Estate Sale Find - Singer #42 Bench Full of Goodies!

I still love Estate Sales!

My all time favorite Singer cabinet has always been the #42, with it's cool Art Deco styling and its beautiful finish and sturdy build.  It is a nice piece of furniture in its own right.  I found one several years ago, and it is a beauty, but I never had the matching stool and always hoped to find one.

I'm good at biding my time, because eventually one will show up.  It took five years but I found it! 

Singer #42 cabinet and stool

It was only $15 and as a bonus, it was packed with goodies!  The coolest thing was the packet for the Singer Sewing course which was offered for free when you bought a Singer machine in the 1940s-50s.

Singer Sewing Course - Six Lessons

Lesson One:  Seams in different fabrics, matching plaids, sewing curves.  Paper template included to practice sewing straight lines and circles

Lesson Two:  Sewing darts and gathers

Lesson Three:  Sewing trims and pipings using the edgestitch foot.  Our seamstress didn't do so well here.

This is Lesson Three in the Sewing Skills booklet

Lesson Four:  Doing free-motion embroidery following stamped design.  Our seamstress did such a bad job at this that I picked most of it out!

Lessons Five & Six:  Our seamstress never completed these lessons but according to the booklet, Lesson Five was installing zippers and Lesson Six was doing hem finishes.

I know I'm kind of weird, but I really enjoyed going through these lessons and imagining our seamstress taking time from her household chores back in 1955 to sit down at her Singer 99K and practice these skills. 

Back to Estate Sales

Not much going on with the historical sewing at the moment - not since the mock up of the Regency gown I made.  More on that later, I hope.

But now that I have graduated - and have yet to find a job - I have time go get back to my vintage treasure hunting hobby for a while.  One thing I have noticed is that good vintage Singer sewing machines at dirt cheap prices are getting harder and harder to find.  (Or maybe I've already cleaned out my immediate area!)  But I'm still always on the lookout for interesting old notions, attachments, or other sewing supplies.  The pickings have been slim this summer but today I did find this great cache of vintage Coats & Clark silk buttonhole twist:

With the original boxes, too!

Seriously, aren't these threads gorgeous?

I didn't buy them to resell, but I looked on Etsy and eBay and found that these spools sell for $3-$4 EACH, and I got three dozen of them for $2 TOTAL!  

For another $1, I got the Tidee Maid vintage thread box and a cool scallop ruler/template.  

I have several of these thread boxes, and they are great for hand sewing.  It works as a dispenser, where the thread comes out a little slot on the side and is cut along a metal edge, kind of like a dental floss container.

I got all this for less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks, so I'm happy  :)

What Can You Get For $20 Today?

Well, you can get a pair of cheap shoes at Target - barely.  Lunch for two at Jason's Deli.  Not quite two movie tickets.  A discounted bestseller.  What else?  Anybody?

How about THIS!

Yep, $20 for a 15-91 in perfect working order in a beautiful #40 Singer cabinet (no stool, though).  And what's even more amazing than the price is that this machine sat all weekend at an Estate Sale with a $20 sticker and was never sold.  I saw an ad on CL where they were selling off the remaining items, including this.  REALLY?  In fact when I called the seller and offered to buy it, he said in a doubtful voice, "Are you planning to try to use it, or do you just want it as an antique?"  Heck yeah, I (or whoever I sell it to) will use it!  This is a great machine.

(This had belonged to a family member, the seller had no clue.)

The thing is, this machine had been extremely well cared for and seemed to have been in use fairly recently - maybe within the last few years.  My forensics yielded the following clues:

New Red Spool Felts - already on it

Freshly wound bobbin with clean thread - not the rat's nest you usually find in an old machine.

New Bobbin Winder Tire already there

Hard to see, but nice clean lube cups with fresh lubricant inside

It was very dusty so it had been sitting a while.

But no lint, crud or corrosion

Doesn't it look like a well cared for machine?  The cabinet was also perfectly clean except for dust.

Lovely, yes?  The crud on the carpet is the dust I brushed out of  it.

Here is why I think it didn't sell.  It had no power cord or controller.  This is obviously a machine that has been in use until fairly recently, it hasn't been moldering away in a garage under a tarp for 40 years.  It is a clean, well maintained machine installed in a cabinet but with the power cord and controller removed and the pin block screwed back into place - so this wasn't haphazard (not like a portable machine where the power/controller lead is simply misplaced.)   It is a MYSTERY!!!  But mostly likely that it why no one else bought it - their loss.  I just happen to have a power cord for it, although I don't have a controller.  I can buy one for $15-$20.

I was *almost* disappointed how little attention this machine needed, but I still did my standard strip down/clean/oil/lube routine.  That is always fun for me.

Love this syringe for oiling!

Even the external wiring is in surprisingly good condition, the insulation is intact as far as the eye can see, and inside the pin block the connections look good - good contacts, nice and clean, with no deterioration.   Do I want to bust inside that motor and take a look?  NO.   Everything I can see looks sound, there was no visible crudded up old lubricant in the cups, the carbon brushes look fine.  Let's just assume that the wiring inside is acceptable based on the external clues and leave well enough alone for now.

Forgot to take pics in the thrill of the moment (LOL) but I did take apart and reassemble the tension.  The one and only part I had to replace was the tension take up spring and I just happened to have one on hand (Thank You, Jenny at Sew Classic for keeping me in parts!)

So how does she run ?  Perfectly, how else?   She is a beautiful, well cared for 1953 Singer 15-91 and is ready to make someone a very happy quilter/seamstress.  

UPDATE:  Put an ad on CL last night, sold it this morning for my asking price!

The buyer is a repeat customer, the same guy who bought the 201 with leprosy I fixed up this summer.  He said he LOVES that machine and here he is buying another one.  BIG SMILE for this  :) :) :)

Re-Purposing Vintage Hankies

Vintage hankies are everywhere - every antique mall has them, usually for about $2-$4/each.   But I hate hiding them away.  Here are a couple of things I've done with them.

A ten inch square hankie makes a makes a perfect little throw pillow.  I appliquéd it onto the backing which I used to make the pillow cover for a 12" pillow form.

You can make simple sachets with NO SEWING if you're afraid of ruining the hankies.

 Sewed lavender buds into tulle, sprinkled on a little lavender oil

Wrapped it up

Tied it with ribbon and added a button

Another No Sew way to use a hankie

This was made with a wonderful round hankie, you don't see many of those.  I filled a little fishbowl with wooden spools, topped with a styrofoam ball and some fiberfill.  Good for big quilting pins.

ANOTHER USE FOR VINTAGE HANKIES HERE - BODICE FOR LITTLE GIRL'S SUNDRESS

Estate Sale Addict Needs to Reform!

So what do I do when I'm not sewing?  Well yeah, I run - not as much as I should - but I also chase Estate Sales and sometimes waste money.  Is there a 12 Step Program for this?   For example, do I *need* this collection of vintage hankies I bought today?  

But aren't they pretty????

Do I *need* an expensive collection of vintage hats?  OMG, when did I start with the vintage hats???

What was I thinking?

Well maybe I can justify this one, it was only $5, a vintage sewing/knitting basket.

Kinda cool, yes?

However, there is no way I needed this.  It is just cute and it really does work.  (Please don't humiliate me by asking me how I know.)  LOL

And a few other odds and ends including this which I will sell on eBay. I already have one just like it and maybe after the costumes, I will do a little show-off of how it works.  One of those old attachments that works surprisingly well - you'll see!

So, I wasted plenty of time AND money today.  I will not go to another Estate Sale for one month starting NOW.  You heard it here!  

A VERRRYYY Old Sewing Machine Manual!

I am not sure what year this is from, but I'm thinking late 19th Century.  I found this is in a sewing table I recently bought.  It is especially interesting  to see the pictures of the attachments and how they are used.                                                              

I Have Vintage Feed Sacks!!!

Just a very quick post to gloat a little.  On my last post I showed the pile of vintage fabric I found at the Estate Sale.  At the time I was more caught up in the new sewing machine (which I gifted to my daughter-in-law who is learning to sew for her two little girls) and of course the Gun Story.  

So I finally got a good look at what I've got in this fabric stash.  I am a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but it finally dawned on me that these are Depression era feed or flour sacks.  CLUE: (for those as dense as I was!) they were sewn into sacks with a very heavy cotton thread.   I googled it to be sure, and  the dimensions match those of feed/flour sacks from the 1930's - 1940's that were made of bright prints which women would re-use to make clothing.   (Today we call this "Repurposing" but our Depression era grandmothers were way ahead of us in this concept.)  

During the Depression and the War years these were vital sources of fabric for many families and women were extremely competitive about getting the patterns they wanted - and enough of each pattern to make an entire garment.   Since they measure approximately 44" X 38", that is basically about one yard of fabric as it would be cut from the bolt.  Therefore it might take anywhere from 2 sacks to make a little girl's dress to 3-4 sacks for an adult woman's housedress.

These came out costing me about .50 apiece.  They sell on eBay for anywhere from $12-$30.   Score!  :)

Granny Get Your Gun - an Estate Sale Adventure

This is where it all began.  I was chasing an Estate Sale and this one was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S.  The kind I really love where Grandma dies leaving her 1950's ranch house filled with vintage treasures and the family just wants to liquidate the estate and move on.

(Note:  yes, I do feel a little creepy being one of the people pawing through all the worldly goods of someone's dearly departed.  One day, I imagine, someone will be pawing through my stuff this way.)

Anyway, I arrived a few minutes before the sale began and folks were lined up outside the door. When they let us in everyone swarmed through the house with something specific in mind, I'm sure. Everyone looked intent on scoring something they saw in the ad.  I was here for the "vintage sewing machine and fabric" (of course!)  

Within 5 minutes I had laid claim to this pristine Singer Touch & Sew 600e in a very nice desk.  All the accessories and the manual were included and the whole thing looked like it had just come off the showroom floor.  It held a place of honor in the Dining Room, no less - this was a treasured and well cared for sewing machine.  $75.  MINE!  (I gifted it to someone in my family.)

Then I found the room with the real goodies, I'm talking Died and Gone To Vintage Fabric Heaven kind of stash.  Stacks upon stacks of fabrics labeled "$1 per piece" and best of all there were feed sacks included.

GORGEOUS!

But here is the real adventure....

GRANNY GET YOUR GUN

I'm rifling through a large carton of fabrics picking out the prints I like when I come across a small, heavy box buried near the bottom in folds of fabric.  Hmmm...some kind of sewing machine attachment?  The box was circa 1950's and said that this was a revolver - yes, as in gun.  At first I thought it was funny that an old lady would store her sewing supplies in that box - except that it really was a gun in the box along with a supply of bullets.

Bad Angel, perched upon my shoulder whispering in my ear:  "Leave the gun in there and ask how much for this whole box of fabric then pay the $10-$20 or whatever and walk out with it.  You didn't put it in there, it was already in there, so this is totally legit.  They snooze, they lose.  Finder keepers, losers weepers..."   

WAAAIT!!!!

Good Angel: "Okay, this isn't supposed to be in here.  This was someone's mistake, they didn't know it was here, they overlooked it.  You could get away with it on a technicality but you know it's not yours to keep.  Let's give it to the grandson and do the right thing".

But, but....

"No buts.  Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them..."

Okay, okay!  Yes, that is right.  I will turn it in.

Let me just say that waving a gun around a crowded room of treasure seekers resulted in a few startled expressions but nobody's jaw dropped lower than the seller's when I handed him the gun and told him where I found it. This dude was flabbergasted, he took it and stammered that it wasn't for sale...he didn't even know it was there....thanks...

And also let me just say that Bad Angel yammered in my ear all the way home about how much I could get for a vintage gun, and how it would pay for the sewing machine I just bought, and how anyone else would have taken it, and wasn't I a schmuck.  But Good Angel smiled smugly because she had already won the argument and it couldn't be undone.  So There!   

(And the family always wondered what happened to Grandpa...)

***********

Well I'll end this story with pictures of the most darling EVER vintage aprons that I bought - along with all the fabric shown - for a total of $7. 

Isn't this the cutest apron EVER???  It is organdy with appliqués and binding.

And how cute is this?  

One of my best ever days Estate Sale-ing.

I Hit The Mother Lode

Now this is the score every vintage Singer lover lives for:

Gorgeous 201-2 in the fantastic #42 cabinet.  Came with the Pinking attachment, hemstitcher, buttonholer, Singer fabric gripper and blind stitch attachment plus all the regular attachments and a stool full of various goodies.  

I sold the machine and the cabinet, but these attachments are a vintage Singer Dream-Come-True. (I wish I had kept that amazing cabinet, but it had a stale cigarette odor which I just couldn't get rid of , and I simply couldn't live with.  It didn't seem to bother the new owner, though.)