Meet Kathleen, My Singer 28K

I don't think I have introduced this sweet girl yet. I picked her up about a month ago (along with a German treadle machine). Her owner was only asking $25 for her and once again I could not drive there fast enough. Actually I made my husband drive since I have a phobia of freeways. The seller was an older British lady who's husband had just passed away. She was downsizing and wanting to part with a couple of vintage machines. This particular one had belonged to her mother. She brought it back from England after settling her mom's estate. Over across the pond hand cranks are a dime a dozen but they are rather hard to come by here in the states. Especially in this wonderful condition. I wanted to honor the original owner who kept such nice care of this machine so I named it Kathleen, after her. Kathleen came to me needing a little loving care. Her presser foot bar had slipped down out of the tube and she was quite dirty and full of lint and dust. However her decals are almost pristine and her internal mechanisms all work well. None of her screws were welded shut with hardened oil and even her clutch disengages as it should. Based on her serial number she was built in 1905. That makes her 108 years old. She also came in her coffin case which is in very good condition but I did not photograph that. Sorry. Here are a couple of videos of Kathleen in action to make up for that oversight. First up is a video of her winding one of her long bobbins. She uses these bobbins inside of a bullet shaped shuttle case. This is known as a vibrating shuttle (VS) machine.

And here is a video of her sewing along. Still going after 108 years. Amazing! What a lovely old girl she is. I am so fortunate to have found her.

She will have to share accessories with my Singer 66 Red Eye treadle and my Singer 15-91. They are all side clamping, low shank machines. I spent some time adjusting her thread tensions, both top and bottom and I think I have it set up perfectly. Look at these nice, even, balanced stitches. The swatch is folded over so you can see the stitches top and bottom.