The Lady in Waiting

Some people claim there are only a handful of sewing machines with the Kenmore label that are worth owning. Some folks will go even further and state that the best of the best is the Pfaff 280 in the Sears & Roebuck paint: aka the Lady Kenmore 516.891. If these people were going on rarity alone, I would argue that the early 50's Kenmore Zig zagger is a far more difficult machine to find, but in this case it's not the rarity, but the quality of craftsmanship.

The machine as first developed by Gritzner Kayser in 1955-56. 

Sold here as a Kenmore 117.740

In '57 under Pfaff ownership the GK line saw very few changes. 

The most significant being the slide plate redesign that actually allowed enough room to change the bobbin.

Kenmore 117.840 & 117.841 models.

It wasn't the bobbin slide plate that the design team had been working on. They spent hours turning the old interchangeable cam disc system into an internal cam-stack made of nylon with a turn-dial selector.  In 1958 Pfaff and Kenmore announced the new and completely overhauled GK machine. The new designation numbers for the Sears line would be the 516's, and and it would be called the Lady Kenmore and often nick-named the model 89.

Complete design overhaul for 1958 and

suspiciously... a new maker's number from Sears

The Lady Kenmore 516.891

In southwestern Pennsyltucky a Lady Kenmore isn't all that difficult to find. On Sunday, there were three different LK's in the local classified advertisements. Today there are only two:

The seller claimed to have picked this machine up at a local church sale, and I have no reason to doubt him. I think it's funny how the cabinet just screams Pfaff, the square handles are such a give-away. Put me in a room full of old cabinets, and it's the ones with the square handles that I'll want to open first! The woodwork on this one is in pretty good shape overall.

There were attachments included within the drawers... 

but oddly, none that fit this machine, and you know what... I'm not going to complain.

The first set were these:

My first puzzle box! 

This is style number 11 for the VF line of Singers.

The second case of attachments are a tad more modern and missing a few bits:

And again, I won't complain. 

A nearly complete Singer 500 or 401a attachment set!

There was also a smattering of odd sewing supplies with two handfuls of bobbins. Only one will fit the Kenmore and I doubt it's from the same era. Then, lastly, as my Sister and I sat and sorted out the bits, I actually gasped.

Underneath three spools of thread in the back corner of the last drawer, I found the two black bobbins. These may never see a bobbin case again. They will probably be included with yet another small and growing collection that I have safely squirreled away in a box with a label that says: Blackslide.

The attachments was the fun part. The not-so-fun part is that the Lady will not turn. She's frozen solid - not even a tick of movement. It didn't take me long to find a suspect. One particular linkage appears to be the cause. It's been soaked down with Tri-Flo twice today and tomorrow we will break with tradition and attend to a Lady in waiting.

I think this is only appropriate. If she had never left Germany, she might be a Gritzner or a Pfaff, each well respected names in a long and distinguished line of European sewing machine royalty.  Even here in the states the Pfaff name gets considerable respect. It's only because of someone else's choice of marriage decades ago that this Lady doesn't have the name of those more esteemed families.

*Speaking of which... Welcome to the family Ms. Markle.