Do you know ZPS?

I didn't, but now I do, and I'm a fan! 😃 ZPS is a manufacturer of precision machinery from Czech Republic, established in 1903 and still going today, see their brief history at the company website. They have always made very diverse machinery, and at some point even sewing machines! 😉 The name ZPS came…

The secret of the vertical oscillating hook

Vertical oscillating hook is based on Singer 15 which was originally a side-facing straight stitch hook. It is now perhaps more familiar as a forward-facing hook in many domestic machines. There is even a rotary hook derived from it, one variant is found in Husqvarna Viking machines from 1950s, another in Janome machines from 1970s,…

Zig-zag hooks and their strengths and weaknesses

All zig-zag machines that I've got, are round bobbin. I know of one transverse shuttle zig-zag machine: it is by Seidel & Neumann, see http://www.naehmaschine-antik.de. Round bobbin hooks can be classified like this: rotary versus oscillating, vertical versus horizontal, side-facing versus front-facing. Rotary and oscillating hooks have very similar performance characteristics when the other two…

Favta Automatic, or was it all worth it?

This is a lovely little machine that is only slightly larger than the Featherweight, but it doesn't just do straight stitch but also zig-zag and fancy stitches with cams, it's got a good free arm and a large working table. Fantastic! This was a really expensive little thing too - I found a receipt in…

The not so standard “standard domestic” bobbin case of Singer 15

Sewing machines based on the Singer 15 design are often referred to as "standard domestic", in particular their bobbins and needles. They were first introduced in 1895 with Singer model 15 and so are also known as "class 15", remaining unchanged to this day. Well, almost. 🙂 The bobbins remain indeed unchanged but the bobbin…

The Supernova

Necchi went Supernova in 1955 - there was a big bang but the world survived. 🙂 It says lifetime guarantee on that ad, I wonder if I can pop my Supernova to a local Necchi dealer for a free repair? The balance wheel clutch is still stuck. Hello! ​​ This is my Necchi Supernova Automatica…