Humpty Dumpty

We all know the nursery rhyme about humpty dumpty with all the kings horses and all the kings men, who could NOT put humpty dumpty back together again.  Poor cracked egg.  In retrospect, I wonder if this old nursery rhyme has a dual meaning?  Out of curisoity I looked it up, and you can read the theories and the understoods from way back when.  Interesting, but still somewhat unknown.

I always refer to something I have vastly tore apart or deconstructed as humpty dumpty.  I use it at work, and use it at home.  It fits.  This weekend was about my latest sewing machine find, so named Tina, after Tina Turner, a famous singer that had an awful life.

The problem, Tina has cancer.  Yes, rust in her bones.  The prescription Rx to allow her to heal?  A gallon of Evaporust.  I had never heard of the stuff, and in my research of how to remove rust from the parts of a sewing machine, this came highly recommended.

So, I took some of her apart.  I knew the main problem in her mechanics even though she still worked was the bobbin area.  The bobbin, the bobbin case, the hook, the race had just enough of a start of some rust and some black stuff that If I did not coat everything in oil and use her, it would be a just a matter of time and Tina would get a toe tag.

I braved out of my comfort zone and took all of it apart.  I removed the feed dogs, the hook, the race, the bobbin, the case.  I also removed her shoes LOL.  There are 4 rubber feet on the bottom of the machine.  They were so bad that one was cracked and brittle to the point of chiseling the hardened rubber out of its nook.  The screws were rusted too.  All of the metal parts went into a gladware container of Evaporust.  You soak the parts for 12 hours.

I removed all of the bobbin components, this is the timing of the machine, a seriously scary venture…… YIKES.  The most important part of a machine to run right is the timing.  Youtube is fabulous and a couple of videos showing how to remove and re-install got humpty dumpty back together again!

video one

video two

The first time I put Tina back together, the hook/race mechanism did not like the needle.  And then I realized that I did not have something perfect, went back, took my time, and saw I did not mount the set screw on the right flat part of the shaft.

In dealing with this sewing machine, and watching my other hook/race assembly go, Singer designed a counter balance weight on the drive shaft and it is very clever how it works, and if it is a tad off, it will not sync.

Back together, running a bit slow, and I imagine after using her for a few days, she will loosen up a bit and become “more comfortable” in her new home.  I sewed a few Half Square Triangles with her to see how she behaved.  She did so well with the HSTs that I put the other featherweight back in its case.   That one is named Abacus because I really count on him.  He has sewn all of my quilt tops since his commission, 2 1/2 years ago.  I am counting 12, but I think that number is too low!  Plus numerous UFOs!

This machine does not want to kick the end of the seam to the side.  It sews perfectly straight up against the seam gauge.  And the throat plate is perfectly even with the bed of the machine, so none of my nested seams flip.  Also, the throat plate has measurements on the newer machine, like seeing the 1/4 mark.  Perfect for us quilters.  Those are my only three comparison differences between my 1947 and my now 1952.

As far as the light encasement, yup, the clear coat is coming off.  I read to lightly oil the spot and voila, the spot is gone!  She is not as shiny and pretty as the other machine, but she sure does a good job of stitching just like a champ!

Before and after photos, yes I took some!  There are still parts within that will need to be soaked in the Evaporust.  Parts that I do not have the right tools to get to hidden screws.  I fear I will have to buy the right tooling, and that will set me back around $40.  We will see how she holds up to my marathon sewing days.

Before:

After:  Notice the set screw on the housing, it is rust free!  Also the hook arm had rust on it before, and now has none.  She is looking very dry on this photo, and I have oiled her down since.  I also had to take some bar keepers friend to remove the black from the rust.  I still see a shadow of it, but it is nothing like it was before.

Because of Tina being in surgery, it took up real estate on my large table for cutting.  So this kind of slowed me down for the sewing over the weekend.

But I did manage to go BLUE for my wedding ring blocks!  Sky blue and other hues to be exact.  Tina sewed one for me today, and will sew more in the coming week.

I have failed to set goals the last couple of weeks, so here are my two goals in the next 7 days.

• Finish quilting the Kaffe Periwinkles quilt
• Make 9 or more wedding ring blocks in blue.

• If I can figure out a way to hold the camera, the ruler, and run the quilting machine, I will get a video of making the stars and asters.  I am envisioning elastic around the top and bottom of the camera placed on my forehead.

I have been bustling about today.  My feet are tired, my tummy is full.  My bones need rest.  Nothing like being prepared for Monday, going to work to get rested?  haha!  No, not really, it is just a different kind of tired.  Farewell weekend, you have been good to me, thank you for your time, and thank you readers for your time and for reading my blog!

 

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