Farewell, Pfaff 30, etc.

Friends, if you've been reading MPB for more than a year, you probably know that my vintage Pfaff 30, which I found at the end of 2010 on Craigslist and bought from a Broadway actress (whose mother had purchased it new) was one of my most treasured sewing machine finds.

It hadn't been sewn with for decades and the motor burned off many layers of smoky dust at first.  But once I had this machine cranking, it was a fabulous workhorse and I thought we'd be together forever.  But life doesn't always turn out the way we expect.

How could I have predicted that between then and now I would acquire two Singer Featherweights, a Kenmore 158.141 in a table, a Kenmore 158.1040 (the 3/4 portable with the rose-embossed case), and a Singer 201 gifted from Rain?  Suddenly, my Pfaff, which I'd sewn on constantly throughout the early part of 2010, felt redundant and, once I found my Featherweight table at Christmastime last year, it took up precious space I no longer had.

I decided to sell it, but due to my ambivalence, I didn't do much to make that happen.  As it does so often, however, fate intervened.  Two MPB readers, Kimberly and Amanda, came to see me in Noah's Very Unusual Insight last Friday, and while I was chatting with them after the show, I offhandedly mentioned that if either one of them was interested in a vintage Pfaff straight stitcher, they should let me know (ha ha).  Lo and behold, the following day I received an email from Kimberly saying that she was interested in the machine!

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let it do the talking.  Below are Amanda (left) and Kimberly (right) last night.



Here's Amanda carrying the table (without the machine in it, of course) out of my apartment and out of my life (sob).



I'm still in shock, but Kimberly assures me that I can come visit my-I mean her Pfaff in the East Village whenever I want (That IS what you said, isn't it, Kimberly?).  That made me feel a little better.  I gave Kimberly a detailed tutorial on how the machine works -- how to oil it, thread it, wind the bobbin, etc.  I wasn't sure if I was being overly parental but, hey, I could be Kimberly's father (alas).  I feel responsible.

Thankfully, this painful goodbye has been somewhat offset by a few exciting hellos.

My O'Mast video arrived yesterday!  This is the documentary about Neopolitan tailoring by Gianluca Migliarotti I mentioned over the weekend, which has also been featured on the blog Made by Hand -- The Great Sartorial Debate.  Should we have a home screening/pot luck sometime this Spring perhaps?  Look at the cute packaging!







I also just received Lynda Maynard's book, The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques.  I'll talk more about this one in the future, but here's a peek.









On Sunday, I promised you a pic of Michael's sister Sara's Prada pumps, picked up at a NYC consignment store at a great -- albeit still high in my book, but what do I know? -- price on her visit here last weekend.  I must say they're lovely and (Sara assures me) practical!



Big news!  We now have RCN cable Internet service instead of crummy Verizon DSL.  Uploads are practically instantaneous.  I called for installation on Monday and Monday evening we were already using it -- how often does that happen in life?  Normally I hate dealing with phone/Internet/cable companies, but it felt SO good to cancel my Verizon service, I can't tell you.

Friends, that's it.  A few questions:

1) Have you ever sold a vintage sewing machine and later regretted it?

2) Have you ever bought/sold shoes on consignment? 

3) Can anyone recommend a good HD video camera (or a still camera that has HD video capability) for less than $500?  (Ideally much less)  Now that I have cable Internet I'd like to produce some higher quality video but my Canon S90 doesn't do HD.

4) Anybody up for a spring potluck/screening (maybe we can throw in another video and make it a double feature.  The Singing Nun perhaps?)

Have a great day, everybody!

Read More

Peter speaks! The Pfaff 30 VIDEO

Happy New Year, friends!

I'd like to spend the first day of 2011 sharing my new vintage Pfaff 30 with you.  On this short video you'll hear the Pfaff -- and me -- in action, and see how she stitches.

I love this powerful German beauty and can't wait to sew my next project on her.  I have more detailed photos of the machine here.

Enjoy!




Any questions?  Just let me know.

Have a great day, everybody!

Read More

Resisting Sewing Obsession

Readers, as you can see, I now have my Pfaff 30 here at home in its original table.  I am so into this machine.  We have an incredible physical connection.

But it's not perfect.

And friends, this is where I need your help.  You know how you've helped me get past some of my former obsessions, like fitting my self-drafted bodice and living with the natural drape of my wool melton toggle coat?  Well now I need to learn how to live with a vintage sewing machine that isn't quite at its physical peak though definitely possessing all the potential to get there.

The belt, one of those stretchy tube-like ones, while still basically intact, could probably be replaced.  I can do that easily.



Tinkering with belts of late, I have learned to my surprise that belts often do better looser rather than tighter, as a tight belt can strain the motor.  That adjustment definitely helped in the case of the Pfaff 30. 

BTW, have I showed you my knee pedal?  I love not having to deal with one more pedal on the floor.  When I first attached it it seemed oddly high until I remembered that that lever part swings down.  Duh.  (I was like, Did women sew in high heels or something so their knees were up higher...?)



Then there's the subject of cleaning.  OK, here's the deal: while I am willing to douse my sewing machines with enough sewing machine oil to give them acne, I draw the line at kerosene.  Those inclined toward the mechanical -- Debbie, Susan -- certainly know about kerosene.  It's sort of like gasoline, and in some parts of the world is used as a fuel source, and it's supposed to be incredibly effective at dissolving old grease,  unsticking frozen gears, and killing head lice (I'm not kidding).  But its smell is easily absorbed into just about everything and once you have that smell in your house, fuggitabout it -- you have to move.

Now I do have a balcony where I could work but right now it's covered with about ten inches of snow and it's freezing outside.  I actually do own a liter of kerosene -- it was recommended in my old Elna Grasshopper instruction manual to use as a lubricant -- which has been sitting on a shelf on the balcony; it's recommended you don't even store the stuff in your house.

Even the plastic container the kerosene comes in stinks -- think gas station mixed with bus exhaust -- and I just don't want to deal with it.  I've read about people soaking entire machine heads in kerosene to thoroughly clean them, but honestly, where do they do this?  Certainly not in their living room.

Frankly, while all my machines could benefit from this sort of cleaning, is it necessary?  When I turn the hand wheels of my Singers, they feel wonderfully free; the Pfaff, a little bit less so.  I've oiled and wiped and oiled again and I think the more I sew on the machine the more things will loosen up -- this was definitely the case for my Singer 15-91 which, as you may recall from my 15-91 video, arrived a little noisy and stiff and now runs like a thoroughbred, even though I never did more than oil it (with plain old Singer sewing machine oil).

I have to remind myself that these machines are here to serve me in my sewing and not me to serve them, though obviously I want to keep my tools in good shape.  I like when vintage machines need a little TLC and it's a great feeling to bring an old machine back to working life, as I did with my Singer 66 treadle.

But they -- like my sewing projects -- don't have to be perfect, right?

I'm also thinking of buying a wire sealant for the old wires in my Singer 15-91 and not replacing all of them right now.  For one thing, as I mentioned the other day, the clutch release wheel is stuck.  It's going to take kerosene to break that down, and I can't rewire the motor without removing the hand wheel (I don't think).  I'll likely replace the light, where the wire deterioration is most evident, with the light that came with my 15-90.  Or not, I don't know.

Friends of an obsessive bent, how do you deal with these moments of compulsive tinkering, be it on a sewing project or maintaining a vintage sewing machine?  Is it best to just go for a swim, clean out a closet, make soup -- anything that takes you away from the obsession du jour?

I think this is why people buy brand new sewing machines.  When they break -- and they will -- you can just throw them away and buy another one.  You can't soak a plastic Brother LS2125 in kerosene, that's for sure. 

 Guys, I need good tips and I need them soon, before I start preparing my kerosene cocktail. (Won't a little lemon juice or apple cider vinegar work just as well?  Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda?)

In closing, do you ever experience sewing obsession?   Do you fuss over invisible zippers that are ever-so-slightly visible?  Do you pick lint out from under your throat plate after every project?  Do you pre-shrink your thread?

Where does it end and why is it worse around the holidays?!  Your wise counsel, please.

A big Pfaff-y hug to you all!

Read More

Oh Joy! Oh Rapture! The Pfaff 30

Friends, let's face it: when it comes to sewing machines, I'm a playa.  In just eighteen months I've been with more sewing machines than some of you will sew on in your entire lives.  Is it me or are men just that way?

I've had sexy Italian Necchis, the off-beat, not-easily-forgotten Elna Grasshopper, plain but reliable Kenmore,  sensuous Singers 15, 66, and Spartan, the showgirl Genie, a Viking on the skids, a Brother, and a White.  There's even been another Pfaff in my life, my smooth-as-silk 139 zigzagger. 

I've made progress toward settling down with my 15-91 though I admit I also had a little thing going on, on the side, with my 66 -- now 15-90 -- treadle.

But readers, I've finally found the one.  I think.



This Pfaff 30 was being sold on Craigslist for $40 by a real live Broadway actress.  The machine belonged to her mother and had been used as a bedside night table for -- I'm guessing -- many decades.  Yes, this machine has a table, which I'll be picking up later today and will show you tomorrow.

I picked up the Pfaff around 4 pm, twenty blocks north of where I live, approximately a mile.  Michael wasn't available to come with me so I figured I'd just go take a look at the machine and then if I decided to take it, come back for it.  But once I was there it was love at first sight and I couldn't leave without her, so I carefully removed the machine from the table (unscrewing the knee pedal -- very excited about the knee pedal) and fortunately the seller had a sturdy cardboard box I could carry it in.  I'd guess it weighs about 30 lbs. -- heavier than some, lighter than others.

But the traffic at this hour was horrendous (Ninth Ave. and 42nd St.), total gridlock, and a bus or cab was not to be had.  So readers, I walked.  After about ten blocks I called Michael and told him to get his coat on and walk up the East side of Ninth Avenue and come help me!

Despite having been in a table, the machine was dusty and had all the tell-tale signs of decades-long neglect: bobbin with old, discolored thread, crusty dust balls under the needle plate, stiff gears.
 



But it had an intact belt, decent wiring, and it ran, albeit stiffly.  After a lot of oiling and some spit and polish, however, it purred.

And it stitches beautifully.

Leather:
 

Four layers:



And back to cotton shirting with no tension adjustment needed.



A few great things about the Pfaff 30: it takes standard Class 15 bobbins, it fits Singer tables and Singer straight stitch accessories, it has a 1.3 amp motor (powerful), and it uses standard needles.





The sewing experience is wonderful.  It's beautifully engineered, and feels so powerful and precise.  Check out the stitch length selector -- much more accurate than a similar vintage Singer.



There's not a whole lot of info online about the Pfaff 30.  It sounds like it's nearly identical to the Pfaff 131.  The instruction manual actually says 131 on it, so I'm guessing they're close kin.  The machine also says Made in Germany (as opposed to West Germany) which suggests that this is a pre-WW II machine. 



I'll have to make a movie of the Pfaff in action sometime soon, because it really is something special.

I think this is the one you marry, folks.  I think.

Anybody out there have any additional insights?

Do you forgive me for my promiscuous peddle-hopping?  I think, since I did sell seven sewing machines this very month, I'm entitled to a few new ones to help fill the hole in my heart, don't you?

Anyway, no more for the rest of the year -- promise.

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

Read More