New Arrival

Just look at what followed me home today.

That's right dear reader.  It's a shabby blue box.  Or is it?  Take a closer look.

The lid is off the shabby blue box and we see a shabby black sewing machine.  A Singer 15k80 complete with dust (can you see the finger marks?) and hot pink thread (so not my colour).  Now this machine, like most of us over thirty, would appear to have a story to tell and as I look more closely at it I am starting to think that if this "Singer" could sing it would be hymns ancient and modern.  

My first impression of this machine: black enamel, gold "RAF" decals and thumb screw stitch length control (no back tack or dropped feed dogs here) make me think old.  Late 1930s or immediate post-war?  All right not that old in the world of sewing machines but a respectable vintage.

BUT just look at that case though!  This machine should be in a bentwood or a faux croc skin case shouldn't it?  Then again that blue case looks very non-Singer to me and I can imagine that this is some kind of replacement.  I think, however, that this machine may be more youthful than I first believed.  The striped face plate makes me think she is nearer sixty than seventy.  So what... 1950 maybe?  But look at this:

Note the plate with the model designation.  This looks more like the sort of thing one might find on a slant-o-matic or 185k.  I can wait no longer and look up the serial number.  The internet-o-graph tells me that the serial number was allocated in 1957!  WOW I never imagined that Singer would have been able to sell a machine like this as late as that.  Straight stitch and in one direction only.  Just think about what else was on offer at that time.  So this is a rock and roll stitcher rather than jazz or swing.  That might just explain the blue vinyl case.  I would be really glad to hear from anyone else who has experience of late 15ks and the kind of cases they can be found in.