Down the Lane

Look on ebay for an old electric singer 99. Simple to oil and will run for years.
Ali has a 1924 electric Singer 128K (£10 from a secondhand shop), A 1934 Handcrank Singer 99k (£10 from a car boot sale), a 1948 electric Singer 201k in a cabinet (£46 from Ebay) and a 1952 Singer 221k Featherweight (A gift from P.Penn) all still working perfectly.
Just an idea of where to look, except for P.Penn 'cos we had the last one she had in stock
Dom

Ahh fantastic Dom! Thank you!
There looks to be quite a few at decent prices on Ebay, but postage can be a bit expensive so will try and find one that I can pick up, and rummage through all the charity shops at the weekend

I'm thinking of getting a cheap battery powered one too so I can sew in the garden. Not sure how long the batteries will last though.

Battery ones are rubbish you could either go for a handcranked one, eco friendly, or get an extension lead.
Dom

Totally Scrambled wrote:Battery ones are rubbish you could either go for a handcranked one, eco friendly, or get an extension lead.
Dom

Oh are they? Guess it'd probably be easier to just use an extension lead then :)

I had a look at both machines you are considering. Don't go for the mini one, it will be useless. The Janome looks ok and a great price. The Janome feet fit all their machines so that's also a plus as you can buy them when you are ready I.e. zipper foot. You will not get better for that price unless you pick up a bargain on eBay. Personally, i think the John Lewis is too basic and meant for children (that's why they do it in all those colours). Good luck in your search.

Lisa,
If you do go for a Singer 99k off Ebay/junk shop then go for one like this, a later model, as it has an easy stitch length setting and a reverse stitch. The ealier models had no reverse and the stitch length was altered by turning a knob with no graduation markings so it was by trial & error.
Early Model 99K. (This is a handcrank but they did them in electric too)

Later Model 99K.

Dom

Ahh thanks so much for that Dom! Will try and find a later model


Thank you bobbinin, I will scrap both of them and keep my eye out for a Janome too

Try on sale and swap sites there are hundreds and look for the ones local to you I got a lovely singer for £30, will try and take a pic for you, singer have a lovely site where you can find out when it was made etc,

Here you go, its lovely

I have my husband's grandma's treadle Singer.
Not sure how old but I guess 80 years or so. I've had it about 40 years.
I had it serviced by Singer once, then the second time he came he said they had stopped making spare parts for it - so now I have to wind the bobbins by hand which is a pain.
I think Singer were taken over so not sure if they do servicing and spare parts any more.
So if you get a second hand one check what works and what doesn't. I think the first time I was having trouble with the tension, but he fixed that.

I still have a scar on my knuckle from an encounter with my Mum's Singer more than 65 years ago. (Can't remember what I did exactly)

Lisa - I bought my daughter the John Lewis mini one a couple of months back (before they were on offer ) and she is really pleased with it. She has made a few bits and bobs, including a little summer dress for my grandaughter (which only took a couple of hours).

It is quite small, but it is light and easy to handle. I think it would be just what you are looking for, and if you decide at a later date you want something more complicated, hopefully you will be selling enough stuff to cover the cost of an all singing-all dancing one.

I have a vintage hand singer machine myself, which I have had since I was a young woman. Not sure how to tell the age of it though - perhaps Dom, you could tell me?

perchy wrote:Here you go, its lovely

Lovely Singer 201 Perches. Pre 1950 if I'm not mistaken.
IMHO one of the bestest, most durable machines they ever made before they went all modern with all those fancy stitches
Dom

p.penn wrote:
I have a vintage hand singer machine myself, which I have had since I was a young woman. Not sure how to tell the age of it though - perhaps Dom, you could tell me?

Dom - did you miss this? I would love to know how old my machine is - I suspect 1930s

Mo, Helen and Perches,
Assuming your machines are the old cast iron black enamel Singers then on the right hand side of the base, just in front of the bit the wheel is attached to is a plate with a serial number. Should be 1 or 2 letters and then at least 6 numbers. If you post them on here I could tell you what machine you have and where and when it was made.
Dom

p.penn wrote:

p.penn wrote:
Dom - did you miss this? I would love to know how old my machine is - I suspect 1930s

I didn't think you were that old. Wearing well

Dom