Posted 2 years ago
Unearthedr…
(1 item)
I love the ornate metal end-plate most on this beautiful machine. I found it at the Goodwill outlet - where one usually pays buy the pound, but thankfully it had been priced separately.
An old singer I got for a song | ||
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Hi, Unearthedrelics. Cool. :-)
What you appear to have is a vibrating shuttle machine. While it lacks the little trapezoidal/shovel-shaped access panel common to most Singer vibrating shuttle machines, I can see it has split sliding plates. It also has a high-mounted bobbin winder, so it's probably a model 127 or 128:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Singer.Model27.IdentificationGuide.jpg
The latter is more likely, because it's installed in a portable base. The only real difference between the 127 and the 128 is size. The 128 is a three-quarters size version of the 127.
About the Singer vibrating shuttle family of machines (you can check the dimensions of your machine in the table at this web page):
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/28
Your machine is a bit unusual in that it appears to be a Blackside. About the Blackside Singers:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/blackside
Your faceplate looks like 28K - Vine (Simanco 8361):
https://d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net/4632e46dda835ce0aa5db51a8bd07b225ac2217f/a975a/images/gallery/gf28kvine-240x360.jpg
I can't see the rear access panel, but this faceplate gallery has some pictures of those as well, so you can browse for them:
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/gallery_faceplates
We could narrow it down further in terms of age and model if you add a picture of the serial number (or just add text of the number). The serial number is located in that little elliptical cartouche on the machine's bed in front of the pillar, e.g.:
https://www.singermachines.co.uk/pub/media/upload/image/model_5.jpg
Hopefully, the rear sliding plate has simply been removed, but isn't lost.
You really don't want to try to operate the machine without both slide plates in place, because the shuttle might jump right out of the machine.
Slide plates for Singer vibrating shuttles are available, but not necessarily in the Blackside finish:
https://oldsingershop.com/products/singer-27-127-sewing-machine-rear-back-cover-slide-plate-blackside-simanco-55503-127k-27k?variant=31915191336996
https://oldsingershop.com/products/singer-28-128-sewing-machine-rear-back-slide-plate-in-chrome-simanco-54512?variant=39918306951204
Alternately, you could scrounge around on the Internet for a replacement (eBay, etsy, etc.).
Anyway, you have a machine that occupies a cool little corner of Singer history (the Blackside Singers).
In case I'm forgetting something, here is my collection of vintage sewing machine links:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/285089-vintage-sewing-machine-help
However, it's a lot to sift through, so if you have specific questions, you can just ask them here in a comment. If I don't know the answers, I'll go back out into the wilds of the Internet and try to find them.
Thank you so much for all the amazing information and helpful links keramikos!
You were right on the mark in identifying the model. The serial number is AF688334 - which I think makes it a Model 128 (Manufactured in November of 1940). Interestingly, that pre-dates the listed start-time for machines with the blackside components and crinkle/godzilla finish - but it was still within WWII, so that makes perfect sense.
The faceplate is the vine pattern...but it is definitely bright (chrome?) and not the blackside finish. I love the look of shiny and ornately painted Singer machines, but I love this machine even more know that I know it has a "Godzilla" finish (fun name!).
I also have a refurbished Singer from the 60s that was an old Home Economics machine - that's the machine that I learned to sew on...and I still use it from time to time. Long story short, I probably won't be trying to use this 128 anytime soon - but I do appreciate the safety tip. I've also never sewn with one of the long-style bobbins so there'd be a learning curve for sure! Amazingly, despite the one missing plate, the bobbin casing (with a threaded bobbin) was still together with this machine.
Thanks again for all the wonderful information you shared. I am in total awe of your encyclopedic knowledge of vintage Singers :)
Best wishes,
Jennifer
Unearthedrelics, You're very welcome. :-)
Ah, so the serial number is AF688334. Thank you for satisfying my information tooth.
Yes, that serial number would fall into this range:
AF- 683351 688350 128 5000 November 12 1940
AF- 780651 785650 128 5000 February 12 1941
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/serial-numbers/singer-af-series-serial-numbers.html
FYI, the reason I normally excerpt two lines from the pertinent serial number table is because the date associated with a particular block of serial numbers is the date that the central office allotted it to one of the factories.
It doesn't mean that all of those machines rolled off of the assembly line exactly on that day. However, it's usually a safe 'assumption' (yeah, I know) that they were produced before the allotment date of the next block of serial numbers destined for that same model -- barring problems like worker strikes, factory equipment breakdown, fire, flood -- and war.
Unfortunately, the allotment date of the serial number block to which yours belongs falls during WWII. While the United States technically wasn't at war until late 1941, they were supporting their allies and companies like Singer were heavily involved:
https://www.thehogring.com/2019/09/04/singer-m1911a1-pistol/
Sewing machine expert Alex Askaroff knows of a verifiable case in which a Singer sewing machine had a serial number allotted in 1939, but the sewing machine didn't get sold brand new to its first owner until 1946!:
https://sewalot.com/dating_singer_sewing_machine_by_serial_number.htm
So, take those allotment dates with a grain of salt.
Your machine was made at Singer's Elizabethport factory:
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/singer_dating_by_serial_number.html
https://www.singersewinginfo.co.uk/elizabethport
https://www.ericwilliamsblog.com/left-behind-in-elizabeth-the-singer-manufacturing-company-part-1/
https://www.ericwilliamsblog.com/left-behind-in-elizabeth-the-singer-manufacturing-company-part-2/
While I'm at it, here's an operator's manual for the 127/128 (because the only difference between the 127 and the 128 is size, they share the same operator's manual):
https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/manuals/127-128.pdf
Here's a parts manual for the 128:
https://www.universalsewing.com/images2/parts_lists/all/3lh9fafq.pdf
This is where it gets sticky. If you need a replacement back slide plate, it needs to be Simanco part number 54512 (found on page 9), because a slide plate for a model 27 or 127 (Simanco 55503) won't fit.
BTW, I'm not actually an expert. I'm just an old Internet surfer who has a not altogether explicable fascination with vintage sewing machines.
Enjoy your beautiful Singer 128. :-)
Thanks again keramikos. I assumed that Singer would have been involved in wartime production efforts - but it was interesting to read that they had produced guns for a brief period. I also recently found a metal navigation chart...so the article you shared makes me want to go back and see if maybe it was manufactured by Singer...wouldn't that be an interesting note to end on?!
I also appreciate the manual. I've found a couple manuals for older machines (e.g., a Singer 27-4) and an manual for a Brunswick machine around the same era. I always pick them up when I see them because they cost practically nothing when I find them at the Goodwill Outlet (because you pay by the pound) and the art is so beautiful.
I make collages with vintage ephemera, but I've kept these instruction booklets intact because it feels like they still hold value.
Another thing I love about old sewing machines and sewing patterns and sewing notions - but especially the machines - is thinking about all the hours that were likely spent with them...creating garments or other things for the household.
I think your fascination with vintage sewing machines is completely justifiable :)
Best wishes and thanks again!
Unearthedrelics, You're welcome again. :-)
Yes, that would be interesting to find out about the metal navigation chart. Those handguns were not the only things Singer produced in support of the war effort.
That Brunswick manual you found sounds like it's for what's called a "badged" machine. That is, a machine made by a sewing machine manufacturing company, but with a name put on it for a customer.
Brunswick was a badge name associated with the National Sewing Machine Company (which was probably the single most prolific producer of badged sewing machines):
http://needlebar.org/main/makers/usa/national/index.html#b
When I say I'm not an expert, I'm quite serious, because I don't actually own any vintage sewing machines, unless you want to count my cusp of the 1970s/1980s vintage economy Bernina (which I've owned since I bought it brand new).
The serious experts are the people behind the websites that I've linked. Collectors Weekly Show & Tell used to have one, the late great Bernadette.
My admiration for her is being renewed as I comb back through all of the sewing machine and sewing machine accessories posts here at Collectors Weekly Show & Tell (I'm putting them all into a spreadsheet).
She truly had an encyclopedic knowledge of vintage sewing machines and personally owned somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty of them:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/31518-my-antique-sewing-machines-some-of-them
Nowadays if somebody should need help with, say, tuning their vintage sewing machine, all I can do is refer them to real experts, such as the folks at the Facebook vintage sewing machine group, or the forums at leatherworkers dot net, quiltingboard dot com and the victoriansweatshop dot com.
We actually do have at least one current member here who restored a vintage sewing machine:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/297921-1902-singer-treadle-machine-and-2021-sew
So I would regard Watchsearcher as a bonafide expert.
Thank you for your benevolent view of my vintage sewing machine fascination. :-)
Just a little history...Singer made less than 500 .45 1911 pistols..there's a little over 100 known to exist. With the average value north of $100K. Some have sold for almost half a million and over a million dollars. Lots of fakes out there.
dav2no1, Thanks for the historical tidbits about the Singer pistols. :-)