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| Singer 127-3 Mary Margaret finished |
This lovely machine is a 1923 Singer 127-3 in the original oak cabinet. She belonged to Mary Margaret for years, and was generously gifted to me by her son Ervin. We believe this treadle machine was converted to electric at the dealer or factory. We decided on a sympathetic restoration to get her sewing well and protect the finish.
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| Singer 127 before |
Amazingly,
at 100 years old, the Memphis sphinx decals were nearly perfect, just
a couple of places showed a bit of wear. The finish had a little
checking but was mostly intact. She had been stored in an attic, so
not too much rust, but there was dried oil/grease and dust.
The handwheel, shuttle and feed dogs moved easily and I actually sewed a few manual stitches before we started work.
The tiger oak cabinet and
ironwork are in great shape, check out that gold paint detail on the logos! I gave it a good clean, a coat of
Howard's Restore-A-Finish, and beeswax.
Here's
what Jerold did to spruce up Mary Margaret:
Cleaned handwheel using wire wheel & scotch brite, leaving the brownish patina. Polished all the plate covers to a shine.
Disassemble and clean motor. Rewire with new plug. Disassemble needle box, very dirty, years of gunky oil. Cleaned parts with foam degreaser and WD40.
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| Before |
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| After |
First clean surface with sewing machine oil. Shellac intact, so carefully cleaned entire surface of machine with GOJO hand cleaner. Daubed amber shellac on the few bits of painted decals that had begun to silver.
Pulled
drive shafts & shuttle mechanism, cleaned in Coleman fuel, buffed
& polished where needed. Replaced a locking screw missing from
the shuttle drive shaft.
Removed
feed vertical shaft & stitch regulator for cleaning. Finished
cleaning other parts. Re-assembled machine. Adjusted feed dog
alignment & height, presser bar height. Checked all other
adjustments. Test sew - worked the first time!
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| Isn't she goregous? |
Sprayed with 3 coats of shellac: not a perfect mirror finish but shinier than she was and it will protect the finish.
Re-assemble
items removed for painting, mount light & motor. Put back in
cabinet & wired controller up. Wound a bobbin. Cleaned shuttle.
Threaded the machine and she sewed a perfect stitch without any
tension adjustments.
