Another Gets Added to the Fleet-Miss 99K

I don’t know what I was thinking…well actually I do.

It all started on Tuesday the 14th.  I was looking at the Facebook for sale groups and saw that there were going to be garage sales going on in Decorah.  There were two sales on the same road next to each other.  Well that was fun.  One sale was a going out of business sale for a childcare provider.  The other had a Singer 99K on it.  Oh my.  In my personal opinion, I didn’t need to go to Rochester for the big Gold Rush antique sale….I was fine with just going to Decorah for the garage sale.

I didn’t say anything to Hubby.  I knew he wanted to go to Rochester and he rarely takes time off of work.  He should pick.  Besides, I didn’t need more childcare stuff and I definitely didn’t need another sewing machine.

So Rochester we went.  The sales were “meh”.  Nothing that I was thrilled about…just meh.  As we were starting to drive home, Hubby asked if I wanted to do anything.  I didn’t wait a second before I said that there some garage sales in Decorah I wouldn’t mind going to.  We were pushing the clock, but I knew we could sneak it in.  He said yes.  I was driving so away I went.  I was excited now.

We pulled into town with about a half hour to spare to hit the two sales.  We came to the childcare sale.  There were several cars there so we passed that sale and went to the next sale.  It was a little picked over….but I happened to find this…..

a bag full of wool scraps.  I know, I know.  Kelli is going to kill me.  I keep thinking I’m going to stitch a wool project and never do.  Well now I have one more bag of scraps just in case in ever do.  It was only $1 for the bag so I can live with that.  (Besides, have you seen how much wool scraps are???) This was actually a good deal.

Then I circled around and saw that the 99K was still there.  They had it plugged in.  I didn’t really think it would be there.  I really didn’t think it would look so nice.  I really didn’t think I would let myself think about buying it.  BUT, I couldn’t help but try a plugged in machine.  Oh my, she purred yet she had some really good zip to her.  After about two inches of stitching, I was in LOVE.

The price on it was $60.  The cabinet it was in was not fancy at all.  It needed touch up but after what I did to the last cabinet, I wasn’t worried about that.

I looked at Hubby…I didn’t ask a thing.  He smiled and said, “I don’t care”…and that’s all the encouragement I needed.  I asked the lady what the bottom dollar was or if $60 was a firm price.  She called her sister as she was the owner of the machine and the answer back was $50.  I planned to buy it either way but the $50 vs the $60 did make me feel a little better about it.  $50 wasn’t a “deal” but not a terrible price at all.  So…home she came.

I’m not crazy about the cabinet.  It’s plain.  No drawers but she makes up with it with her charm.  She how petite she is??I laid a ruler out so you can see how big she is.  12″ is all.

Here’s the ruler against my 15-91.  You can see it’s much bigger…

and here’s the ruler against my Pfaff that I regularly sew on.

You can quickly see that all machines were not created equal.  Some are created CUTE!!

I looked up her number to give her a birthday….She’s a 1956 model.  She’s aged well.

The stitch on it is fabulous!!  Completely wonderful.  I’ve sewn and tested out lots of older machines.  Often they don’t have speed or lots of power.  This little girl sure does.  You can’t see the stitches on my test cloth but they are FINE.  I just love her.

It’s been a crazy busy week with the prep work for the garage sale so I haven’t shined up the cabinet.  That will be likely happen over Labor Day Weekend as I have plans to finish up cleaning the sewing room.

The cabinet didn’t have a chair so I dug around and found one that will work for now.  As you can see the wood colors are all bad.

I tried to look up and see what the price of the machine would have been back then.  I found this page.  But nothing was definitive.  Does anyone the price women originally paid for the Singer sewing machines?  That would be fun to know.

Right now, I can tell you this…I really love her.  She is so zippy.

So for vintage machines I now have a 99K, a 301 and a 15-91…not including the treadles.  I should probably stop there as there’s no more room for a machine but what fun is that?  We’ll see after I get my sewing room arranged.  What’s you favorite vintage machine?  Are there others I should be on the look out for?

…and for the garage sale with the daycare stuff….She was sold out.  In the pictures she had posted of the sale, there was a FULL garage and items were lined up and down her driveway.  There was honestly only one table of stuff left.  I was happy with that.  I already had just what I wanted my sweet little 99K.