BellaBee

Hi Wizcrafts. Thank you for the information. Never thought about Teflon’s vulnerability. You’re right! And a lot of time has gone by and I’ve only just got back here. So sorry, very rude of me. It’s been a strange year and I’ve only just this week started cleaning my machine. It looks lovely but it’s actually very dirty. I must just accept I’m taking it slow.

Thanks Wizcrafts (not sure how you do the @thing ) Actually you’ve blessed me with that information! That’s perfect for my intentions. I’ll get me a Teflon foot for my bookbinding and soft purses maybe. Meanwhile I’ll continue to be fascinated with the beautiful leather work you all do here, but it’s also a very useful place to learn about these machines, even if mine is a feeble cousin. I hope it’s ok for me to hang around and do just that? I need to clean and service this machine and make sure I’ve got the needle bar set right. And got an appropriate needle. Etc. I’m coming up from collecting vintage domestic Singers. Lots to learn

Hi Bert and Hodgie Ive just recently bought a Singer 16k33 and managed to find a user manual for 15 and 16 class CB machines, but if you have anything more detailed, re timing, parts, as you describe, I’d really appreciate it too please. May I join in? Aren’t those decals lovely! I wondered whether there was once one on the base plate that’s been painted over, but it doesn’t seem so. Even got one on the. Lack face plate. I can’t find out much about 16ks except it’s drop feed, and this one looks quite a domestic/ tailoring set up. I imagine it could cope with leather though? I admit this machine is why I’m here! Really I’m a quilter, but I’ve already read much of use and interest here, and discovered I could start a whole new hobby with leather! A big thank you

Thanks MattS! I was thinking, how many collars will this dog need? It will probably hold up that long, especially if sewn s l o w l y! Tell you what, a (1)28 or (1)27 would be even cheaper, hopefully, or should be, given older shuttle technology, but could still manage the experiment. Yes I hate the label “semi industrial”. It’s asking for trouble. Speaking as someone who brought a hundredweight of engineering brinks home in my car, to build a garden project, and reupholstered a chesterfield sofa on my plastic Janome, I agree I was living dangerously!

There are loads of YouTube videos showing a variety of vintage singer domestic machine ‘sew offs’ chomping their merry way over multiple layers of denim or thin leather (sad to see!), but harness leather might be pushing it. Canvas should be possible, but I’d say get a cheaper vintage singer! The 185s are a bit pricy compared to a 99, it’s black equivalent. These are 3/4 size machines, but still powerful. The full size ones are the 15, 66 and 201, though the latter are expensive too. They can all achieve fairly heavy domestic work.