Midnight: Singer 404 Restoration

Midnight

How do you like this for a complete restoration? I think he's beautiful!

It's been a while since we restored and painted a sewing machine. We bought this guy from Goodwill for $45 in December 2021. It was a cabinet model manufactured in May 1960. The motor was frozen, paint spotty and filthy with dings and chips.

Before

My resident repairman went over it, replaced the handwheel clutch spring, oiled, lubed, cleaned and polished. After that TLC, the motor freed up. He took the machine completely apart, ordered a few parts, and worked on it off and on between other projects in 2023.

Fast forward to May of this year. We decided to paint since I already have a nice Singer 404 (Elizabeth) in original condition. Jerold filled the chips, sanded, keyed the finish, and primed the whole machine. Wet sanding the primer makes a really smooth finish for paint.

He used three coats of Rust-Oleum 2X Ultra Cover in Midnight Blue and Silver. After a week, wet sanded to smooth before layering three coats of Ultra Cover Clear. Two days under a heat lamp, then a final clear coat for a mirror finish.

After two weeks of curing, Jerold reassembled, wired and fine tuned bobbin tension. He did the majority of the work on this machine and it's certainly a job well done. 

Midnight sews great now! I'm happy, loving the classy color scheme and can't wait to stitch a quilt or two.

 

1954 Singer 99K - Violet

Violet: 1954 Singer 99K hand crank

From rusty to beautiful, this little 1954 girl from Great Britain was quite a challenge!

We bought her for $35 in February 2022. Her decals looked good but the shellac finish was mostly gone. Gouges and crazing in the paint, wiring shot, and oh so dirty inside and out. Amazingly, she did sew after oiling. We put her on the shelf while working on other projects, thinking it could be a parts machine.

This February, we got going with a plan to clean, paint, replace missing parts and add a hand crank. Jerold took her apart all the way down to the last screw, then cleaned and polished all parts. He rewired the motor, too, so we can use either it or the hand crank. We got the spoked wheel and crank on Amazon; they both fit and the bobbin winder still works.  

We tried to sand the finish but it was too uneven, so ended up stripping her to bare metal. After primer came the gorgeous Rustoleum 2X paint in Gloss Grape. I printed and applied new decals in black, using Art Deco style designs.

Then Violet just decided to be finicky. We hit a snag with the clear coat: it wrinkled up on the bed so we had to sand and recoat. It's not perfect but it's good enough. We polished and waxed her to a super shiny finish.

Jerold had to fine tune all tension and bobbin adjustments, but now Violet sews a perfect stitch. I'm happy with how she turned out, even with the setbacks. I couldn't do this without my talented husband. We learned a lot, didn't give up, and I got the purple machine I wanted. It's all good!

 

Singer 201 Reveal: Black Betty!

1950 Singer 201-2 "Black Betty"

Last week we finally finished restoring our first 201-2, Singer's Rolls Royce. She's all shiny now, with brand new paint and decals, sewing smooth and fast. 

Purchased in November 2021, this machine was very dirty with scratched cracked worn finish and a few missing parts. Seller had no idea when it last ran. 

Black Betty: before

We didn't have a deadline, so took our time on each part of the restoration, starting in mid January. I cleaned her off with Goop hand cleaner. All parts were soaked liberally with sewing machine oil. After that she loosened up enough to sew a little bit.

Singer 201 wiring before: YIKES!

Black Betty was completely disassembled for inspection and cleaning. All the wiring was rotted and crumbling, not too unusual for an old girl built in 1950. My resident electrical guru rewired her and rebuilt the motor.

Years of gunk, lint, and grease on all parts took a while to remove. We experimented with several methods to take off the gnarly old shellac so we could repaint. Rubbing alcohol with a Scotchbrite pad and lots of elbow grease worked best on this machine.

Jerold primed, filled defects and sanded before applying several coats of black DupliColor Automotive Paintshop lacquer with air sprayer. After that dried, he block sanded to flatten paint. I added all new decals. After a few days, he used DupliColor Paintshop clear lacquer for final coats. Waxed to a high shine after she cured.

Reassembled everything, then added vintage and new parts: spool pins, scrolled face plate, chrome trim hand wheel, bobbin tire, light switch, wiring, foot controller. Jerold even nickel plated the stitch length plate for a little more bling. Finally, we modified a Singer #40 Queen Anne cabinet from another machine and installed Black Betty.

This was a real learning experience. We had several ups and downs, got to practice painting with an air sprayer, and enjoyed working together on a major machine rehab. There are six more vintage Singer machines in varying states waiting for their turn on our workbench.

But first, I will quilt something on Black Betty...Bam-a-lam!

 

Singer 301A Unveiled

Here she is -- meet Laney

Born in 1954 like me, this pretty 301 long bed was purchased on Ebay by my sweet husband as a project for us. 

He chose the Maui Blue and White colors, influenced by a 1956 Ford Fairlane.

Laney ran pretty well from the start and sewed a beautiful seam. We took her completely apart, since she needed a good cleaning...lots of old grease and lint inside. He replaced a motor bearing; polished, plated, and blacked some of the screws.

We set up a makeshift paint booth in our garage. After several coats, I applied all new gold decals before layers of clear coat made Laney shine! Not bad for our first sewing machine refinish.

I polished the badges and waxed her after he put everything back together. She sews so smoothly with perfect stitches. We both enjoyed this project and learned a lot. I guess we have a new hobby since I've already picked up a couple more Singers from Goodwill.  

Wishing everyone a happy and safe New Year!