Pfaff 230 Automatic

This is one of the great classics from 1955: Pfaff 230 Automatic, not to be confused with Pfaff 230 that didn't have any fancy stitches. This machine has signature Pfaff forward-facing vertical rotary hook with internal belt transmission. Zig-zag is done with a swing needle mechanism and all the fancy stuff is in the arm.…

I found The One!

This is a strong statement. We all search for The One And Only sewing machine that would replace all other sewing machines for us. It would do everything we care to do, perfectly. Having used so many machines over the years, I have all but given up on finding The One. Not even The One…

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…

The D9 and its incarnations

Wheeler & Wilson' D9 was a very successful rotary machine - and was reproduced and modified by many manufacturers. Wheeler & Wilson themselves produced many versions of this machine and kept improving various aspects of it as time went on. In 1905 Singer took over Wheeler & Wilson and in turn produced some D9-based machines…

Jones needles and bobbins for CS and Spool

Jones was one of the oldest British sewing machine manufacturers, established in 1859 in Greater Manchester. Jones produced a number of classes of sewing machines, but I have only worked with cylinder shuttle (CS) and rotary (Spool), so this post focuses on them. Jones CS is a vibrating shuttle machine after a White design, named…

The Mad Hatter – Vigorelli Fantasy

If you thought that Necchi's Supernova was mad with its stackable cams and four pattern modifiying knobs with virtually infinite design variations, then you haven't seen Vigorelli Fantasy. Bigger stackable cams that combine several patterns, seven pattern modifying knobs and levers, and a feed mechanism not only moving back and forth, but also sideways giving…