Cleaning my Singer 20k13 and a Little Story about Bicycles

Didn't actually sew today, but I spent a few hours of quality time with one of my latest acquisitions - the Singer 20-33. It was really dirty. Lots of gunk inside, about a half pound of thread wrapped around the clutch pulley, and a note from "Jeanne" stuck in the belt guard. The note was on a notepad sheet from "The Torrington Company," which I had to look up. I have no idea when this note got jammed into the pulley guard on my machine. I don't even have a guess as to where this machine was most recently used. I bought it from a guy who said he didn't really intend to bid on a bunch of sewing machines at a nearby auction but he ended up bidding and winning. Supposedly, this machine and several others were part of the estate of a lady who lived somewhere nearby until recently. 

It turns out The Torrington Company has been around since about 1880 and was originally a major manufacturer of sewing machine needles, starting out as the Excelsior Needle Company. The Torrington Company grew out of Excelsior as a subsidiary making spokes for bicycle wheels back when Singer and other sewing machine companies were making bicycles as well as sewing machines. (Singer also made guns for a while! And bomb sights and other military equipment.) From the 1920s through the early 1980s, The Torrington Company was the largest manufacturer of bicycle pedals in the US and the exclusive supplier of pedals for Schwinn and Columbia bicycle companies.

The company expanded and acquired lots of other businesses and, by the time Jeanne's note ended up in my sewing machine, it's likely that The Torrington Company was making needle bearings as subsidiary of Ingersoll-Rand. They stopped making sewing machine needles altogether in 1980. It's an interesting story if you're into corporate history, which I guess I am. More here.

I don't know a whole lot about Singer 20-33s, but they all appear to have come in this blue color with a white stripe. It's the one thing about this machine that I just don't care for. If I ever have to take this machine completely apart for some reason, I'm pretty sure it'll get a new paint job before it gets put back together. Candy apple red, maybe. Or metal-flake orange. Other than the paint, though, it's a great little light-industrial machine that does zigzag stitches and has a reverse. After I got it cleaned up and oiled today I played around with the zigzag stitches and realized that I can do free-motion embroidery with this machine! So, I probably won't be selling this one any time soon. 

Got the table and machine all cleaned up. Just need to patch up a few holes in the table top

What I do want to get done soon is a cover for this machine. Since I'm done with my class and I only have a little bit of stitching to do on the scrub top, I need a project to keep me productive. You'd think this list of projects would be enough. . . Apparently not. To be fair, some of these aren't really "projects" yet. They're just ideas for potential projects.

That's right, folks -
I still have Thanksgiving napkins to finish.
Don't ask.