Here's Vinty !! And she works, too !

Gave M&FIL their choice of snacks (my ‘thanks’ for the mystery sewing machine resting in Emmy-car’s trunk), so we went back to the doughnut shop next to the clinic that cared for their cats last month. Fine with me, I wanted another delicious kolache ! And Dearest Son got to pick out his own doughnuts for a change. The owner tossed in a half-dozen miniature cinnamon rolls that were so sweet, my peach tea tasted bland after eating one. It was so nice, to sit at the tables with milk and tea and treats, just chatting. Dearest got to brag on his work day, MIL got to brag on her finds. I also drove them to their bank, which was fine, I had to mail something off and the PO was just across the street.

Once home, I eagerly found a plug-in for the ‘new’ sewing machine  – boy, was it ever heavy ! All three of my machines together, Brody, KJ, and Ody, don’t weigh what "Rose Vintage", or ‘Vinty’ for short, does. Since all I saw was a photo of the case, I researched it a bit last night, but any one of a dozen Kenmore models used the same rose-embossed hard-shell. Only the bottom of the machine could say which one it was (158 – 10301). I actually squeeed when it lit up ! Besides the pedal / plug, it seemed nearly complete - all the bobbin race bits were present, and the standard zig-zag presser foot and generic needle were already installed and ready to go.

In the accessories bin, I found a tiny Kenmore screwdriver, three other tiny screwdrivers, a grey plastic needle threader in a Sears box with directions, a cotter pin, two thread pins (to fit in the case, those have to be removed), a zipper foot, a blind-stitch guide with shank, a straight stitch foot, an edge stitcher, and four plastic buttonhole guides. Thank Everything I found an online manual download (for free !) to tell me all that ! I still have little idea what to do with the blind-stitch guide.

Luckily, I had some experience with older machines, so I already knew how to thread it. I confess, it’s been a while since I saw one of those tension buttons that’s part of the thread path ! It’s a lot more convoluted than the ones on more recent machines. I had to re-thread a couple times, and adjust tensions everywhere, while trying to figure out what that dial did, and if that silver thing was tension or stitch length, as I hadn’t downloaded the manual yet. I’ll probably end up printing it for reference, I still can’t tell !

An hour later, I had a nice, even stitch down my fabric scrap – yaaay ! ‘Vinty’ is completely functional, and in fantastic shape. If you’re really curious, one of Vinty’s siblings is shown working here. Since nothing’s dated, not the machine or the manual, I’ll take Stagecoach Road Sewing’s word for it that it was a popular choice in the 60s and into the 70s.