"Sing-er When You're Winning"

 Seller's Photo from eBay (this is my actual machine!)

Just today I picked up my ^*4th sewing machine, an eBay purchase (hence the " ^{* *}winning" theme LOL!) for the princely sum of £16.50.And, I saved on any postage/ courier costs by going to collect it in my lunch hour from work. A tube journey, a 1-stop mainline train trip, some walking down a long station approach and she was all mine :)

It's one of the vintage Singer Hand Crank Machines (i.e. as the name suggests, it's not electric, powered by your hand turning a crank on the right-hand side). It's quite (well very really!) old, and it doesn't have a model number on it anywhere. So, I Googled and found this handy website. You answer the multiple choice questions, and click on your answers to jump to the next question (v. clever!).

And, hey presto! This is my model it's a Model 28 (the "28" is the ¾ size version with only a 12"/30.5cm long bed), and using this page from the Singer website along with the serial number on the front, I found out that it's 110 years old (made if 1901), and was originally manufactured in Clydebank, Scotland! So a proper, proper antique, blimey :)!

It didn't come with a manual - but luckily for me it's a free download from Singer.

Instead of the typical bobbin shape we are used to in modern, and even most vintage machines. My Singer 28 has a long narrow bobbin (approx. 1¼" / 33m long), this goes inside a shuttle and the action of the machine is to swing (or shuttle) the bobbin back and forth - passing it through the loop of thread formed by the needle as stitches up and down. It has one bobbin in the shuttle, and 3 in the little storage compartment on the side.

Image Source: musclecars.net

Luckily it stills has it's shuttle - as a quick search shows they cost £30! And, it seems to take standard, ordinary needles (yay!).

She's going to stay at the office for a few weeks until I finally clear out all the junk in out spare room and have a home to bring her back too LOL! In the meantime I shall bring in some sewing machine oil and other cleaning bits to work with me & make it all shiny and show it some love (it smells a bit old 'n' musty at the moment - and so do my hands every time I touch it!!).

The case it came in is very probably a replacement for the original (it's a bit ugly and doesn't have the elegance of the many varnished wooden ones you can see around the web) - but at least it'll keep Suzy (that's what I'm naming her) safe 'n' sound from knocks 'n' scrapes.

I think it should come in hand for top-stitching things like jeans, etc. :)

Oh, and I this Suzy deserves a proper photoshoot when she's all clean and tidy - a girl's gotta look her best dontcha think ?!

^*Yes I now own 4 sewing machines, all but 1 of them is Vintage (this number is not including my not-been-used-yet Overlocker !)
^{* *}Sing When Your Winning is a Football song/chant