Restore Along Part 16: Ric Rac Girls & Stitch Indicator Parts
Welcome back! We are happy to be getting back into the swing of things after the 12 Days of Christmas Sale! It sure feels like Christmas here at The Featherweight Shop! With the brisk Christmas air, the snowstorms that have been rolling in, we cannot wait to bake Featherweight cookies in the kitchen and pair them up with a nice cup of hot cocoa!
Let's dive in to see how Julia & Tulip are doing as well! Want a refresher on where we left off? Read the last installment here:
Previous Post: Restore Along Part 15: A New Addition
Tulip's new decals, and a set to practice on with Jill, arrived from The Singer Featherweight Shop today - Thank you, Ric Rac Girls!
As a reminder, Jill is the Featherweight that Jill S. graciously donated for Julia to use for painting practice. Today, Julia will strip a few of Jill's parts to clean her, in preparation for painting, which is an excellent opportunity to go into more disassembly detail and show steps that some restore along readers have asked about. Julia starts with the stitch indicator plates:
Steps Julia uses for removing stitch regulator parts. Side note: Step 3 says, ‘twist out,’ but the handle is a screw, so it unscrews until it comes out.
In the photo above, Julia shows the steps she uses for removing stitch indicator plates, starting with the number on. Julia usually puts a little bit of blue painter's take over the painted part of the plate after she removes the screws to keep from scratching the paint. If the handle doesn't come off easily, she slips quilting batting over the handle, so it doesn't get nicked up and twists it loose with a pair of pliers.
When working with the indicator unit, Julia sees the part number of the handle showing on the top side. The part number showing doesn't look great to Julia, but she has encountered the same thing on most of the other Featherweights in her collection. It sure does bugs her! So she takes the time to replace the handle with the part number facing down.
Julia also removes Jill's presser foot bar and needle bar.
Once the screws remove the releasing lever. It needs to come off to tap out the lift lever for the presser foot bar and for better access for removing the presser foot and needle bars.
Remove the set screw to slide out the presser bar and then the guide bracket.
Remove the screws for the bushing and needle bar. Then, slide the bar down.
Julia is tapping out the bushing with a swedge.
Here are the bushing’s tapped out.
Remove needle bar through the top of the machine.
Julia ends her work for the day removing varnish from Jill's bed and front surfaces with rubbing alcohol and no small amount of elbow grease.
Julia begins on Jill’s varnish removal with rubbing alcohol.
Here, Julia is working on Jill’s varnish removal on the bed.
Julia is getting Jill's varnish removed on her front surface.
She will continue working on Jill's finish next time, but at the end of today it is lovely to see the two machines, Jill and Tulip, side by side and day closer to their new look:
Next ~ Restore Along Part 17: A Historical Surprise