Thursday, December 31, 2009

Probably The Only Time I Will Ever Own

A Rolls! No not a Rolls Royce - a Rolls Sewing Machine :) A Zig-Zag De Luxe. And it is lovely.


We stopped at a shed sale (read - nice big garage sale) on the Sunday after Christmas, just for a look. After hunting around, I thought there wasn't much there, nothing that caught my eye anyways. Until I went back along a row of shelves, and saw a bit of a beat up case sitting there.


Well I dragged it out - heavy as anything! And looked inside. Oh my, it was an older style sewing machine, in really good condition. And it was only $15.


So it came home with me :) It had the manual, and a few feet and bobbins included.


My lovely DH rewired the foot pedal and power connector, as it was rather worn, and not the safest it could possibly be. And she runs sooo smooth, and surprisingly, quiet. It is really, really clean, but it needs a lot of oiling, as I think it is a little bit too clean. So I need to drag out the oil and give it a good going over and then sew! Oh, and I need a new belt for it, as the old one is just not looking the best, but I am sure we will find something :)



The only downfall is that I can't find any information on it at all. Nothing. If anyone can help at all, it would be appreciated.


While we were visiting family over Christmas, I asked my dear Nan-in-law, if I may have a look at her old Singer sewing machine (thinking that the Rolls was possibly a re-badged Singer). Well, Nan showed me her machine, and asked if I wanted it. Ummm - do I need to think about it? Yes please! (Just had to use my eyelashes to convince DH that in less that 2 days I had gained 2 new machines lol). Oh boy, I was in heaven.




It came with a collection of feet and the manual.


It is a Singer 401G - and I love this page in the instruction manual. "Singer 401 - the greatest sewing machine ever built!"


DH also re-wired the foot and connector on this one too, as it didn't even have an earth, so now it does and is nice and safe to use :)
It needs a little bit of cleaning up, as it was well used, and hence there is a good quantity of oil around the place. She also sews quietly like a dream! My MIL remembers learning to sew on it when she was 8. So I feel extremely lucky to be given such a wonderful machine. Thank you Nan!

Cheers!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

what a lovely end to the year, two new machines with loads of history. Love it. happy sewing.

Meghan said...

That 401 is awesome! I have a 421 which is a similar German singer, and I love it! I think they're still the greatest sewing machines ever made! Hold onto it!

izziwizzi said...

Hi I'm thinking of buying one of these - can you give me any guidance on rewiring it.?

Have you done lots of sewing with it? I plan to sew clothes.
The one I'm buying is in a cabinet and is a 1958 model. I'm in qld :)