PFAFF 262 - Stuck to sewing within a week!
Recently while out thrifting with John, he spotted this Pfaff 262. (I have him on the lookout for me for older Singers & Pfaffs.) When I put my hands on it at the store, I couldn’t get anything to move. It was seized up and pretty dirty. It looked like it lived in a garage previously. Pfaff machines are my favorite. I have been sewing on one for the last 20+ years. With a price tag of $25 and hope in my pocket, I decided to take a chance on her.
Since I am in the deep rabbit hole of vintage sewing and vintage sewing machines, I decided to document what I did to just get her in a functioning state. Many videos and tutorials are geared to those with a bit more experience. I am a newbie. I need to take hands on baby steps and want to encourage others too.
*I do have small machine repair experience from when my dad was still alive. He ran an auto body shop and a small engine repair shop. Guess who got to tear apart a bazillion chainsaws and lawnmowers before the age of 13 and into high school.
This was a bit beyond a simple cleaning. That glue like varnish from the gasoline and Vaseline mixture was no joke. I did have to use a bit of physical force too. John only assisted me with reinstalling the pressure spring that I popped off when I took out the cam assembly.
I had to take this out to access points to oil to get rotation inside the machine.
Above, aside from the mandarin orange is everything I used to work on this. I stick with using only sewing machine oil to get things clean. I did use some 91% isopropyl alcohol to take off the stuck residue from the maintenance service company sticker on the front. Two soft head toothbrushes, lots of Q-tips, a couple napkins, a couple toothpicks and a rag for cleaning. Long bent nose tweezers, a flat head screwdriver that came with my “modern” Pfaff machine and John’s iFixit kit were the tools I used. The wire cutters and pliers were used for another machine I am working on too.
In the future I want to attempt retrobrighting (John will handle this process) some of the dials and hand wheel that have yellowed with age.
I am taking a brief break from fixing things to sew. But I am going to dive into getting the embroidery stitches working and I will post and update video when I do.
My hands are dirty but my stitches are good.
If you’re feeling handy and run into a situation similar to what I did. Give it a try! I’m feeling really good about bringing this gal back to life. I named her Diane after my sister (now known as The Living Miracle) who recently survived a very serious accident. (She was hit by a car at full speed while on a walk.) I feel naming this machine after her is appropriate.
That’s all for now friends. Be sure to connect with me on the outlets I mentioned above for more consistent updates.
xo-Thea