Tag Archives: Cams for Swiss zigzagger

Sep9

Vintage Singer “Stitch Patterns” and Swiss zigzagger cams – cont’d

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Elsie ‘s been rummaging about in The Sewing Room again and has discovered some spare red cams for the big black zigzaggers.  Funnily enough, I had a rush of blood to the head and a bit of a tidy up of my desk yesterday, and I found a few more of them lurking down the side of the printer, so I’ve added them all to the “Accessories” page.  So, if you need any red “Stitch Patterns” to complete either the standard set or the same-as-the-white-ones set (Set No.2, part no. 161008), drop us an email and we’ll gladly see what we can do for you.

That set of 10 cams for the Swiss zigzagger with the snail shell (160991) is probably for sale too, but frankly we’re still trying to decide what we want to do with it.  We normally just see if we can remember what an item cost us, then add a modest profit to cover our time doing whatever it took to get it ready for sale, but sometimes the figure we come up with does leave us wondering.

This set of Swiss cams is a good example of where our difficulty lies.  Given that anything which supplements my state pension is most welcome, common sense says we should do the obvious and put it on Ebay.  The problem is, though, that Elsie and I don’t see the blog and the sales we make through it as a money-maker (which is probably as well, because it certainly isn’t), so if we put it on Ebay, one of our readers will probably miss out.  And we’d be happier if that didn’t happen.

So what to do?  Who knows, but while we’re still prevaricating, if you fancy a perfect set of nice shiny cams for your Swiss zigzagger, you could do a lot worse than make us an offer for this one.

Anyhow … talking of Ebay and Swiss zigzaggers, we’re much obliged to Alice for drawing our attention to three that sold recently on Ebay UK.    The first of those was a 160991 with a full set of 10 cams, a less-than-perfect snail shell, no instruction book and an 86663 feed cover plate (complete with clearly visible rust) instead of the correct one.

The second was a 160990 with its instruction book and the correct set of 5 cams, but its box was broken and it too had an 86663 cover plate, albeit one seemingly without the rust.  Lest you be wondering, the significance of the 86663 is that it’s the really common cover plate that was supplied with buttonholers like the 86662, and although it’ll work OK with the zigzagger, it won’t fit in its box!   Only the correct one will.  That’s why the Swiss zigzagger cover plate is unique to it.

The third example was what looked to be a very nice 160991 complete with good snail shell and all its cams.  This one didn’t have its instruction book, but it did have the right cover plate.

Now, what I found most interesting about those three Ebay listings was firstly that a seller’s happy to sell, and buyers are willing to buy, a Swiss zigzagger with a cover plate which won’t go in the box.  Next, neither Elsie nor I could confidently have said which of those three would go for the lowest and for the highest price.

And we certainly wouldn’t have predicted that they would sell for £100, £114 and £137.93 respectively …

Aug20

Singer zigzagger cams, the everlasting washing-up brush, and other stuff

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Late last year, it finally dawned on me that we were buying a new washing-up brush every 4-5 weeks.

At one time, their short lifespan wasn’t particularly a problem, because we used to buy the blue 5-for-not-very-much-at-all ones from Ikea whenever we resigned ourselves to going in the place.  But then, oh happy day, it dawned on us that now we didn’t need anything else from Ikea, ever.  So we stopped going there.  Sure, we miss out on the entertainment provided by the young couples arguing over whether to get the FYRKANTIGS or the DAGSTORPS, and the mothers freaking out in the checkout queue because their objectionable child needs to go to the toilet now, but actually life’s still pretty good without Ikea.

However, it started really getting to me that every month or so, “wupbrush” appeared on the shopping-list blackboard in the kitchen so next time I went shopping I spent 70p or so on another one.  There had to be an alternative.

And there is!  It is the Lakeland Professional Washing-up Brush, which comes in a pack of two for £5.99.  These things seem to be indestructible.  The one pictured just now on the draining board has been used every single day for the last 9 months, during which time I’d have spent something like £4 on vastly inferior supermarket brushes,  it is still as good as new – and we do the dishes in seriously hot water in this house!  So if you’re in the UK, I really do commend this product to you, especially if, like us, you delight in frugality.

Amazing what you read about on here, isn’t it?

Anyhow, Singer zigzagger cams.  Elsie’s found some zigzagger cams which we didn’t realise we had, so we need to have a good old sort out of what’s what and I need to take some pictures so we can get them on the “Parts” page.  Meanwhile, if you’re short of any cams for your Swiss Zigzagger, let us know what you’re after and we’ll see what we can do.  I know that apart from anything else, we have one complete cased set of 10 as supplied with the snail-shell version (160991).

We also have some spare cams (or what Singer called “stitch patterns”) for the big black zigzaggers, including one or two from 161008 sets i.e. those early red versions of the white cams.  Again, let us know if you’re after any.

Moving on, it seems that Elsie and I are now closer to achieving a state of carlessness (as opposed to carelessness), about which there’s bound to be more in due course, and before much longer I’ll be coming out of the closet and revealing an interest in some vintage Singers which don’t have a single gold decal anywhere on them.  Gosh.

But right now, I need to set to and write Part Two of what’s in danger of turning into Everything You Ever Needed To Know About Singer 201K Tension But Were Afraid To Ask, so I’ll get the kettle on.  I need another coffee, and Elsie’s about due back from her first brambling expedition of the year.  She’s bound to be in need of a camomile tea …