Sunday 11 December 2022

Emilie

Family issues have taken up a lot of what was meant to be my sewing time this week, to the extent that there's no chance of my completing my evening bag in time for the fancy dinner. I have a much simpler Plan B, but it's nowhere near advanced enough to make a blog post. So instead . . .

My latest acquisition

Vintage machine-wise, I've always been a Singer Girl, so with this I feel as though I've crossed over to the dark side! It all started ages ago, when I spotted this machine on an auction website.

It was all the fault of this picture

I had never seen blue and green decals before; most designs I've come across are gold, with occasional hints of reds, oranges or yellows. Courtesy of this webpage, I discovered that it was actually one of the many machines which Jones made under other names for various retailers, and that 'Kildare' was the brand name for Wm Whiteley Ltd in London.

Clearly, I am a sucker for a pretty decal - it's what first drew me to Deltic Elsie. So when I spotted a familiar image in the catalogue of my local auction house, of course I had to go to the viewing to take a look. I know almost nothing about shuttle machines but. . . everything moved, the shuttle was there (the one thing which I do know is crucial), the machine appeared to be in good condition, there were no dodgy electrics to consider and, well, one thing led to another!

The all-important shuttle

The case is different from either Singer bentwood cases or the more rectangular 'coffin tops'. The finish on both it and the machine base is in a poor state - when I peeled off the lot number sticker, the varnish underneath came away with it. I may end up sanding all the wood down and redoing it. On the plus side, the key is there, and the lock works.

Looking rather battered

The back of the machine is as ornate as the front.

More decals

I'm not sure how much it has been used. It is dusty/grubby on the outside, but there's no accumulation of fluff or grot inside. When I lifted the machine up, I found a pristine underside.

Well cleaned or barely oiled? I can't decide

I also found the instruction manual in the space under the machine. It appears to be dated September 1935, which fits in with the information I could find about the decals and serial number on this website.

'9/35' just visible at the bottom right

Looking though the instructions I discovered that Emilie (at some point, I will write a post about how my machines got their names) possesses a feature which none of my other vintage machines have, not even Mum's 1952 99K - reverse stitching!

Luxury!

She also still has all the feet which came as standard and, importantly, a couple of spare bobbins.

Feet for hemming, binding, braiding and quilting

There are also a couple of packets of needles, condition not yet checked. Pretty much the only thing which I know about vintage Jones machines is that they don't take what are now 'standard' needles i.e. 15x1. Instead, they take 128x1, which aren't readily available. Fortunately, I have discovered that Helen Howes sells them, and in a variety of sizes as well.

There isn't the wealth of information about the Jones CS that there is about Singer 66s and 99s, so cleaning and restoring Emilie is definitely going to be a voyage of discovery!

1 comment:

  1. Much as I love my treadles, a hand crank is useful to have as well. Yes, the extra bobbins were a definite plus when I was looking at Emilie - will definitely post more as I get her cleaned up and working.

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