Restore Along Part 18: Time For Surgery!
Welcome to 2020 and a very Happy New Year to all! We are celebrating here at The Featherweight Shop, all bundled up by the fire, sewing away, as happy as can be! What a way to bring in the new year! Let's check in on Julia and her Featherweights, Tulip and Jill.
To catch up on last week's installment, read here:
Previous Post: Restore Along Part 17: A Historical Surprise
Jill, the machine gifted to Julia for painting practice, is almost ready for sanding and painting, but first, Julia must remove the stitch indicator plate. The problem - the two screws holding it in place are stuck, not to mention stripped from Julia's earlier efforts.
Some blaster spray is enough to get the bottom screw loose, but the top screw is too stripped for Julia's screwdriver to get a hold on, even with the spray.
Paging Dr. Tech Support (Julia's husband, Mark, acquiring yet another title in this installment!) Mark brings in his big drill, and some light surgery on Jill commences. First, he drills out part of the screw head.
Then, he uses a screw extractor, tapping into the remaining part of the screw to grab the screw, and finally, the screw twists out.
Jill made it through the surgery and is ready to be taped up and sanded in preparation for a primer coat.
That will wait for tomorrow. Right now, it's time for a quick field trip!
Several months ago, Julia saw a newspaper article about a man, Steve, taking over the local sewing shop from his dad.
Shortly after seeing the newspaper article, Tech Support (not yet a doctor at that point) found, and they rescued a Singer 306W sewing machine in its cabinet from a local thrift store. Inside the cabinet was a piece of paper from Steve's shop!
Julia had placed the paper in a baggie and put it in her car for the next time she was in his part of town so she could take it into the shop to show him.
Today, after running some errands, Julia drives to the sewing shop. Steve is at the shop and is excited to see the note written on his dad's shop's paper. The note mentions the sewing machine was made in 1963 - 1965, making the machine and possibly the note as well, over 40 years old!
Steve is well experienced with painting sewing machines and even has a repainted 221 Featherweight on display. They have a friendly conversation about painting Featherweights, and Steve shows Julia his prized vintage and antique sewing machines, including his 222.
Seeing all the restored and painted machines at Steve's shop has bolstered Julia's spirits. She looks forward to practicing the painting process on Jill, and we look forward to seeing the results, but we'll have to wait until next week to see what's next for Julia and her Featherweights. See you then.