Recently I had a frustrating day with the tension on my Singer 128K, and the only way I could tighten the bobbin tension was to fish the shuttle out of another machine and use it instead of the shuttle from the 128K.
This is the offending shuttle. I have finally had a look at it. First I unscrewed the tension spring and removed it. Here is the shuttle with the tension spring removed, and you can see that there is a bit of residual muck which had been hiding underneath. This took only a minute to remove with metal polish.
Here is the underneath of the tension spring, which also needed cleaning up.
On the right hand side there is a tiny groove visible, which is where the thread passes. The bobbin tension had been too loose. Even with the screw fully tightened, the tension spring was not holding the thread firmly enough against the shuttle.
The solution was simple. All I had to do was exert a little pressure with my fingers on that part of the tension spring to encourage it to lie closer to the shuttle: had I used too much force I would have risked breaking the metal at its thinnest points, so I hesitate to say I bent it. The change in shape is imperceptible on mere inspection. Once the shuttle was reassembled and I tried out the stitch, all I needed to do was make a tiny adjustment to the top tension and the stitch was fine.
Job done. Now the 128K has its own shuttle back in use.
It has just got cold enough to add the extra layer to the bedding, so we now have this quilt on the bed. I made it about four and a half years ago, doing all the piecing on the machine I inherited from my mum, an 1897 Singer 28K, the star of the first two Youtube videos my husband I made.
This quilt was the first one I had made for years, and I had not yet worked on quilting at home - lack of time and space had a lot to do with it. I had the long arm quilting and binding done by Midsomer Quilting. They did a fabulous job. It's not such a brilliant idea to have the quilting cutting through the appliqué design, but I wanted the quilt finished, so I didn't care.
This is the machine I have just cleaned up for a friend, a Seidel and Naumann Vibrating Shuttle. Not only did I have to use paraffin to work its magic in unsticking the foot, but also the stitch length adjustment mechanism was jammed. I had to take off the handcrank and the wheel to get to the lever, which is to the right of the pillar above the bobbin winder. It was well and truly stuck, but eventually I freed it up and re-set it so that the stitch length can be adjusted and set to forwards or reverse.
This smart little tin is for holding the bobbins.
They slot neatly inside. Unfortunately there were only three with the machine rather than the full complement of five to fill the tin. I shall have to see if I can get two more.
The machine makes a perfect stitch. I'm sure that when I return it it will soon be put to good use.
I bought this machine some time in the mid 1980s. For a while it was my only sewing machine. It is a Singer 28K manufactured in 1896. In 1987 I used it to make my wedding dress, and in 1989 the christening robe for a very sweet baby boy.
I particularly wanted this model because I had grown up using my mum's machine, also a 28K.
This machine is interesting because it shows how machines used to be overhauled for resale. This front slide plate is an obvious mismatch with the back plate. The front slide plate is a replacement - the original slide plate would have had a stamp on it showing the patent date of 1886.
When you open the front plate you see that the decals carry on under the plate. At the side, to the left where you would have the plate on a round bobbin machine, there is a gap. These decals were designed for use on a round bobbin machine. This machine was given a new coat of black japanning and a fresh set of decals - a bit like giving an old car a respray and a set of speed stripes.
The face plate has the ornate grapevine design, totally out of keeping with the rather minimalist design of the decals. The original faceplate on this machine would have been plain.
At the back, the screw that holds in the inspection plate has been given the blacking treatment - it really didn't need it!
When I bought it, the machine came in a dark wood base and bentwood case. When I inherited my mum's machine I swapped the machines around, putting my mum's machine in the dark wood base and case, and putting this machine in the 1950s light wood base and old suitcase-style case that my mum's machine had come in. Somehow the light wood base suits this machine better.
This machine went to a charity shop a couple of weeks ago. I hope the new owner gets years of good use from it - it certainly served me well. Now it is somebody else's turn to enjoy this machine.
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This is a Frister and Rossmann Transverse Shuttle machine - a slightly different model to the one I photographed when showing the first in the series of German bobbin winders.
This machine has a smaller balance wheel, a fancy spool pin and a different bobbin winder. The top of the bar is bent in a backwards curve at the top. The button for engaging the bobbin winder is at the bottom right.
Step 1 is the same. The thread has to pass between the tiny tension discs on the front inspection plate.
Next, the thread is taken over to the upright bar of the bobbin winder and through the hole at the top, passing from the top and then down the back of the bar.
The thread is passed down behind the bar and then brought out underneath it, reaching the bobbin from the back.
The metal plate beneath the bobbin has to be brought up into position so it is almost touching the bobbin. The plate is on a spring - press it down gently and it will spring itself up to the right position.
To engage the bobbin winder into position, so that the tyre touches the rim of the balance wheel, press this button...
... and push the bobbin winder back until the catch at the back holds the bobbin winder in place. This picture is taken from behind the machine looking down the back of the bobbin winder. The catch is at the bottom centre of the picture.
While the bobbin is being filled the metal plate will be gradually pushed downwards. If you want a full bobbin, wait until the plate automatically springs down away from the bobbin. If you want to stop sooner, press down gently on the plate...
... and the plate will spring down out of the way so you can remove your bobbin.
This is a Singer 28K. I have removed the front and back slide plates and put a narrow strip of material under the foot to take the stitches. The top thread is pink and the bobbin thread green.
When the needle goes down under the needle plate it forms a loop just at the very moment the shuttle is moving forward in the shuttle carriage. The point of the shuttle is aimed straight through the loop.
Then the whole shuttle passes through the loop.
The top thread glides under the shuttle.
Once the shuttle has passed through the loop, the needle takes the top thread back up again, the loop is tightened, and the bobbin thread is held firmly in place on the underneath of the material.
It was years before I understood what was going on underneath with the shuttle. I read a description online, complete with diagrams, but still couldn't fathom it out, until one day I was trying to sort out a problem with a transverse shuttle machine and was looking from underneath and I actually saw it happen. Truly a moment of revelation.
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This is my Frister and Rossmann Transverse Shuttle machine set up to wind a bobbin. This type of bobbin winder is seen on many German machines. It winds a perfectly tight, even bobbin of thread, and works better than any Singer bobbin winder. It is a very simple mechanism. This is how it works:-
First, take the thread through the miniature tension discs on the front inspection plate.
Not every machine with this type of bobbin winder has these tension discs, in which case either take the thread through the hook at the top of the face plate (top left in this photo), which is the first hook for the top thread, or through whichever other hook is provided there.
Next, take the thread to the top of the upright bar of the bobbin winder and thread it from the back to the front.
Put the bobbin in, securing the thread by trapping it between the end of the bobbin and the winder.
To engage the bobbin winder against the balance wheel, this machine has a lever at the bottom which is pushed up.
What happens next is pure magic. As you wind the bobbin, the thread passes over the curved edge of the plate on the bobbin winder, moving steadily and evenly from side to side.
When the thread reaches the other side and makes contact with the little pin at the end of the curved plate, it is gently nudged back and travels back the way it came. Pure genius.
When the bobbin is full it presses against the base of the upright lever, activates a spring, and automatically disengages the bobbin winder from contact against the balance wheel.
If you want to take the bobbin out earlier, just press the upright bar back gently with your finger and the bobbin winder will disengage.
Nifty, or what?
More German bobbin winders coming soon...
This morning I nipped in to Cordial and Grace and oiled the shuttle race on Maria's Jones CS machine - the one thing I had forgotten when I cleaned it up. Too much tea and cake must have been distracting me.
To the left of the shuttle there is a little round well stuffed with old felt.
On some machines the felt has disappeared, on others it is so grimy and mucky it needs replacing, in which case you can stuff a tiny wad of cotton wool or fluffy cotton knitting yarn in there in its place. This picture shows one of my Singers where I have used cotton yarn.
At the base of the oil well is a tiny hole through which the oil gradually seeps, keeping the shuttle race lightly lubricated. This prevents friction and wear on the side of the shuttle and eases movement. On this photograph of Maria's machine I have used a long pin to show where the hole is.
The wad of felt needs to be kept soaked with oil. Just let a couple of drops fall onto it, wipe away the excess, and the job is done.
Here are the bobbins from four different machines. From left to right, Vesta Transverse Shuttle/Little Vesta, Serata treadle (ie, Stoewer Vibrating Shuttle), Singer Vibrating Shuttle, Frister and Rossmann Transverse Shuttle.
Sometimes bobbins are interchangeable between machines, but not always.
If the disc at the end of the bobbin is too large for the shuttle, the bobbin will not rotate properly inside it. The disc on the Vesta bobbin is smaller than on all the other bobbins shown.
If the bobbin winder has a little pin where the bobbin fits in at the right hand side, then there has to be a small hole in the disc. My Singers can take bobbins without holes because there is no pin.
The protrusion at the centre of each disc might be sharp and pointed like the Singer, rounded like the Vesta and Serata, or not there at all, like the Frister and Rossmann. The F&R is flat at one end with five holes, but has a solid disc with a central protrusion at the other end.
The first questions you need to ask if you are thinking of acquiring a long bobbin machine are firstly, has it got the shuttle, and secondly, has it got bobbins. Singer bobbins are easy to come by, whereas other bobbins can prove to be pretty scarce.
Threading the shuttle made easy, as shown in the manual for the Vesta Cylinder Shuttle machine (a transverse shuttle machine with an enclosed, flat-sided shuttle).
These instructions apply to any make of machine with a similar shuttle. If your shuttle looks like the one in the picture below (whether or not it has a flat side), then follow these instructions.
These are the best illustrations I have ever seen in an old manual.
Is it a tiny man with a regular sized bobbin and shuttle, or is he normal size and the shuttle is a giant mock-up, for demonstration purposes only?
I think I know the answer.....
This Singer 28K belongs to my friend Mary. It still has its original base and case. A while back I gave it a thorough clean up and oiling. It sews perfectly.
The decals have worn away with all the use the machine has had in its long life. They are the original decals - this machine has never been re-japanned.
The metal will never again shine like new, but that adds to the machine's character. It was manufactured in 1893. Mary's father bought it for her mother for thirty shillings in 1933 when they got married.
In 1940, when Mary was a baby, the family had a narrow escape. They were living in Ashtead in Surrey in a house that her parents had bought new in the late 1930s. During an air raid a bomb landed behind the house and blew a huge crater in the back garden. All the windows were blown in and most of the contents were wrecked by flying glass and debris. Fortunately the family were not in the house at the time.
When Mary's father went through the house afterwards most items were damaged beyond repair, but he was able to retrieve the sewing machine and a clock, and not much else. The clock had been a wedding present.
The house had to be shored up at the back because there was an enormous crack in the back wall. Mary remembers the wooden buttresses remaining in place for some years before the house was finally repaired.
The machine was passed on to Mary when she married. She was an army nurse married to a soldier, so the machine travelled with them... Germany, Greece, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Northern Ireland.
If machines could talk...!
This is the shuttle for Maria's machine. It was totally rust free and only needed a wipe to get a bit of greasy oil off.
This photograph shows the tension spring. I did not touch the screw - screws on shuttles should be left well alone when cleaning a machine. Testing the tension comes later.
This photograph shows the capital F stamped on the shuttle. F for Family, so the right shuttle for the machine, not a rogue replacement. Shuttles from other models are not necessarily compatible.
This is the bobbin winder from Maria's Jones Family CS machine before I started attacking it with the metal polish. The easiest way to clean it was to unscrew it from the machine.
On close inspection you can see the black oily grime clinging around the screws. After scraping the worst off with a wooden cocktail stick, I used an interdental toothbrush to get the metal polish into all the awkward little corners.
After a good rubbing with cotton wool buds and a soft cotton cloth, the metal began to shine.
There are a few blemishes on the metal where the chrome has begun to lift, but considering the machine dates from about 1931, it is in very good condition.
To get all the rubbish out of the thread and the teeth which engage when the winder is in motion, I used a tiny bit of metal polish on an old toothbrush and rubbed it off with a cloth afterwards.
To clean the black japanned parts of the winder, I used a tiny drop of sewing machine oil on a dab of cotton wool.
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