Singer 328K

As she was delivered

This was a customer's machine that I worked on for a few days. When the machine came to me the hand wheel would not turn, the bobbin tire was missing, and it needed a good cleaning. Here are some before pics.

Front of machine, bed has a red stain

Back of machine

Singer label plate showed moisture damage

I started cleaning right away, before I even got the hand wheel moving. There was quite a bit of lint and thread packed around the feed dogs and bobbin area and there was plenty of dried oil and lubricant throughout the machine. I was hoping that once all was clean the hand wheel would turn, but that was not the case. Heat from a hair dryer, Tri-Flow, and plenty of patience was applied over the course of a couple days. The machine was turned backwards, forwards, on end, and upside down to find where things were stuck. Finally, with the hand wheel removed, I used a screwdriver to turn the shaft. With more heat applied things finally freed up and now everything works smoothly. 

Everything needed a good cleaning, but the needle position selector, stitch length selector, and cam reader all worked fine

Old belt was dry and cracked beyond use, it was replaced

Needed a good cleaning and the bobbin tension was so tight that thread would not feed through

Needed cleaning and lubrication and tension disks adjusted

Missing a bobbin tire

Bottom panel removed

This machine was fun to work on. The gears are all metal and were in good condition and even though it was frozen up there was no damage and I had high hopes of getting it sewing again. As I was reading a bit about this machine online I found that this machine can be easily treadled.  Apparently, it is one of the few zig-zag capable Singers that lends itself to being treadle powered. The machine came to me without a case and I don't know if it lives in a cabinet or case at home, but it's nice to know that there are electric and non-electric power options. The 328K uses cams to sew decorative stitches including a zig-zag stitch. The owner has all of the original cams and the instruction manual and I enjoyed reading about the stitch options available.

Here are a few pictures of the machine after its service.

Red stain on bed is gone

The brass front plate lost its layer of rust and now has a nice patina

Trying out stitching

New belt and bobbin tire

Back side

This machine is ready to go home and start sewing. I'm sure there are many projects ahead and I look forward to hearing about its success in the coming years.

Singer 328K

Knit Dress B6388

The pattern is Butterick B6388 view D and I cut a size large. The fabric is a gray knit, probably purchased from Joann's. Dress sewn on my Bernina 1230.

This pattern was quick to cut out and relatively quick to sew up. I opted not to put in the pockets because I thought it would put too much fabric at my waist and hips and I think this was a good choice. While I am a huge fan of pockets, I like how the fabric drapes on the finished dress and I think pockets would have changed that.

Clips worked better than pins here

Rather than serging the seams, I used a straight stitched on the first pass through and a zig-zag on the second. This fabric shows no signs of fraying.

Back yoke seam trimmed

Trimming the seam without leaving jagged edges is a skill I'm still developing.

Two rows of stitching at the seams and then a trim

This fabric is thick and soft and reads as a solid with a subtle checkered pattern. I did go back to Joann's to see if there was any left because I would wear just about any article of clothing sewn with it, it is so very comfortable. The fabric was gone, I'll consider myself lucky to have found this much.

Front view

The neckline is raised and I like the crossover in the front

Back yoke

Hemline is parallel to the floor, photographer seems to have been tilted a bit

Fabric looks bunched under arm, should have been adjusted before photo

Side view, sleeves are nice and long

 I have worn this dress to work already and it held its shape and remained comfortable all day.  If I come across a similar fabric in the future, there will definitely be a second or third version of this dress.