May we introduce? These cuties are three of six new additions to the university group for sustainability and the sewing café crew. The sewing café started again on October 9th and that’s why we need lots of well-functioning machines for everyone who wants to take part!

The Pfaff Hobbymatik 801 is now free of dirt and lint, freshly oiled and purring like a kitten! It can straight stitch and zigzag and is guaranteed to get through many layers of jeans.

The Kayser 45 (or Janome-1 as it says inside its cast iron case) was unfortunately not so well, something was grinding a lot and the needle hit the metal of the hook at the bottom (the mechanism of the lower thread). A perfect opportunity to learn how to adjust after cleaning. After changing the height of the needle bar, changing when the hook turns—with a lot of trial and error, and lo and behold, it works again! But then the mechanics of the feed dog were misaligned—oops, the Kayser remains a construction site for the time being.

And the Adlerette also got a major overhaul. The nameplate says 420, which according to sewing machine directory means it is a good 60 years old. It also says that the old plastic gears are often a source of problems. Fortunately, the gearwheel on our machine was intact. So we had to clean all the lubrication points, re-tension the V-belt, oil everything and reassemble it (photo story on Mastodon).

And now she is sewing really well again, even through four layers of jeans! So we are now perfectly prepared for the next sewing café on Monday, November 6 :)