Sewing Machine Spirits

I have made it well known that I use mostly vintage sewing machines.  These machines have had other owners and therefore unknown stories.  There are days where I really believe that inanimate objects can have spirits in them.  This past Saturday, I was rolling along with making last minute projects for an upcoming art fair.  All day, my sturdy Singer 503 was getting the brunt of the work. 

Very suddenly in the early evening, it decided to go on strike!  I truly thought the thing was dying - the motor slowed to a crawl, it wouldn't wind a bobbin properly, the thread tension went haywire.  All the usual troubleshooting  - oil, new needle, re-thread (multiple times) - failed.  I called it quits for the night after spending an hour and a half trying to tinker with it.  I even switched foot pedals, without improvement.  The next day, I headed to my sewing room to make more stuff, and started with a test sew-off on the ailing 503.  The machine ran beautifully!  All was well again in Rags Paper Stitches land.  Those old machines don't seem to get that hot, but perhaps the motor temperature got above a critical point.

While I am going on about my 503, here are some neat pieces of Singer ephemera relating to the 503 and its close cousins, the 500, and the 400 series.  These items are from 1962 and 1963, when Singer was rolling out their built in zig-zag mechanism and the slant needle configuration.  Enjoy!

 A promotional booklet showcasing all the decorative sewing that could be done with a zig zag machine

 Introducing the Slant-O-Matics!

 Freebie give-away hand sewing needle packs advertising the 401.

Freebie mending kits touting the Slant-O-Matics as the "greatest sewing machine ever built."  I beg to differ with that, even some of Singer's earlier models, while not zig-zag, were far better.  I love the slant needle configuration, but the 400s and 500s are not as strong and robust as others (201 and 15-91...).  Not to mention the motors in mine sound downright awful.