Shiny old sewing machine

I've finished cleaning up the 15-91 Singer that was inside the little sewing table. It was such a mess when I first saw it, but I had rubbed a little spot on the back metal plate with my finger and got the impression that it was mostly just a thick layer of greasy old dust that would clean off nicely.

This was my first glimpse of the sewing machine. Yuck!

Some close-ups of the state it was in:But now it looks like this:I use mineral oil (ie. baby oil) to clean the outside, which is safe and doesn't rub off any of the gold paint. It turned out the condition of the machine underneath the dust was very good with very little wear to the decorative gold paint and just a few light pin scratches which you'd expect from any sewing machine that's been used at all.

I also opened up areas of the machine and cleaned them with a Q-tip and some more baby oil. It's mostly just dust that collects inside the machine. Then I used sewing machine oil to oil all the points indicated in the manual, on the top and underneath the machine. I found the manual on this sewing blog. Very friendly emails and the manual arrived in no time!

Here's the back:
And a detail of the front:This is a lovely machine. It can basically do everything you need apart from built in zig-zag stitches. Ie. a nice quality stitch, adjustable stitch length, numbered tension, reverse stitching (which not all old Singers have), and it uses regular needles and round bobbins. And it has a nice elegant shape with a spacious gap in the middle (called the harp) which means you have room for sewing big items like curtains.

I've used it already and despite all the neglect there doesn't seem to be thing wrong with it. These old Singers certainly aren't very fussy, just a little bit of attention and they're ready to get back to work.