Ms. Universal

This machine came from a garage sale last weekend.  In between rain showers I made it to three sales. At one house, I approached a man sitting in his lawn chair patiently waiting for customers determined enough to come out in the rain. I asked if there were any ‘sewing things’ available.  He pointed to a case under the table and said ‘there’s a sewing machine in there.’  I opened it up and found a delightful teal colored Universal machine.  He said that both of his daughters sewed, but they were grown and out of the house and there was no one left to use the machine now.  A hand-written note on the carrying case said ‘new belt needed’.  There was no user manual included, but it did have the original carrying case. We talked for a bit longer and then I walked back to the car with my new Universal friend.  

A woman never reveals her age, but maybe I can find some clues online

As soon as I got the machine home, we had a quick photo shoot on the kitchen floor.  Ms. Universal (yeah, this lady is going to be pageant-worthy soon) had a noticeable layer of grime on her and plenty of lint under the needle plate, but she also had a fair amount of chrome that will polish up nicely. The hand wheel turned freely, but I didn't plug in the machine to see if it worked. I’ll see to cleaning her up and replacing the crumbling belt first.  

She looks good coming and going