Dec13

The Singer Blind Stitch Attachment 86649

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Picture of Simanco 86649

Here’s a picture which will explain one of the many minor mysteries about vintage Singer attachments.  The Blind Stitch Attachment (Simanco 86649) turns up on the internets relatively often as these things go, but hands up if you’ve seen the box for one before.

Thought so.  We hadn’t either until this one followed us home in a cabinet drawer last month, but now we understand.  That box is so flimp it’s about as much use as a concrete trampoline.  It’s no wonder they’re a rarity 50 years on.

Anyhow, this one’s in Elsie’s collection now, and not because of that tatty old box.  Elsie’s claimed it because this one works reliably.  I don’t know what it is about the blind stitchers, but we’ve found that more often than not, they don’t work properly.  Or if they do, they don’t keep working properly.

The really annoying thing is I just can’t figure out why!  The problem is that every now and then they don’t do the sideways hoppity-skip like they should, and the reason for their misbehaviour is that sometimes that ratchet on the side follows the actuating arm on the down stroke instead of staying put where it was rotated to on the up stroke.  In other words, the ratchet always rotates clockwise on the up stroke like it should, but sometimes it then rotates anti-clock on the down stroke.  Which it shouldn’t.

Taking these things apart, cleaning them and lubricating them never seems to make any difference, and it’s still beyond my powers of reason to work out why, if Singer wanted it do what it’s supposed to do, they designed it quite like they did.

So there you go.

Now you know what the box looks like, and you also know why we rarely sell Singer Blind Stitch Attachments …

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6 responses

  1. I sold mine on ebay, I only got £3.20 for it but after seeing the other things the buyer has spent the last 2 years purchasing I am confident it went to a good home.

  3. I have one of these attachments in its box which is in excellent condition, with instructions. I think it came free with my buttonholer, which wouldn’t have cost more than a few dollars. Apparently New Zealand is a great place to find this sort of thing! I’ve got no interest in selling it but it’s nice to know I’ve got a “survivor” on my hands.

    My box has £2-9-3 pencilled on it, but it had a sum (£1-18-3, 11-0) so I don’t know which price was for this attachment. Presume based on the previous reply it was £1-18-3. I wonder what else the person bought — maybe the buttonholer I got at the same time!

  4. Thank you for your swift reply Sid. No, It doesn’t have the instructions with it but I’ll give it a go on EBay & see. Thanks again. All the best to you.
    Regards
    Fiona.

  5. Hi Fiona

    Thanks for your kind words about the blog. Those boxes were a waste of time from day one! I’m afraid that we’re not interested in buying it in, and it’s difficult to predict what it’ll fetch on Ebay. If you hype it up and list it with a good picture, it might go over £10 if it has the instructions with it, but as always, Ebay’s a total lottery. Good luck! 🙂

    Sid

  6. Hi, I have had a new Singer Blind Stitch Attachment following me around for years, it gets moved from one draw to another when I have a sort out. It is wrapped in the original Singer Anti-Corrosion paper & is sort of boxed, well, the box is extremely tatty now. It has £1-5-4 written on the front & No 86649.
    I stumbled across your blog whilst searching some information on it as I plan to sell it on EBay & thought I would mention it to you first considering your interest in these items. Any advise would be gratefully received to help me sell it.

    I love your blog & you have some fantastic photographs on here.

    Hope to hear from you soon.