Ode to my Singer

For quite some time I was browsing internet trying to sort out my sewing machine.  See, it’s an old Singer. Of course, it’s a bit outdated and such, but no modern sewing machine I had been able to try out was able to convert me – I still believe in my old, sturdy friend.

 An old Singer is like a best warhorse – its durable, tolerates rough life and is so simple that I can clean and tidy it up all by myself. And in turn it just goes, goes for everything, without hesitation – on this one my parents made their first tent out of thick, impregnated canvas, I sew my first jeans (and some 300 later), endless leather bags and belts.... It conquered it all, without a complaint. 

Of course, you do not expect an old war horse do a fancy dressage steps or win the Grand National. So I must admit that lycra or  spandex are not exactly for my Singer. But I can live with that - I can always play with some modern, more advanced electric wonder. 

So I really wanted to find a manual for my old friend – I have also a large amount of different feet and attachments that I have no idea what for, so manual would be useful. 

But it wasn’t so easy. To find a manual, you need to know the model. But there are no model sign on my old one, only the serial number. Went through the Singer page and they say tere that for older machines you must ask them – they can check it on their records by serial number. Great! So I sent them an email quite a long time ago but no response. Then another one, and another.... Oh well, probably we’ll need to live without the manual. 

Then today, after linking on Confessions of a fabric addict, I did exactly what all this linking is about – browsed through other blogs, and their links to some others. I love web, sometimes you can find a real hidden treasures. So I was looking, reading, left few comments, until I noticed a comment regarding some spare parts for a Singer. So I wrote to the author, to some Connie McCaffery, in case, she has an idea where I might try my luck to find the model. 

And voila! Connie instantly responded and after the morning spent, sending mails back and forth, now I know. Connie even sent me the manual I had been searching for so long! 

My old warhorse is an early model 15, with Egyptian decals! Most likely made in 1910, Podolsk, Russia. 

Not a big deal? Not for me. Now, when I’ll be sewing the dress for my youngest daughter, I’ll close my eyes and will imagine my grandmother’s first baby grown being sewn on this machine when it was new and shiny by her mother. 

My 11 years old is the fifth generation of our family ladies, leaning over that wheel. Isn’t it cool?  Over hundred years of hard work and the machine is still doing perfectly! 

(Okay, I must admit, not absolutely perfect – the rubber on the bobbin wheel had been replaced about 40 years ago by using a wheel from my toy car, and now I need to find a new toy car with rubber wheels as that one gave up finally).