A Tale of Two Singer 15s : 1921 vs 1953. What Changed? What Stayed the Same?

 In my last post, I introduced my "newest" (yet oldest) Singer 15 ~ a Singer 15 manufactured in 1921. 

This wasn't my first Singer 15. My other Singer 15 I own I posted about a while ago. The other Singer 15 is known as a Singer 15-91 and it was made in 1953. 

Let's play "Spot the Difference": 

The 1953 is in the front. 

Note the difference in decals: the '21 has a lot of swirls and bobs in its decals. The 1953 is very modestly decorated. 

The tensioners differ, and the youngster has reverse gear, which the older one lacks. The bobbin winders differ as well - the older one has a gear to help control the loading, and the younger one doesn't have that, but instead it has a spool pin on the base of the machine and a guide that helps load the thread evenly on the bobbin. 

The '21 is on the left; '53 on the right. 

Side view, we see the tensioners are different - they added numbers for the newer tensioner. The old one has the grape leaves design while the youngster has simple vertical lines. Finally, the foot pedals are two different styles - the old one has a lever and the younger one has the little buttons on the pedal. 

1953 on left, 1921 on right.

Note that the younger one now has a solid wheel, whereas the old one has the classic spoked wheel, allowing for hand crank or treadle to be used instead of the motor. The '53 also has a potted motor, so we won't see a belt on this one, but we do see a belt on the '21. 

Back side. Foreground is 1921, and background is 1953. 

Again, we have grape leaves ('21) vs plain vertical lines ('53). The light on the older one is attached via a ring behind the metal disk, but the light for the younger machine is attached to the machine. The older machine has a bolt-on motor (it could have been a treadle or hand crank if the initial purchaser chose that version) while the younger one has the classic potted motor (attached permanently to the machine). 

Cases are nearly identical, but the '21 has "Singer" on the handle, while the younger machine just has more of the burgundy "leather" covering the handle. 

On the left, you see a tuck marker attachment that came with one of my other machines, on the right is the one that came with the '21 Singer 15. Sadly, it's missing a critical part (the left-most bar), so it's not exactly useful except as spare parts for my "good" one. 

But wait, there's MORE!!

Addendum

When I was sewing with the 1921 Singer 15, I observed that it seemed very different from my 15-19 from 1953. In addition to the above observations, check THIS out: 

 

The bobbin case for the 1921 Singer 15. Note the groove. You put the bobbin in with the thread going off to the right. You thread the needle from LEFT to RIGHT. 

The bobbin case for the 1953 Singer 15-91. Note the groove. You put the bobbin in with the thread going off to the left. You thread the needle from RIGHT to LEFT.

The bobbin cases for both machines. The one on the LEFT is the 1953 Singer 15-91's bobbin and the one on the right is the 1921 Singer 15's bobbin. 

THEY ARE MIRROR IMAGES OF EACH OTHER!!

So you have to thread the bobbins and the needles in opposite directions. 

After discovering this difference, I checked ALL of my machines and put a note in each machine's case showing the direction that the bobbin has to face for threading and which way to thread the needle (left to right, right to left, or front to back).  I think Singer reversed the machine because so may right handed people complained that it was difficult for them to thread left to right (lefties LOVE this threading!!) and since righties outnumber lefties, they won. As a lefty, I slightly prefer the older machine because it's easier to thread and easier to turn the wheel by hand to go over difficult / thick spots. 

HAPPY SEWING!!

Latest Find: 1921 Singer 15

 Antique shops are always dangerous to my wallet. Case in point: we visited a new to us antique shop in Phoenix, and this Singer 15 demanded that it come home with me. 

She's pretty, runs well, and comes with most of her attachments, how could I say no? 

Let's check her out:

The shop had labeled the machine as a "Singer 30", which isn't correct. I think they didn't notice the last digit, and thought it was a model 31 from 1910. It isn't, but it would be cool to find one in similar condition. Just look at those decals! Beautiful. 

Decals in nice shape. Some expected wear, although I'm surprised that what's worn off is further to the right than where I'd expect wear. I guess the original owner sewed a lot of wider projects? 

Top view to catch more of the designs and to see the top of machine. 

THIS is what sold me. Love, love, LOVE that decal section. 

Also. take note that this machine only has stitch length adjustment, and there aren't any markings to identify the chosen stitch length, so you have to do multiple test stitching exercises to determine the best setting for the current project. 

The '20s certainly got into decorating everything. I always enjoy seeing a beautiful machine with grape leaves design on this section. 

Back side of the machine. The light is attached to the machine behind the metal access port. There's a ring and stick that holds it on. See below.

Light removed and laying on the floor. Metal access port disk nearby. The disk covers the ring and the screw holds both in place. 

Light in place without the metal disk to show how it's placed behind the disk. 

Metal disk with grape leaves pattern covering the large oiling hole and the ring that holds the light in place. 

Original looking outboard motor for the machine. 

Closeup of the back of the head of the machine showing the tensioner and decals. 

In the '20s, you could get a treadle, hand crank, or motorized version of the machine. The motor bolts on along the right side, and the freewheel is spoked so a hand crank could be installed instead. The treadle belt guard is also present on this model. 

The collection of attachments that came with the machine. I always love it when the attachments are included because occasionally I find something new or in better shape than what I already have in stock from my other machines. 

I am not sure what this is... here's the "top" view? 

Rolled onto its side.

Bottom view? (or is this upside down? I am not sure what it is). 

Other side side view. Yeah, that's a strange gadget. I'll figure it out eventually or perhaps someone recognizes it and will comment with its identification. 

I recently used this machine to sew a top. It did a great job. I'm still not a fan of the Singer rolled hem foot, but I used it for this project to hem the top and except for near the seam intersections, it worked well. I suppose it just take practice to get it working well. 

Happy Sewing!!

Halloween Theme Earrings!

 

It's October, so that means it's time to have fun making and wearing Halloween themed earrings. I love having fun earrings because they show up on Microsoft Teams calls with my clients when we do video calls. Since travel is still (mostly) not happening, I find that decorating myself from shoulders up is the way to go. Once clients start wanting me to appear on-site, I'll have to get back to entertaining outfits, but for now, earrings seem to be the thing to do. 

All of the earrings I'm showing are made from images that were available FREE in Cricut Design Space (meaning the subscription is not required to use them, nor do you have to pay for them) as of 8 October 2022. I will include links to my Cricut Projects so you can recreate them as I set them up. Otherwise, find the same images in Design Space and generate your own versions. 

Ghosts

This project is publicly shared in Design Space. I used free image #M3B6AE131 from Design Space. 

To make the project from scratch: 

Import design #M3B6AE131, and change the color to white

Resize the design to 1.5: wide. This is the widest most people would want their earrings to be. Of course, they can be any size, but at least test this size to see how it works for you.

Duplicate the ghost. Click on one of the ghosts (if one is not already selected), and click on "Contour". 

Contour allows you to turn "off" elements of a design. In this case, click on both eyes and the mouth, then click the "x" in the upper right to dismiss the dialog. You will now have a version of the ghost with eyes and mouth and one without. 

Create two mirrored copies of the ghost without eyes & mouth and set the color to Black. This will be the base of the ghost. Create two sets of mirrored copies of the ghost with eyes & mouth and set to white. Those will be your glow in the dark HTV ghosts (as far as I know, glow in the dark faux leather is not available, so if you want the ghosts to glow, you have to make them in glow in the dark HTV). 

Cut the white items in glow in the dark HTV and the black items in black faux leather. 

Apply the HTV to both sides using the Cricut Easy Press 2 with setting 290 F for 15 seconds. 

Other Halloween Beings

You can use my project in Design Space, or create your own version from scratch. 

Witch Hat is #M78694D3. Skull is #M7868AE0. Lightning bolt is #M7936445. And Bat is #M3AE536D3. 

Rotate the Bat 90 degrees. 

Resize each image to 1.5" wide or 1.5" tall as applicable. The final size is your personal preference, but I prefer to have earrings that are no more than 1.5" wide and less than 1.75" tall. For the bat design, don't go too much below 1.5" (wingspan) because the silver veins in the wings will become too narrow and disappear if you do so. Since the bats are hung vertically, you can get away with a slightly larger bat that you would if they were to be hung horizontally. 

Lighting bolts

This is the easiest one. Duplicate the lightning bolt and flip one copy so you have a mirrored pair. 

Select silver glitter faux leather and cut it to about 2" x 2" (check in cut preview to be sure this is right size for your version. The sizes given are what I cut for my pieces). Cut silver HTV to the same size and adhere to the back of the glitter faux leather using the Cricut Easy Press 2 ( 290 F for 15 seconds). 

Put the HTV backed faux leather on your mat with glitter side up and tape down using blue masking tape. 

Select the "paper thin faux leather" setting and cut.

Punch a hole in the top of the lightning bolt (around where it seems wide enough to have the hole without compromising the material), and attach two jump rings and an earring wire. I always use two jump rings instead of turning the loop on the earring wire because the cheapo earring findings that I have in my stash always break when I try turning them. The two jump rings rotate the earring design so that it will face forward when you are wearing it. 

Witch Hat

To make your own version of the Witch Hat, you will have to do some design editing. 

Change the color of the witch hat to purple (you can cut it in any color you wish, but at least for the purposes of the tutorial, set the colors as stated so that it's easier to distinguish between the shapes and the witch hat). Select the square shape and lay it over the witch hat. 

I have moved the witch hat to the front so you can see they are overlapping. You can leave the hat underneath it for this step if you don't want to bring it forward. Click on "Slice" 

If you separate each of the items, you will have the original purple hat, a black version of the hat, and a negative of the hat in black. 

Keep the purple version and the negative. 

Bring in a shape, such as the triangle and rotate it slightly so it can be placed near the edge of the hat band and be used to remove the non-hatband parts of the image.

Click on Slice, then remove the sliced off pieces. 

Repeat the slicing until only the hatband remains. Place the hatband on the hat in its proper location. Duplicate the hat / hatband set.  With one hat + hatband set selected, click "Weld" to make a solid hat.

After welding, check whether there are small slices in the solid hat. There may be some if the hatband was not aligned perfectly with the hat when you welded. I zoomed in to 250% to see the little black line in the hat. If this line remains in the design, your machine will put a little slit in the faux leather, which we don't want because it will weaken the earring. 

Click on "Contour", then click on the little lines that need to be removed. 

Close the "Hide Contour" window. You should now have a solid witch's hat plus a separate hat band.

Duplicate the hat band and flip one copy (this will go on the back of the hat). Duplicate the set of hat + two hatbands and flip it so you have a pair of mirror image witch's hats. Delete the original image. 

Click "Make it" to see what size to cut the faux leather for the hats. I usually add about 1/4" to the estimated size to ensure there is enough material. Cut a piece of matching HTV the same size as the piece of faux leather and iron it onto the back of the faux leather to cover the fuzzy backside of the faux leather. Cut the two hats from faux leather. The cut the 4 hatbands from HTV. 

While making this project, I learned why one should always purchase branded Cricut mats. I'd ordered a set of 3 "generic" mats from a vendor on Amazon. 

With the tops of the mats aligned, you can see that the grid is about 1/8" higher on the generic mat than it is on the genuine Cricut mat. I drew a black line along the top of the generic mat to show me where the top of the Cricut grid is (because the Joy is calibrated for Cricut mats). Here's a picture of where the hats cut on the generic mat. Fortunately, I had cut the faux leather about 1/2" larger than originally estimated, so that the hats still cut on the faux leather rather than losing the bottom of the hat. 

Since the top measurement is off, it means it's difficult to place material correctly on the mat in sections other that at the very top or very bottom, which means I won't really be able to use the whole mat except for the occasional "full mat" size project. I won't be buying generic mats again!! They may have seemed to have saved me money, but will cost me more in wasted materials because the grid does not match what is shown in the mat preview. 

Once the cutting is finished, weed away the extra material. Place the HTV hatband on the front of the hat and cover the hats with a teflon sheet. The teflon sheet helps protect your press from sticking to the materials. 

I used my Cricut Easy Press 2 set at 290F for 15 seconds. 

I like to use my tailor's clapper to cool off the HTV before peeling off the backing. The tailor's clapper is a piece of wood which does a good job of absorbing the heat. 

Peel off the backing then flip the hats over and apply the other bands to the back of the hats in the same manner. 

Use a small hole punch to punch holes in the top of the hat.

Open jump rings using pliers and thread the jump rings onto the earring. 

I usually use two jump rings on my earrings so that they will face forward when I wear them. 

Skulls and Bats

I made the skulls and bats using techniques similar to the witch's hat. 

The bats were the easiest because I could use contour to separate the white lines from the wings. Simply duplicate the bat image after importing then on one copy hide the white veins and on the other copy hide the bat body. The bat was sized so that its wingspan was 1.75". Making it smaller than that can result in the white veins being too narrow to cut properly.  

I chose to put the earring holes in the edge of one wing rather than in the center of the head so that the bats hang sideways. 

The skulls were made using the same techniques as the witch's hat - use a square image and slice to make a negative of the skull then use shapes to slice the eyes, nose and mouth away from the skull background. Make mirror images of the skull outlines and faces so you have a pair of them.

Happy Crafting!!