The "W" Phenomenon

Today, I realized something very strange.  Henceforth and forever to be known as 'The W Phenomenon"

I was out driving for a while on a special errand today - thinking about my sewing machines.  They are all Singers and..

Four of the have a "W" name!  Weird, isn't it?!!

There's my 2000 Singer Scholastic 6510 - 'Workhorse'.  She's never had a ladies name and I've only ever called her my workhorse machine.  

WORKHORSE

She's not pretty in a classic sewing machine sense, no fancy scroll-y bits of decals grace her white plastic casing.  But she has powered through everything I have ever set under her needle! Most recently, handily handling the quilt on 'Fly Away Home'.  

Next there is the 1949 Singer FW, I had repainted.  She was named 'Wild Cherry', after the name of the paint color I chose for her makeover. 

WILD CHERRY

After her comes the 1956 LBOW (Light Beige, Oyster White) Singer 301a 'Wendy' gifted me from my friend P.  She got the machine from a old high school friend named Wendy, who had inscribed her name in the side of the machine's base.  

WENDY

I couldn't really change it could I?

Finally, the last of the W's is the 1956 LBOW Singer 301a I found at the spring estate sale - a twin to Wendy.  

TWIN 1956 LBOW 301a's

As I was scrubbing the daylights out of it the other day, I was trying to come up with a name for it.  The paperwork in the case, dating back to it's last cleaning & servicing in 1985, was made out in the name of a Mr. Walter S. I tried & tried but it's no use - his name is Walter. 

I finally had a chance to power up Walter and see how he ran & stitched.  

At first, he was sticky or slow to start moving, though the stitching was fairly good.  I lubed & oiled a bit more, un-threaded him and just let him run.  The movement evened out as the bits warmed up.  But in the end, he is still a wee bit heavy in the action of the hand wheel, especially as compared to Wendy, who, by the way got a much needed scrubbing today.

Wendy's crud

A quick check of the hours at sewing shop that handles my servicing and I was packing him up.  Since I was going for Walter, it seemed to make sense to take Workhorse along for a spa treatment as a reward for all the recent quilting work. 

When I pick these two up, the plan is to drop off Wendy for a tuneup. I need to be ready for heavy quilting season - Winter is right around the corner.  Oh, that's a good name for a sewing machine...'Winter'.  Now to find a deal on a 1964 white FW to use that name on and continue the W Phenomenon!