THE MUYUPAI LEATHER PATCHER

 I just came into several of these wonderful mechanical contraptions, by way of an amiable and persuasive fellow who got them in a storage locker purchase.
 In spite of being new, they are collectively, bent, broken, missing parts, rusty and dirty. I figure that I might get 3or 4 complete machines out of the lot. But I don't care. I think that they are marvelous contraptions. When you turn the hand wheel, parts and levers go up and down and back and forth. They are just plain fun to watch in action.
By coincidence, I had a customer come to look at a sewing machine, for leather, and, it turned out that he had actually worked for the company that made them in China at one time. He looked at one and told me that I could make shoes with it, and could sew up to about 1/2" of leather.
Anyone out there want to make shoes?

The Singer Model 15, the universal sewing machine

I have become very fond of the model 15, They are easy to service and easy to sell, because they are a great all around sewing machine. They have stitch length adjustment, reverse and feed dogs that can be lowered for free hand and darning. Button holers and zig-zaggers are easy to find and use they are not expensive to buy.

But more than that, this is a machine that has been in production in form or another since the 1880's to the present day. Yes, you can still buy a brand new one, it won't say Singer on it, but it's still a model 15 with all the same features and parts will be interchangeable with the Singer version. Should you wish to have one, the esteemed Nan Yaun Sewing Equipment Company in Hong Kong will sell you one, (with a hand crank, case extra) for just under U$50.00 plus shipping.

The modern machines are sold into Asia as commercial sewing machines, and there is a fair chance something you are wearing today was sewn on one of them. They are sold under the brand names like Carnation or Butterfly.

How this came be is a curious tale. In US occupied, post war Japan, the Military government, headed by General Douglas MacArthur, found it self governing a nation on the verge of economic and social collapse. During the war, most of Japan's industry had been converted to military production and them bombed or burnt out by the Americans. Unemployment was high, starvation threatened many and hungry people tend to be prone to disorder and riot.

In an effort to get the Japanese economy moving again, the US gave some Japanese industrialists a set of blue prints for a Singer model and told them they should start making them for export. Then they banned the importation of sewing machines into Japan, banned foreign ownership of sewing machine manufacturing companies and then got the US government to drop all import tariffs on Japanese sewing machines. I suspect that they did this with other consumer products too.

What Singer thought of this, I do not know, but I imagine they were not pleased at all. First they had to get rid of their plant in Japan, They were banned from exporting to Japan from anywhere else, and worst of all, they had to watch as a flood of lower priced Japanese copies of their design, came into the US market. These 'clones" as they came to be called, nearly put Singer out of business. Other companies like White, threw in the towel on their US production facilities and started to sell 'branded' clones instead.

I have seen them branded, White, Piedmont, Morse, Viking, Kenmore, Woodsonia, and just about any other department store house brand you can mention. Remember, this was the 1950's and just about every household had a sewing machine, as it was still cheaper to make your own clothes than buy them. They sold in the millions......And, they came in colors, blue, teal, red, black, and others, (even pink!), no more stodgy Singer black and gold!

Nothing stays the same, and the Japanese manufacturers, started to improve and evolve the original model 15 design. The lovely teal White, in a previous blog is an evolved model clone. It has the same oscillating hook, uses the same bobbin and has the tensioner on the needle bar cover. It's a Model 15 in fancy dress....

  Impressive no?
Singer sold millions of them, the Japanese made millions of them, the Chinese continue to make them today: more than 130 years after they first came onto the market. They helped rebuild the Japanese economy, made Singer rich and founded a whole new school of sewing machine design....amazing, I think, especially as I sell these marvels for about $85.00 apiece.

She's lovely.......

She's a lovely sewing sewing machine, isn't she?  Ready to go in a your choice of a carry case or table.
She's a teal colored White 231 with good looks and a shady past.....
When I first met this machine she was in an espresso machine repair depot. Her owners told me something of her history, including the tidbit that she had spent time serving in a notorious house of ill repute somewhere on the Sunshine coast. What precisely would need to be sewn, in such a place, is beyond me, but then, I don't know much about those places.
How ever I do know a little bit about sewing machines and she's a good sewer. Reliable, sturdy Japanese machine of the 1950's or 60's, straight stitch, easy to use and service.
Given these machines have a life span of about a century or so, it's fun to imagine where else she might have been could end up in the course of her sewing career.
Just serviced and ready for Christmas

The Singer 327J

I had one of these machines last spring and summer. It didn't sell at all, So it just sat on the shelf where I could see it every day in passing. Finally I sold it, and then discovered that I missed it. I think it's the styling that drew my eye to it every time I walked by. 
This one came my way and drew the attention of a customer who was as enchanted with it's good looks as I was, and took it home with her...........sigh.....

Nivens Laws

came across these this morning.....

Drawn from Known Space: The Future Worlds of Larry Niven

1. 1. Never throw shit at an armed man.
   2. Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.
2. Never fire a laser at a mirror.
3. Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun.
4. F × S = k. The product of Freedom and Security is a constant. To gain more freedom of thought and/or action, you must give up some security, and vice versa.
5. Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless.
6. Any damn fool can predict the past.
7. History never repeats itself.
8. Ethics change with technology.
9. There Ain't No Justice. (often abbreviated to TANJ)
10. The ways of being human are bounded but infinite.
11. The world's dullest subjects, in order:
    1. Somebody else's diet.
    2. How to make money for a worthy cause.
    3. Special Interest Liberation.
12. Fuzzy Pink Niven's Law: Never waste calories.
13. There is no cause so right that one cannot find a fool following it.
14. No technique works if it isn't used.
15. Not responsible for advice not taken.
16. Old age is not for sissies.

The DOMINION is here.
Don't let the good looks and the pretty bow fool you, folks. This is one kick ass sewing machine.! It's a work horse with an upgraded motor on it and it don't care......I even think I heard it laughing at me as I crammed six layers of denim under the pressure foot. Didn't even slow it down.....It a straight stitcher with adjustable feed dogs and reverse. Should be able to sew just about anything you want. $75.00

Pink and Panache never go out of style!

A very fashionably dressed lady, told me one time, (after I had just complimented her on her attire), that "Pink and Panache, never, go out of style!" I was reminded of  her when I first saw this machine, on the floor of the local Salvation Army store. It just stood out! It has style. Not sure what you would call it, maybe, mid century? and it does have panache!
It's also a darn good sewing machine. It makes a nice even, tight stitch, and goes through six layers of denim just as smoothly as two layers of cotton.
It's a JA-21 machine and like all of the Japanese machines of the period, it's a work horse, sturdy and reliable.
These machine were originally fitted with a central oiling system consisting of a reservoir and copper tubes to dispense oil throughout the machine, with the push of a button.  this one had it, but it leaked, big time, so it was removed, now you have to do it manually.