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A few additions and improvements to my Singer 99K.

The replacement needle plate with seam allowance markings that I mentioned in the last post has arrived, and it is much better, but there was one small issue. It's a really tight fit to sit it in place. Looking at it closely in situ I found that the needle also drops really close to the edge of the needle hole. I needed to make a few modifications to make it seat a little better in the bed of the machine..... out comes the Dremel and a conical grinding wheel. A few minutes of grinding and checking the fit and the plate fits just right. I suppose I should have sent it back, but it was a simple and easy fix to do.

New Needle plate fitted.

I use Coates "Moon" thread as my go-to thread. At less than £1 for a 1,000yd spool, it is inexpensive, comes in a wide range of colours and shades and is strong. But, as I found out yesterday the 99K has an issue with it. It's a cross wound thread, which, unlike the parallel wound spools of old, it needs to peel the thread off of the end of the spool rather than the side. Now that may not sound like a big deal, and it isn't until you sew a long seam. Sitting the spool on the machine's spool pin makes the thread come off the side of the spool, which imparts a twist to the thread, which on a long seam I found gave a few issues with twist knots. To solve the problem I just put the thread on my thread stand and site it next to the machine. The thread strips off the spool correctly now with no twist issues. Oddly I have not come across this as an issue with my Toyota machine in a year of using Moon thread.

Thread stand. Also, shows the position of the light switch.

I  like to see what I am doing when sewing. Without a light, the 99K needle area was more than a little hard to see at times. Luckily I had a 30 LED goose neck, magnetic mains lamp spare from when I ordered several to put on our other machines and sergers which suffer from poor, old incandescent lighting. I fit this lamp to the baseplate of the machine using is powerful magnetic switch, to where the motor had been mounted. I snaked the lamp head through the harp to illuminate the needle and harp area really well (see below).

LED lamp in working position

Light switch in magnetic mount.


I replaced the rusty straight stitch foot with a slightly later Singer hinged foot that I had in my box of feet. It works fine but I may try and find a replacement foot that is the same as the original, mainly because I like how narrow it is compared to the one on the machine now.

Replacement hinged straight stitch foot.

The bobbin tension needed some attention after a few days use. I found that it became lose and stitches were not forming correctly. I found this article and within a couple of minutes, the stitches were really good.

I am now really pleased with my 99K and as a little test drive I have sewn together a quilt block for my partner Diane (she is making 2 quilts at the moment). This is it.

Quilt block sewn together on my 99K.

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