So What Do These Singer Things Do Then...?

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I've been shopping again (yeah I know Quelle surprise!). 2 weeks ago I bought this mixed lot of mysterious Singer 99 sewing machine accessories. The final winning bid price of £6.19 including the P&P ($9.77 USD approx.) was too good to resist, besides it was after work I was tired and sometimes you just need a teenie-tiny retail fix - youknowhatImean?

I knew what a couple of the items were from the listing photo (the seam guide, binder foot, thumbscrew and the roller hem foot). And I could tell that they are all low-shank attachments (apart from the seam guide and thumbscrew - which are generic in terms of high/low shank machine fitting). Luckily, I have a Low-Shank to High Adaptor to use with them :)


But, there were 3 weird-to-me contraptions that had me flummoxed!  So, here's where the internet and my trusty collection of books came in handy!

I had a quick whizz around the web to check on UK prices for brand-new versions of my 3 "weird" attachments (or even ones in great vintage condition) it seems they're EACH going for around £8 to £16 ($12.50-$25 USD) in the UK, and some in the US are selling for $25-$30 each (eekk! that's £15.80-£19 GBP approx.). So, for £6.19 I've got 5 different feet for a fraction under £1.24/$1.95USD each (that's not counting the 2 extra bits: the seam guide and thumbscrew)... can anybody say B-A-R-G-A-I-N!!

2 of the 3 mystery attachments had part numbers stamped onto them (apparently Singer parts often have the word Simanco on them along with the part number too). I was able to search for them on the web, and to learn a little about how to use them too. Their real names were: 35931 - Adjustable Hemmer, 36583 - Tucker / Tuck Maker, and Ruffler (though oddly enough it seems rufflers didn't get a part number allocated to them - and there's in fact several different styles of them out there, which confused me a wee bit!).

I then looked up the names of my new attachments in my 2 sewing machine attachment books: The Sewing Machine Accessory Bible by Wendy Gardiner and Lorna Knight and Sewing Machine Attachment Handbook by Charlene Phillips.

I find the later book by Charlene has better diagrams and explains the different working parts of the attachments better, and it's got a better coverage of those more vintage style presser feet you'll come across. The former book by Wendy and Lorna seems to cover more about modern-day feet - although there is definitely cross over between the two books, I am glad I have both as they both bring something different to the sewing-table so to speak :) I've not read either of them cover-to-cover, I think I'll always just dip into them when I'm trying to figure out how to get a new presser foot to co-operate with me!

Unfortunately, the 'Tuck Maker' is missing it's 'Tuck Guide Adjusting Screw'. I only knew what part it was called because Charlene's book has handy diagrams which label and describe the different parts 'n' do-dads of the various attachments.

I did get very industrious and cut out a bunch of calico scraps ready to try out the 'Ruffler' on different settings (and I was trying to follow the instructions in Charlene's book) sadly it doesn't seem to work (poo!). I guess it could need oiling, as they are pretty rusty. And, that's something else I need to check out - how to clean rust off of vintage attachments without ruing them!

I did come across this nifty YouTube video demonstrating a Ruffler in action though:

And these 3 websites had great pictures / descriptions for my vintage attachments (and other parts too). Links:
http://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/simanco_accessories/
http://www.singer-featherweight.com/siteone%20pages/histor_accessories.html
http://www.april1930s.com/html/machine_attachments.html