Centennial 221K First Project - Valentine Mini Quilt

Hello

Finally got my new to me, Centennial 221K restoration completed.  Yeah!

To test it out, I decided to make a mini quilt for Valentines Day.  I didn't think that my partner would appreciate a mini quilt so bought him beer instead. The mini quilt was for me.  I bought a lovely little Moda 5" charm pack of reproduction fabrics.

The little machine is a delight to use.  Since I put some oil on the bottom bobbin case its really quiet and smooth, producing wonderful neat stitches.

The hearts are hand appliqued on the 3" squares of fabric.  The blocks were then  sewn on the machine using a 1/4" foot.  I hand quilted around the hearts before putting on the binding.

The little machine is quite speedy so really pleased with it.  I will use it for a while so that all the oil and motor lubricant gets to where its needed.  I don't know how many years have passed since this lovely machine last worked, I presume it was many years ago.  So glad I was able to get it working again, there were times when I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew, but it all worked out Ok in the end.

I am not going to say that I won't do another one, you never know what's out there that needs rescuing!

Cheers
Sharon

Singer 221K Centennial Restoration - More progress

Hello

Well this machine restoration is taking some doing.

My parcel came from the Featherweight Shop, the fly in the ointment was I had to collect it from the Post Office because there was £11 in VAT to pay plus  £8 Post office handling charge.

Anyway, back to my parcel, just love the rick rack, will save that for something.

The cleaner and polish for the paintwork
Two cupped washers for the extension bed to stop it flopping back down when raised.
A rubber honing tool for getting rust off - this was an extra while I was ordering, it fell into my basket by accident!
Stick on felt for the drip tray.

Gave the machine the once over first with the cleaner then gave it 2 coats of polish.  The paintwork has got  a lot of damage to it, the shellac has degraded in places and the decals are have started to come off.  I was very careful not to rub too hard on the decals.  The polish will add a bit of protection.  This machine is 67 years old and has had a bit of a hard life.

Started to put parts back on, rebuilt the tension dial, hoped I have got it right.  Put the bobbin winder back on along with the spool at the bottom that keeps the thread even when winding bobbins.  The spool pin and cover back on and a new bulb in.  New feet on the bottom as the old rubber ones had perished.  The stitch length lever was a bit of challenge, I had bought a new one but needed a teeny spanner to get the nut off, its handy having a motorbike mad partner, he had one.

I realised that the needle clamp was facing the wrong way (forwards) so I had to work out how to put it right.  There was a little screw to undo on the needlebar under the scroll cover which allowed me to twist the bar to the correct place so the needle clamp is on the right as you look at it.  Goodness knows why the previous owner had fiddled with this.

When the handwheel is turned over there was a stiff spot, in the bobbin case area.  I tried putting sewing machine oil and left it over night to see if that improved it, it felt a bit better but not much.

Tried threading it up, another problem, the final thread guide on the needle clamp, it was so gummed up the thread wouldn't go through it so had to take this out, clean it up and replace it before being able to finally thread the machine.

Here goes, all plugged in ready to go.

Whoops, it sounds like a tractor, lots of noise from the bobbin case area and it will not pick up the bottom thread very well at all producing rubbish stitching, skipped stitches, no locking of the stitches at all .  Tried it without the bottom bobbin  and no thread, still rattles.  Took the needle plate off, then the feed dogs, still rattles.

Tried to take the bottom bobbin case base to see if there was a thread jam but even following the excellent tutorial on the Featherweight Shop Schoolhouse (watched all the videos) Featherweight Shop  The bobbin case base wouldn't not come out so my partner came to the rescue again, and took the whole hook assembly off.  Finally got the bobbin case base off.  He found the culprit, it had a slight crack in it which was causing a burr on the edge, a little lip on the hook assembly has to ride across this but burr was raised this was causing it to tighten up when the lip goes over it.  The proper fix would be a replacement part but finding one that doesn't cost a fortune might prove difficult.  Ideally, a complete bottom hook assembly would be best but that doubles the price.  He thought that using the rubber honing tool I had bought on a whim might do the trick, there were several other rough spots on the case and hook area.  It took some doing, he finally smoothed the edge of the case base so the lip would slide over it OK.  My little honing stick saved the day.

If you are wondering what a rubber honing stick looks like, its the little square long thing.

Moment of truth, put everything back on.

Yeah, it sews, its still not as quiet as my other two featherweights in the bobbin case area but the motor purrs.  The stitches are fine, no adjustment on the tension needed.

The only thing to do now is to get the remains of the old felt off the drip tray and replace it with a new one from the Featherweight Shop which doesn't  have the rancid smell of the original one.

Here she is fully dressed at last

Just to remind you what she looked like before I started.

The carry case is making progress slowly.

Cheers
Sharon