This is my sewing machine. GM hooked me up with it not long before I moved to Los Angeles. It was her friend’s mother’s or grandmother’s. I lugged it out here, but I just got around to checking it out.

It’s a Singer Touch and Sew – II.

Judging from the looks of the manual, I think it’s from the late 70s. I’m so grateful and impressed that the previous owner still had the manual

and all the attachments

and all these disk that you use to make different kinds of stitches.

The first step (after the dusting) was getting the bobbin case back in place, so I could wind a bobbin.

Getting the bobbin case securely back in place turned out to be tricky even with the manual, which again I am so grateful to have. The instructions were basically slide the case in, turn, and then move that black metal shape on the right towards the left to hold the case in place. That all sounded good, but the black thing would hardly move. When I tried to wind a bobbin, the case would jump out of place and the thread would jam up. I got AVO involved and we used tiny pliers–my jewelery pliers–to lift the black piece up and force it to the right. This seemed like the kind of forcing that you are never supposed to do with delicate machinary, but it worked! I was able to wind a bobbin. I used the pink thread that came on the machine. Then I tried to sew and the tension was way off. All I got was lumps and knots. It turned out that unthreading the machine and rethreading it while looking at the manual fixed this. It came to me threaded, and I had just put the thread through the needle, but something about how it was threaded was off. Yeay, for easy fixes!

Then I made this necklace/scarf from an old T-shirt.

It only involved a little sewing, mostly it’s about braiding, but still I did actually use my new sewing machine to make something, so I was super pumped.

The necklace can also be worn doubled up. This is how I’ve been wearing it.

I used the directions from this site. I now want one in every color and I want to experiment with patterned fabric.