Picture it an average weekend day. I had just been telling my mom that I wish I could luck into a free vintage sewing machine something that would need a bit of work. I belong to a vintage sewing machine group online and people often post about their free finds. To be honest I had a few pass through my hands a few years ago but I hadn't been interested in learning about actual repair until recently. I let those go because having a basket case machine overwhelmed me at the time. Anyway, I was going about my errands when I ran into a friend at Safeway.
We were chatting and the subject of vintage sewing machines came up and she says "I have an old singer that I got at an estate sale but it's too much work for me do you want it? I have it in the car!" The answer to that is of course yes and lets go get it. Luckily the grocery store provided carts because I needed a cart to haul what I lovingly called the "boat anchor" to my car.
It was in a grubby suitcase style case. The first time I had seen this type of case. I open the case up to find a frozen, dirty Singer 215-G. The 215-G was made in Germany in the 1950's. This one came in what was once a snappy looking suitcase style case. It came with a wooden accessories box filled with a light bulb, a dirty pincushion with rusty pins, bobbins with vintage thread, some wooden spools of thread, several sewing machine feet, and a seam guide.
I spent several hours working on getting the old oil off the moving metal parts since old sewing machine oil is like shellac. I added new sewing machine oil and then plugged the machine in. I hadn't plugged it in at all. I like to move vintage machines by hand at first until I know they are suitably workable. Plugging in the machine there is always that moment where the question is will the motor work or not. As luck would have it the motor purred.
I've done some general cleaning on the machine but nothing really detailed as of yet and I have done some sewing with it. It's a great machine. The bobbin winder is still frozen though.
I found one just like yours for $20 at a thrift store and inside was the original bill of sale in German. Apparently it was sold to the wife of a service man in Germany. I believe I am the second owner of this fine machine. It sews like a dream and is wonderful for hemming jeans. My case is pretty dirty and the latch is broken but everything inside was in great shape for the age. This definitely a keeper.
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