Delta OL-1000 Overlocker: PDF Instruction Manual for Download.... "Paying it Forward!"

My old 'Delta OL-1000 Overlocker' (Serger)
(More pics here)

Sometimes you just gotta read the manual right ;-)? I was browsing the web (as you do!) and I thought I'd look up my first Overlocker (Serger) model that I bought 2nd hand way back in October 2010. These days I'm totally loving the Brother 1034D that my lovely Hubby bought for me a birthday pressie coming up to 4 years ago - but I was curious to see if many people had my old machine.

My old machine is a Delta OL-1000 Overlocker, and my first taste of using it was at a class that I attended back in 2011 with Karen. I never got to use it too much at the time, and sadly I never got the hang of adjusting the tension to adeptly (I suspect I may be better at that now that I've made upteen T-Shirts on my Brother machine haha!). Less than a year after the class I got my 1034D and it's been happy overlocking all the way ever since :-) yay!

My browsing around brought up a few links where people had picked it up as a second-hand buy, or... where someone was desperate to get a hold of a copy of the instruction manual as their pre-loved machines were missing the user guide.

Well now - this struck a chord with me. And, being the helpful soul that I would like to think that I am, I decided to scan my own copy of the manual and to upload it to the world-wide-web for all and sundry to find. (I.e. my way of paying it forward!)

So, if you've come across my blog whilst searching for a copy of the guide book then your in luck folks! Here are 2 different places where I have uploaded the PDF file (it's around 17MB). I hope that it helps anybody who has been struggling to find a copy to print off. (NB: The pages are sized to A4 - so adjust your printer settings as you feel necessary peops!)

Download a PDF copy of the Instruction Manual for the Delta OL-1000 Overlocker Sewing Machine here:

Issu: http://issuu.com/clairesew-incidentally/docs/delta_ol-1000_overlocker_sewing_mac

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2Wg8u0BpVn-aGNVQ1JPb1lzcDQ/view?usp=sharing

Here's an embedded preview from Issu.com:

Enjoy!!!

Say Hello to "Leslie" Folks!

Nope! You're not seeing double folks ! I do indeed own 2 vintage 'Novum New Mark IX' sewing machines. And, you could consider them "Sisters" rather than "Twins".

My two vintage Novum New Mark IX sewing machines.
LEFT: Low-Shank model, RIGHT: High-Shank.

My fav machine (on the R) is the High-Shank model (bought back in August 2010 for under £26.01 inc. delivery). On the L is my newer purchase the Low-Shank version. I think that I call her "*Leslie" - I bought her in April 2013 (for £57 inc. postage).

Leslie's Hook timing is out - so she won't stitch, but her light, motor etc. all work just fine.

So, I've printed off a tonne of stuff from the Web and I'm having a bash at fixing her.

Wish me luck!

*Leslie = L for Low, and S for Shank!

Straight Stitches on Knit Fabrics... I'm Skipping No More!

Settings that work for my machine to sew Jersey & Lightweight knit fabrics!

YES!!! I have FINALLY gotten together a successful formula for setting-up my beloved vintage zig-zag Novum sewing machine for stitching on jersey and other lightweight knit fabrics!

These days, since the Hubster bought me my lovely Overlocker (serger) for my birthday back in 2012 I'm usually okay for 95% of construction for T-Shirts and other knit garments. I just whizz them through the 'ol Brother 1034D with a smile on my face and the wind in my hair ;-) LOL! However, in the absence of a *Coverstitch sewing machine in my life I do like to get a straight-stitch effect on my cuffs and hems using my ordinary, regular sewing machine.

See an example below, of the typical problems I used to have with skipped stitches (from way back in 2012 when I sewed up Zoe's FREE vest pattern).

Opps - can we say "Skipped stitches?"

Previously, I struggled badly with skipped stitches and tension problems, all of which resulted in nasty, loose, unsecured, badly sewn seams, and pulled, wavy distorted hems :-(. Sooo NOT a good look for your me-made clothing!


My PREVIOUS Solution... 
I had until last night, been able to alleviate some of those problems to get "nearly" okay results by: 
• using a Microtex Sharp 70/10 machine needle (I had tried Universal, Ballpoint, Jersey, & Stretch needles, but counter to universally accepted advice 'Sharps' worked best for me!)
• lowering tension on my upper thread (down from my usual 5 to 4), 
• using a medium stitch length (usually 2.5), 
• using a narrow width zig-zag stitch (to "look like" a straight stitch), 
• plus placing pieces of paper underneath the fabric (to aid it's movement through the machine - as it is sandwiched between the presser-foot from above, and by the feed-dogs beneath it). 
• using a super slow speed on the foot-pedal.


NOW, What I Do Instead...
I am now able to do the following to get a straight-stitch on anything from lightweight 100% Viscose knit fabrics, to Cotton/Lycra Jerseys: 
• using a Stretch 75/11 machine needle,
• lowering tension on my upper thread (down from my usual 5 to 3), 
• using a longer stitch length (increasing from 2.5 to 3.5-4), 
• using a straight stitch, 
• plus lowering the 'Feed Dogs' to the 'Silk' setting (so the machine "grips" the fabric more gently as it passes underneath the Presser Foot during stitching). 
• using a moderate-to-normal speed on the foot-pedal. 

And, these new-to-me settings don't require me to carefully rip out pieces of paper, or to painstakingly use my tweezers to remove miniscule tufts from the seams ;-) And, the stitching is completed much faster too - bonus!

My Thoughts on What Went Wrong Before Previously...
I'm assuming (and this is just me theorising here) that on my old settings where the 'Feed Dogs' were on the 'Normal' setting; that perhaps the machine was gripping the fabric too tightly? Maybe, that "grip" was causing it to slightly stretch/pull and alternately sometimes allow the jersey fabrics to get stuck just a little bit. Therefore, the irregular movement of the fabric passing under the presser-foot caused missed and skipped/ill-formed stitches. With the 'Silk' setting the grip is less-firm, and I believe that the fabric now moves through evenly and smoothly - thus allowing for a good stitch-formation to occur. I also believe that the reason I previously had to use the Microtex Sharp machine needles was, because the fabric was being stretched under the too-tight grip in some instances, it was effectively overly taut (like a trampoline!) underneath the path of the descending needle. So, the rounded-tip of Ballpoint etc. style machine needles simply "bounced" off of the tight fabric surface - as it was unable to pass through the fabric easily = missed stitches!!!


*Oh, my how I DO covet a Coverstitch machine but with x2 Overlockers, x3 Novums, x2 Brothers, and a Singer hand-crank in my life already I really don't have the space for one *sigh*

"Oil Be Back!"

Alternative Post-Title: "Just a Drop Or 2 Please!"

I gave ^*2 of my sewing machines a good clean, de-linting and oil-up a couple of weeks ago. (*Yeeeeessss I own even more...hehe!)

The recipients of the spring-clean were my beloved vintage, all-metal, super heavy (it weighs 19.8kgs / 43.7lbs) Novum New Mark IX - Sewing Machine and my Brother 1034D Overlocker (serger).

  

Using my mini-vacuum attachments to suck out all the
nasty bits from the insides of the overlocker. 

I posted the photos shown above of my machines mid-clean onto Twitter and Instagram and @ali_goddard asked me on Twitter which oil did I use? So, I decided to share a few of my thoughts on the topic of purchasing sewing machine oil.

If you pop into your local sewing, fabric, quilting or craft store you'll likely encounter one of these small plastic bottles of sewing machine oil (see below). In my experience these are the typical offering in the shops and online stores here in the UK.

  

Left:  Prym Sewing Machine Oil (Image Source: John Lewis)
Right:  Hemline Sewing Machine Oil (Image Source: Popular Patchwork)

Here are some photos of just such an "average" bottle of oil that I have at home.

Sewing Machine Oil: Standard Bottle 
Typical Size ~ 20ml

Typical, standard sized sewing machine oil bottle.
The lid unscrews, and you then screw on the long spout/tip
with which to dispense your oil carefully!

Now, if like me you have a vintage sewing machine - then [hopefully] you've read the instruction book and might have noticed that it asks you to oil your machine regularly... my book requests a weekly oiling! I'm guessing that back then, the manufacturers thought a whole lotta sewing was happening each and everyday LOL! Anyway, if you were to oil your vintage sewing machine even on a monthly basis - it's clear to see that you'd soon eat your way through a fair old amount of oil....

...hence why I purchased myself a large, more economical supply. Below, are pics of my Large Bottle: Typical Size ~ 120ml

This larger bottle holds 6-times the contents of the smaller, 20ml standard-sized bottles. The metal spout is approx. 10cm/4" tall, and the metal nib can be unscrewed (although I'm not sure of the purpose for that hehe!)

More recently, I purchased for myself a much smaller bottle... in fact it's a Precision Oil Pen, with typical contents of 5ml of oil.

Needle Length is approx. 25mm/1”.

Total Length is approx. 13cm/51/8”.

1.2mm Diameter Needle Tip.

Needle can be unscrewed to allow re-filling with more oil.

The tiny 1.2mm sized tip is what drew me to purchasing the Precision Oil Pen. I had previously been guilty of over-oiling my machine with the standard/large sized bottles (not a good thing as excess oil can attract dust/lint and eventually gunk up your machine, so impeding performance). The tiny tip can dispense very small/fine droplets of oil to precisely where it's actually needed. This style of oil dispenser is often sold for watch repairers - who work on very small sized machinery and mechanics indeed!

Here's a photo comparison of tip / nib sizes:

The Precision Oil Pen tip is approximately x3 times smaller in diameter than the standard/typical 20ml sized "small" sewing machine oil bottle.

Check your sewing machine manual! In regards to [non-vintage] newer machines it's vital to check your user manual / instruction book to find out whether your manufacturer recommends oiling before use. It may seem odd to us non-sewing engineers but many, many modern machines do not require oiling. It seems intuitive that any moving parts where metal moves against, or on another metal part should be oiled, however for new modern machines this is not always the case. Your sewing machine dealer or manufacturer should be able to advise you whether your particular model can or cannot be oiled - and if so, which parts are safe to be oiled (without causing damage to your precious!).

Here's a little table I drew up summarizing my thoughts on these 3 different sizes of bottles:

Shopping... some places to try:
Big Bottles (search for 120ml /150ml size, 'Singer' bottles are often larger too): eBay is great - try AlanSews (AlansAlterations)

Precision Oil Pen: eBay again! ClockStoppers seller has some

Standard/Small Bottles: Save on P&P delivery fees and hunt around at your favourite local quilting / sewing / craft shops for Hemline, Prym brand bottles. John Lewis also stock this size of oil too.

Sometimes Smaller IS Better!

... when it comes to screwdrivers and 'Needle Plates' on sewing machines that is!

See the lack of clearance my standard-normal sewing machine screwdriver has on the left (white handle) verses the mini-stubby screwdriver on the right has? With the ordinary one (which came with my Novum) I find that I have to hold it at an awkward slightly sideways-angle in order to remove or replace the screws. And, thus it always bumps into the body of the machine above the plate - boo :( !

This little set of 6 screwdriver's has 2 flat-head types, and 4 others (which I'll probably never use - but I feel the other 2 are worth it LOL!). Hubby bought them for me - along with a bunch of other sewing goodies a while back for my Birthday this year (thanks Hubby - love you loads!).

It definitely makes the chore of unscrewing the 'Needle Plate' a lot less of a hassle :) = win!

This set on Amazon is £3.19 inc. P&P, and this eBay seller (The Red Pencil) has a similar set for £1.25 + £0.75 (under £2 = bargain!).

Other options are these 3 very flat-style models: a Brother Round Sewing Machine Screwdriver (Product Code: XC1074051) available here, and here,

Image Source: Lord Sewing

... or this one for sale from this eBay seller (Coul Sew),

Image Source: eBay seller (Coul Sew)

... or this Janome Screwdriver Key.

Image Source: Ken Sewing Center

Here end-eth the short 'n' stubby story folks :)!

Novum Model IX - Sewing Machine Instruction Book

My own Novum New Mark IX - Sewing Machine + my Instruction Book

The other day a reader of my 'ickle blog called Julie emailed me to ask if I would be able to share  a copy of my manual / guide book with her. She'd been reunited with her Mother's sewing machine after 29 years and she's lacking a manual - and needed some help with the oiling.

So, a little bit of scanning of the A5 pages - and here we are :)

My machine is a heavy vintage model - just a basic zig-zag machine. It's labelled on the book as a 'Novum New Mark IX' but I believe that it is sometimes also known as a 'Deluxe IX'.

I have scanned and uploaded a copy of the Instruction Book to my Google Drive - which you can download from here.

Screenshot from PDF reader of pages from inside of the
Novum New Mark IX Sewing Machine Manual

So anyone who's after after copy feel free to have a copy on me - free, gratis (no need to hunt the web and buy a copy ;) LOL!)


Janome - Manuals 'n' Models Numbers
On a separate but related note - Fiona of Diary of a Chain Stitcher (a lovely lady - I met her at Rachel's fabulous meet-up this Saturday just gone) was searching for a manual for her Janome 7021 machine. I'd originally suggested she try doing a search for it as a PDF file on Google. But, having done that myself I couldn't find a copy anywhere... so I went to the Janome UK website and dropped an email to them (info@janome.co.uk). A lovely lady called Helen sent me the manual file. But, get this... the file was for a model 521(E). So, I quickly dropped her an email back - as I thought she'd made an error. It turns out that the 7021 (sold in John Lewis) is the same as the 521(E)... and having Googled some images online it seems that the 521 has blue trim to it - whereas the 7021 has white.

So, it would seem that some (maybe all?) Janome sewing machine models sold in John Lewis branches are re-numbered and differently coloured to their usual products. I have no idea if the same differences apply to the overlocker models (sergers) too. But, I'm wondering and guessing if the numbering system is that perhaps you take off the "70" from the front of the JL number and add a "5" instead ???

Helen Had It! And, She Has It For You Too...

Disaster averted on the 'Needle Bar Thread Guide' front folks - yay!



As I should of known the lovely and most helpful Helen Howes had a suitable replacement part over to me in a lickety-split, and best of all it only cost me £1.00 + the P&P ... what's not to love? I bought an extra thread guide (another £1), and a spare presser-foot (£2.50) too - all pre-loved items now finding a new lease of life with my sewing machine :)

BTW I did find the broken piece from the original guide - it somehow landed onto the set of drawers directly beneath the table the sewing machine sits on - v. clever considering the drawers are about 2 ft to the right of the machine and sit flush with the front of table LOL!

The replacement is from a different make and model of sewing machine, but having seen it's photo on her website I was pretty confident it would fit and it does :)

   

 


 

Helen's small and very friendly service is based in the UK, and she sells all sorts of bits 'n' bobs for vintage sewing machines quote: "Sewing machine parts, manuals, and spares for sale; free advice, and other interesting stuff...". I highly recommend her services - so if you need a part replaced on your favourite vintage-lovely send her an email, check out her site and see what she can do for YOU :) ... and if you can't see what you need... "I keep a Wants list - if you can't find what you want please ask... ".

So, Where's The *Catch Then...?

... ummm weeeellll now.... if you're technically speaking, then it'll be lurkin' on the floor somewhere (not that I haven't tried to find it on my hands 'n' knees already *sigh*).

Don't forget! You've still got 16 more days to enter my GIVEAWAY :) 

Now.... when I say "catch", I mean as in the little metal *catch that you hook your thread around last - just before it passes through the needle. (*Or to give it the full and correct title à la instruction book it's called the 'Needle Bar Thread Guide'.)

I was merrily sewing the teensiest bit of elastic, minding my own business when I heard a sharp "Ping!" and the distinct tinkle of metal. Now, at first I thought "Poo! I've broken a needle!", but nope... the needle was intact.

Then, I noticed that the thread was not lying correctly (see comparison photos above). And I realised that the last part of the thread guide had snapped off. Luckily, the machine still stitches fine - as long as I go slowly.

I also had the sense to remove the needle plate, and to clean the bobbin case, shuttle and race - as I wanted to be sure that the part that had broken off hadn't dropped down inside to jam-up or damage the mechanism (eekk! a horrid thought).

Diagram scanned from my instruction book - and colour added-in by moi ;)!

So, does anyone know where I can buy a new one, my machine is a vintage model - a 'NOVUM Deluxe IX' (sometimes listed as a 'New Mark IX' too) ? If not, then I guess I could try and fashion one from some narrow wire (the original part has a tight little loop of wire on the end that's attached to the 'Presser Bar' with a little screw.


I think I may send Helen Howes an email with pics to see if she has one for sale

Sometimes If You Ask Them Really Nicely...

... you shall actually receive somethin' for FREE :)
I met the lovely Tania at Karen's V&A meet-up back at the beginning of this month where we all went to admire the gorgeous ballgowns (Tania's the lady in the great red stripey dress on Karen's post).

Photo of Tania's poorly "Naked" machine (photo taken from her blog)

At the time Tania had yet to start blogging - something she has now rectified with aplomb! In one of her posts she showed us a sorry picture of her quote "naked sewing machine" *sad face*. Her machine had a little accident in the boot of her car (ohh... that makes it sounds like it ticked off the mafia or was criminally damaged almost LOL!) and it won't work properly now!

Sadly, her machine is around 20 years old and she's got very little in the way of instructions to work from quote: "The manual I got with the machine is a folded A3 piece of paper!" unquote.

Oh dear me that won't do at all I thought to myself.

So, after a little searching online I tracked down the website for the manufacturer and with the help of Google Translate sent them a few emails.

Tania's sewing machine is a Japanese made one. It's the Jaguar 415 (sometimes called the J415 - not to be confused with a car BTW - which came up a few times when I was trawling the internet haha!)

The people at Jaguar were very sweet, and the sent me for FREE the instruction manual (4-pages), and the service manual which works for their 412 and 415 model sewing machines (27 pages). The PDF files they sent me were both in English (I don't know what other languages they'd have too - other than Japanese - though it doesn't hurt to ask ;) !). They dated from 1995, and the instruction manual file also has Spanish instructions (though the service manual is in 1 language only).

Images of the 2 manuals from Jaguar International Coporation

I have this evening emailed the files to Tania, so fingers-crossed she can nurse her machine back to health - and in so doing save herself ssome expensive repair costs (we hope).

So... you see sometimes if you ask them really nicely people (in this case the sewing machine company) will help you for free :)

If anyone else is looking for those 2 manuals you can find them here, where I've uploaded them here to my Google Drive (the new name for Google Docs apparently!).

Here endeth the Happy Tale!

A Top, A Skip and A Jump!

(I'm paraphrasing "A hop, a skip and a jump")

The TOP is my 2nd finished Scout Woven Tee by Grainline, I successfully finished it in time on Sunday evening (just over a week ago), and wore it to work to show-off on Monday 23rd July.

I made this with fabric kindly donated by Alana from Lazy Stitching at the April 2012 Walthamstow meet-up.

I managed to squeeze it onto barely 1 metre of fabric - and I'm quite proud of my pattern matching of the spots/dots around the side-seams, and tops of sleeves. I think the spots flow quite naturally, and don't look randomly cut-off or anything weird LOL!

Check out the early-morning photos I made poor Hubby take whilst my maquillage was all fresh before leaving for work hehe! (P.S. That's shower-fresh damp hair, not greasy strands alright ;)!!)

Following on from the details in my previous post... I stitched shoulder-seams, followed by side-seams, then the underarm seam on the sleeves, followed by setting-in the sleeves. I made the same mistake as on my first navy collared version of the top - in that I forgot to hem the sleeves before sewing them to the bodice (doh!) - it made it a little more bulky to manoeuvre under the presser foot but not impossible. I was careful when I altered the sleeve pattern to measure the curves along the armscye of the sleeve verses the bodice armhole - as I didn't want to have to contend with too much excess ease along the sleeve cap (I found it hard to ease this in evenly on the first toile / muslin I made). So, with less than ½" (1.3cm) of ease in the sleeve cap I first pinned the sleeve to the bodice between the notch marks along the lower edge of the fabric (aligning the stitching lines I'd marked on the wrong-side of my fabric using my Saral tracing paper) then I pinned between the notches along the top of the sleeve - distributing the ease evenly. Now, the first time I tried to sew a set-in sleeve it was tricky having to constantly stop 'n' start to remove the pins as I went along. So instead, I basted by hand with some bright red thread - about ¹/₈" (3mm) from the marked stitching line. I basted to the side of the line that was towards the bodice - so not in the seam allowance itself. I figured that basting on that side would control any tricky ease and awkward curves better than if they were stitched together in the seam allowance area.

I pinned the bodice front pattern to my toile / muslin at the shoulder and underarm/side-seam, and centre-front neckline. Then I use a pencil to mark on the paper my "actual" BP (Bust Point / Bust Apex).

I wanted to find my exact "real" BP, so I could avoid placing any of the black polka dots from my chosen fabric over the bulls-eye! I used my top-tip to avoid dodgy placement of the dots over the "girls" ;).

I followed Jen's tutorial "Getting Flat Bias Necklines" to the tee! I worked really well, and I will definitely use it again!

Trimming / grading the seam allowance

I cut the bias binding length as follows:
Length of Actual Piece of Binding to Cut =
*Neckline Length + (2x Seam Allowance), then minus ¹/₈" (3mm)
(*At seam line / stitching line - NOT at fabric edge!!)

I used my duck-billed applique scissors to grade/trim the seam allowances, and I was pleasantly surprised as they really did help to avoid inadvertently  trimming the bodice fabric underneath by mistake (something I've struggled with using normal shears/scissors in the past). As you can see from the photo above the bias binding got trimmed down in half to ¹/₈" (3mm).

I used some nude/ skin-toned bias binding (it kinda matched for my own skin tone) to face the inside of the neckline - I picked it up at Shepherd's Bush Market when I went out with Dibs recently. I think it worked pretty well! I didn't want an extra thick doubled-up effect you sometimes get with 2 or more layers of white fabric!

Pinning and Pressing Bias Binding Inside the Neckline on my Tailor's Ham

The bias binding is then turned to the inside. I pinned it carefully in place and pressed it between the pins (avoiding pressing over the glass head pins - which can leave marks of the pin holes in the fabric otherwise!). My homemade tailor's ham was very handy in laying out the neckline during this process - as it mimicked the natural contours of a real body well :)

Then, I hand basted in place close to the bottom edge of the binding (not so close as to catch in the machine stitches later).

Then, I stitched it in place on my sewing machine. I had the top the right-way out (not inside out) and then stitched inside of the neckline - so I could see that I was catching the edge properly of the bias binding. This means that the bobbin thread appears on the outside of the neckline, and the thread from the spool/reel shows on the inside of the neckline.

The finished neckline - lies lovely & flat!

Oh, and I used the new overlocker that my wonderful Hubby bought for me early this year for my Birthday (I was having trouble adjusting the tension on my old machine) to finish the seams on the inside. Handily it came pre-threaded with 4 mini-cones of white thread, so that saved me some time - but I did have a go at re-threading it and it was MUCH faster than my old Delta overlocker. I straight stitched all the seams first, and then overlocked (serged) them - I don't trust my judgement enough yet to just overlock them straight off. It was a bit slow going around the armscye seams - probably because it's such a curved line to follow, and I was worried about accidentally cutting off bits I shouldn't be with the machine's blade. But I was careful and it turned out great!

I also used seam tape to stay the shoulder seams before I overlocked them too.

The SKIP is... skipped stitches, I got trying to zig-zag stitch the side-seams on my first attempt at Zoe's FREE vest pattern.

Opps - can we say "Skipped stitches?"

P.S. If you haven't heard of this fab little pattern - where have you been hiding ;) ? I might be biased - but download it now and give it a go! It was my first try at sewing with knits (unless you count taking in the side-seams of T-shirts with glorious abandon for the ripped straight stitches that don't give - when I was a teenager haha!), and aside from the skipped stitches (hmmm... which I think are related to pressure issues with my presser-foot) it went together really quickly!


The the JUMP is the frightful jump I got when sewing my vest using my 'Walking Foot' and the needle snapped - eekk!

What's wrong with this picture :( ???

And It's A Good Thing Too!

My Novum & I Are Back on Speaking Terms... and it's a good thing too! I was browsing on eBay (as you do ;) ) and I spotted the *exact same model as my lovelie. However, this particular one for sale has no base, case, or instruction booklet. But it's a (gulp!) £149.99 + £10.99 postage.

Blimey! That's £161 (approx. $253 USD).

Now, I do love my machine, but I paid only £26.01 ($40.80) for her - and that's including the shipping costs I paid separately for the courier to get her from the North of England down to me in London. So, mine cost 83.8% less, or you could say they're selling theirs at a little more than 6 times the price I paid!

Wow, that just makes me love and treasure her that bit more :)

*If you're feeling very curious it's item #290659059978 here from the eBay Shop SewingForEveryone

My Novum & I Are Back on Speaking Terms...

.

Cleaning the Shuttle Race
Page 25 from the Intruction Book for my *'Novum Deluxe IX' vintage sewing machine

After the jinxed day that was last Friday (LOL!). I finally had time to sit down, clean and oil my favourite sewing machine.

If you recall, she kept tangling thread trapped underneath the feed dogs, and around the shuttle during sewing Hubby's new Ooo Rah Wallet. This meant the machine would stop in the middle of a stitch :(! And, the last time I detangled her the retaining ring and shuttle fell out when I accidentally knocked them as I removed the bobbin and case to get a clear view of the tangling.

I kept putting the parts back in correctly (or so I thought): shuttle, retaining ring, then bobbin in it's case. But the machine wouldn't move the needle up/down. It would go down and stay down and not budge. I figured I'd screwed-up the timing or something repair-shop worthy (gulp!). So, after an 'ickle panic on that Friday I decided to go to bed and deal with it in the morning - things always look better in the morning right?

I managed to find the manual - which is now scanned to file for safe keeping too ;). In the first picture at the top above you can see what they say about cleaning the shuttle race section.Can you see in their diagram how they don't show you the position of the shuttle driver (the little banana-shaped thingie)? To slot the shuttle against it correctly (together they form a complete full circle-shape), the driver should be vertically positioned - and to the left-hand side. I had been slotting everything back together with it on the bottom (doh!).

So, I turned the hand wheel towards me, got shuttle driver positioned just right and put all the other parts back inside together - and bingo! The needle moves correctly again - PHEW!!

Here's a few photos of the insides – they’re here, so that if nothing else I can remember how to dis- and re-assemble things again for future. No more mis-aligning things for me please! I rested her on some bits of old cardboard box - 'cause she's heavy and the metal would scratch and damage my table top otherwise, plus it's good for catching any oil-spills too!

01 - Start and End position                               02 - Turn levers out

03 - Remove Retaining Ring                               04 - Remove Shuttle

Whilst I had Ms. Novum out of her plastic base and her parts exposed (no sniggering at the back please!), I thought the least she deserved was a clean up and oil.

I cut up some small pieces of J-Cloth, because it's lint-free and won't leave deposits of loose fibres everywhere. After all, no point in cleaning out old lint and dirt to leave behind new clean-dirt is there? It'd defeat the point.

I also used some neat little tweezers I had - with a narrow/bent tip. I could fold up the small scraps of J-Cloth into a pointy triangle, dabbed some sewing machine oil onto them (not to much!) and really dig into all those nooks and crannies.

To be fair, she had very, very little dirt and barely any lint on her. With the tweezers there practically wasn't a spot I couldn't reach; and I got in and around the feed dogs nicely too.

I even found her serial number during the clean-up (I never noticed it before) - it's on the underside.

After her oil up 'n' clean she was running smoother than before - and I managed to finish Hubby's wallet too.

TIP: I have a habit of knocking over things. So, I keep my small bottle of oil in a old clean plastic tub (an old Vanish Detergent tub 1.5kg size - because it's pretty tall). So, the oil lives in something that'll catch any drips/spills - and that tub lives hidden away inside the big drawers in my IKEA Expedit bookshelves. When I use the small bottle I pop it into a pencil pot on the table - that way I'm less likely to knock it over there too. I have a large bottle of oil I use to top up the small one - they live together in the plastic tub. The large bottle works out way cheaper per ml, but the small bottle (same size you get in the shops like John Lewis, etc.) are far easier to hold in your hands and manoeuvre around the machine parts that need the loving care and attention :)

  Image Source: MySupermarket.co.uk

I use an empty Vanish Tub (1.5kg) to keep

my sewing machine oil bottle - so it's safe from spills!

*Sometimes also known as a 'Novum New Mark IX'