My new (old) 99 Singer

Hi Mary,

I just had to post pictures of the new vintage machine my boss at H&R Block gave me on Tuesday. It is a Singer 99 in a bentwood case. It has everything with it and I know he rewired it because the wiring is way too good for something that was 'born' in 1925.

A 99 is a 3/4 size machine but it is still heavy as sin. The case has a little ding on the top. That is fairly typical of the bentwood cases. That and broken locks and handles that have pulled out of the case. None of those problems beset the new little one. It locks, it's handle is intact and it even has the knee lever for running the machine instead of the foot pedal.

I was going to make it a hand crank but I am in love with the knee lever and might have to keep it as is. After all the wiring is perfect.

A little examination shows me that I might have to rebuild the tension assembly and I need to buy a new 'tire' for the bobbin winder. For some reason after 85 years the rubber tire has hardened. That again is typical and I am sure that Cindy Peters at StitchesinTime has them. I have bought them before from her for other machines.

When my boss, AKA Robert Ackerman, told me about this machine I thought it was his mother's. But after a little discussion it came out that this was his own machine. He has owned it for at least 20 years and used it for sewing repair on clothes and other fabric items.

When I asked him what he used it for he said

"nothing creative". It had been stored at his mother's apartment and now she is downsizing and this is one of the casualties. I am really excited to have it. Now I have to decide whether to name it after 'Bob' or not. It will be my second machine named after a man if I do. My featherweight is Andy.

The new little machine has all sorts of goodies hidden in the lid. I noticed the knee lever immediately because the other Singer in a bentwood case that I own is missing the lever. I made that one, a 128 from 1924 into a hand crank last September at the River Rat TOGA. Or rather Paul and Treadlin' Mary did the motorectomy for me. But I watched and it is dead easy. But I was telling you about the goodies. It also has the cutest little oil can in it's little oil can slip in holder. Also there is another slip in holder for the green cardboard Singer parts box. I should have opened that up and shown you the parts, but they are fairly standard. A few extra feet and an extra screw for the feet and a Singer screwdriver are in there. If anything wonderful turns up after I have TreadleAnnie look at it I will let you know.

I am still enjoying exploring it and am bummed that I didn't bring my tool kit down here so I could clean and polish it up without having to go out and buy everything all over again. It is sure hard to wait to get my hands all dirty cleaning it up

Love,

Nancy

TOGA TOGA TOGA

Hi there Mary,

That is the way you start your message calling all Treadle 'onions' from the land of Treadle On to a gathering.

TreadleOnGAthering is how I assume the name TOGA got started, but like many things in Treadleonia it is a mystery to me.

One thing that often happens, according to Cindy Peters of Lake City, MN is a TOGA entertainment which involves ambulances or some sort of official intervention. This time is was a car starting on fire right in front of Cindy's storefront and then (thank goodness) it continued through the intersection until a valiant citizen of Lake City ran into the street and, waving her arms, stopped the car and dragged the confused and protesting driver to safety. Cindy is going to find out who our heroine was. She claims everyone in Lake City will know by tomorrow morning.At that point cars continued to drive around the stopped car so several of us (yes, me too, you know how bossy I am) went out into the street to stop traffic. Several people were quite indignant that they couldn't drive past the burning car and had to go AROUND THE BLOCK!

Once the 2 police cars, and then the fire department got there they effectively blocked the street and we could go back to gawking. I got a few photo's and thought you would all like to see the fire department in action. They had a little trouble getting the hood off and when they finally did we all cheered.

This happened on Sunday morning so after this excitement we went up to the church and watched Damascus Annie (Annie Kusilek) do some free motion quilting on her Singer Treadle. I think it is a 15/90 Singer but I am not sure. Hopefully someone will confirm or correct me.

I was fascinated by her 'feathers'. All I can say is WOW WOW WOW.

After that I got out my new Singer 99 to check it over and do a little practice sewing on it. It was pulling the fabric a little and I was wondering about the pressure on the presser foot, so I called Bill Holman over and he looked at the machine. He noticed the tension knob was incorrectly assembled so he took it off and fixed it and put it back. What a guy. He is what a Treadlonian calls a OSMG (Old Sewing Machine Guy) They are national treasures in the sewing machine world and I can certainly agree about Bill. I am sure he had forgotten more stuff about sewing machines than all the rest of us put together knew.

I tried to post a video of Annie treadling the feather quilting but the download died. I will show you when I get home on Monday.

Love,

Nancy