machines. The Universal and one of the Kenmores have a bobbin assembly like the Singer with which you demonstrated oiling.
I always do a tension test with every new thread or fabric. I regret every time I don't do that...
40:00 mid vintage tensioners
Super helpful, thank you!
The singer 201k needle is threaded backwards right to left not left to right as normal modern machines and the flat part of the needle needs to be on the left hand side. It confused me forever when I first got mine. I have one as a hand crank and boy she flys fast making a quilt I’m too old school to covert to electric I prefer her hank crank ticking it’s so therapeutic
I agree, even if my electric machiens weren't so argumentative, I do so prefer the clickety clack of the hand crank to the whine of electric motors.
Most of the cheaper sewing machines nowadays have problems sewing more than one thin layer of fabric and so won't work with jeans for example.