My Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Sewing Machine is Working!

Hi!  Except for a few hiccups here and there, due mainly to operator's error, the Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer sewing machine is working and is making very nice stitches.  I am still learning about this machine.  Each sewing machine has its individual quirks and eccentricities.  Do you have any experience sewing with this great sewing machine?  If so please let me know at kathiego88 at gmail dot com.  Thank you! 

New-to-me Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Sewing Machine is Back!

Hi!  Recently, I got the new-to-me Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Sewing Machine back from the Singer Sewing (Repair) Center.  Yay!  They only charged me their normal fee for cleaning, oiling and lubing - $69.95.  Also the owner, Jeff, had found me one of those used plastic cases that fits the Singer 500A or 503A and sold it to me for $25.00. 

The one they sold me has a lot of marks and scuffs here and there, but now I have a carrying case and it did not cost $100.00 plus!


They are very nice in that shop and the sewing machine is working---now!  I had some problems with the original foot pedal so I bought a new foot pedal and now the sewing machine is working properly.  Now I need to learn more about how to use this great machine.  Cosmetically it has some dings and chipped paint here and there.  I'd really like to paint it the light pink color, but I really hesitate as I don't want it to get ruined after waiting for it to be put in working condition for so long.

When I first got the machine, the stitch selector knobs would not turn, the hinge was broken on the nose plate, the bobbin cover kept falling off and it had a terrible smell.  I didn't run it long enough when I first got it to realize that the foot pedal had problems in that the button would get stuck in the down position and just not stop running!  Very scary and dangerous!

The replacement foot pedal is one of those generic brown ones that is a simple rectangle shape with some springs for $41.09.  I bought it here.

The model number is 618776-007.  It is very important that you look at the pictures carefully and make sure that the part that plugs into the sewing machine is the exact hole configuration!  Otherwise it just won't work.

Ruffler attachment.  I had separately purchased a box of attachments from a person on eBay.  All the feet seem to work except for the Ruffler attachment.  I attached the Ruffler, #160629, and although it fit on the presser foot bar, it was loose on the needle bar and when the needle came down it would only come down half way and would go no further.  It hit metal on the bottom of the Ruffler attachment.  This was disappointing.


Now I will need to buy the correct Ruffler for the Singer 500A and according to the "List of Parts - Machine No. 500A" that Ruffler is #161561.  The difference I can see off hand is the #161561 Ruffler has the adjustment screw in a different place.  I imagine that the metal plates below are in a different configuration.

I purchased an overedge foot and a set of two slant sewing machine foot adapters.  I got one of the adapters to work with the snap on overedge foot.  I found out recently that one needs to have the correct snap on adapter to work with the Singer 500A.  If you try to use the low shank adapters or any low shank snap on feet they just won't work.

 

 

 

 This video on Youtube was very helpful. 

 Hope this information helps someone out there.  What are your experiences with the Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer?  Let me know at kathiego88 at gmail dot com.

Sewing Machine After Market Manuals, Painting Vintage Sewing Machines

Hi There!  You can find many sewing machine manuals for your vintage sewing machine online free as downloadable PDF's.  I downloaded the manual for the Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer sewing machine.  It was not too bad; however there were a number of missing pages - mainly detailed pictures and explanations of the decorative stitches and also the color pictures pages. 

Then I ordered this from a person on eBay:

"Rare Deluxe-Edition Instructions Manual for Singer 500, 500A Sewing Machines"   The only selection for shipping was media mail - sigh.  It finally arrived yesterday and was better than the download in that the format and fonts were larger for easier reading and it included the missing pages and the color pages-Yay!  My only complaint is that some of the sewing machine - that is the machine itself - illustrations were lighter than I would have liked.  If they had been dark it would have been better.  All-in-all the "new" manual is good enough and legible enough to use.


The name of the seller on eBay is doriefrie1.  She has other deluxe manuals and also service manuals. 

Here is a link to the Singer 500A manual that I purchased from her.

If you live far away from an authorized Singer service center/sewing and vacuum repair shop or if you lack funds, you might want to invest in a deluxe service manual.  It's interesting to see how all the various parts inside a sewing machine link together and work.

I'd really like to paint the Singer 500A a light pink solid color, not pearl or metallic flake, but I'm afraid to as when we get the sewing machine back, I don't want to chance ruining it by getting paint stripping chemicals, paint or clear coat on the inside parts. 

For the various plates and knobs, on the gold colors I would like to paint them chrome and on brown parts I would like to paint those black with chrome numerals.

You can compare to the pink Cadillac above to see how that would look - there's even black on the dashboard. 

So to reiterate that would mean the balance wheel would be pink, but the gold wheel closer to the machine would be chrome, the thread tension gold plus minus wheel would be chrome with a black plus and minus sign, the brown Singer plate on the light housing would be black and the "Singer" and outer ring would be chrome, the large A-J stitch selector knob would be chrome and the brown underneath knob stitch selector K-Special would be black.  On the stitch length screw knob - that would be chrome while the plate would be black with chrome on the design accents and numbers.

It would look really good I think - like that pink Cadillac.

If you were brave enough to paint your vintage sewing machine, what colors would you paint it?  Let me know.  Thank you for reading, Kathy

While the sewing machine is in the shop.... list of possible feet

Hi there!  While the new-to-me Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer is in the shop to be cleaned, oiled, lubricated and brought into working condition, I came up with a list of presser feet.  I had bought, from a different person, an original box of attachments that had several feet and all but one fashion disks or cams.

Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Presser Feet

1. General Purpose Foot
2. Straight Stitch Throat Plate
3. Straight Stitch Foot – One “toe” longer than the other
4. Seam Guide
5. Special Foot
6. Zipper Foot
7. Invisible Zipper Foot
8. Roller Foot
9. Evenfeed or Walking Foot
10. Overedge or overcast edge joining foot
11. Free Motion foot/Darning Foot
12. Button sewing foot
13. Buttonholer attachment
14. Circular Stitch Attachment
15. Cording Foot
16. Ruffler
17. Bias Binder Foot with Guides
18. Gathering/Shirring Foot
19. Teflon Leather Special Fabrics Foot
    
    
    Can you think of any others for the Singer 500A?  If so, please let me know.  Thanks, Kathy

Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Sewing Machine

Note:  Long absence due to illness

Recently, I acquired a Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer Sewing Machine.  I'm trying to find information about how to strip this sewing machine of paint so that I can paint it another solid color - I just don't like beige and taupe.  There are many different types of paint stripping products out there -  some more toxic than others.  I have viewed countless Youtube videos about stripping and painting sewing machines, but usually they are for the Singer Featherweights or 1800's to 1920's sewing machines which were painted black or "Japanned".  Also there are videos about painting your plastic machine, but the Singer 500A is not made of plastic, it is made of aluminum.

One question I have is how do you keep the paint stripper product out of the many small oiling holes in the body of this particular sewing machine - the Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer?  There is a lot of information about blocking all the holes using the blue painting masking tape, paper towels, Q-tips, cotton balls, toothpicks and other devices, but I think those things would melt under the onslaught of the chemicals used to strip the paint.  What kind of paint was used on the 1960's Singer 500A Slant-O-Matic Rocketeer?  Was it lacquer, acrylic, latex or something else?  How many layers of paint did they normally use to paint this machine?  I would be much obliged if someone could answers these questions for me.  I have been scouring the internet, but I have not had any luck so far in getting answers.  Thank you - contact me at kathiego88 at gmail dot com.

1970'S DITTOS PANTS: GATHERING MATERIALS

Hi!  Today I thought I would spend a little time on the gathering of materials to sew your own 1970's version of Dittos Jeans or Pants.

1.  Fabric:  There are various different types of fabrics you could use to make Dittos Jeans or Pants.  Most Dittos that I saw at the time were made of a medium weight, soft, brushed, cotton twill fabric and they came in a plethora of colors - (so seldom can that word be used in a sentence).  As a reminder, the colors I saw at the time for the Saddleback Dittos which were the most popular of the Dittos designs were:  White, Light Lemon Yellow, Light Baby Blue, Light Baby Pink, Brown, Light Tan, Light Mist Green, Teal, Medium Blue, Forest Green, Red, Coral.  I think black existed, but I personally never saw these pants in the black color.

eBay:

This might be a good fabric for Dittos pants here.  At $4.95 per yard it's not a bad price.  Unfortunately, they won't ship it outside of the USA.

This might be a good fabric in pink.  This person ships outside of the USA and I think you would need to contact them for a shipping quote.

There are many colors to choose from, but they don't all come in stretch twill fabric.  You could use regular twill fabric or bull denim too and then just keep in mind to add a little to the seams here and there for wearing ease.

Here's another seller on eBay who has the regular twill fabric and many of the colors used in the original Dittos pants.

Another fabric I saw now and again is a thin, crinkle gauze fabric.  I guess the person could wear spanx or something as this fabric is pretty sheer or see through.  I saw these type of Dittos in white or coral.  There is an ad that shows a pink color too, but I did not see the pink color.

Here's a seller on eBay who has the white crinkle gauze.  You can see from one of the photos that it is very sheer/see through.  If you use this fabric you could sew it either in matching white thread or use a dark brown contrast thread.  I did not see any other contrast thread color other than dark brown.

Here's a seller on eBay who has a fabric I am considering for the Dittos Side Saddle jeans.  The Side Saddle jeans might look good on women who would like their hips to appear narrower or smaller.  The fabric used for these jeans was unusual in my opinion both in texture and weight.  These jeans only came in a light weight, thin, washed denim or a charcoal/black color.

Here's a seller who has a nice looking green corduroy.  I really don't remember corduroy fabric being used for Dittos; however there is a person who is selling an actual pair of 1970's Dittos in a light tan corduroy so corduroy was used.

This is just a small selection of sellers on eBay who are selling fabrics similar to those used in the 1970's Dittos as I remember them.  There are many other sellers online as well.  Check them out as well as Etsy.com.  The reason I didn't list Etsy is because many times they don't sell fabric by the yard, but rather by the piece or remnants until you get into the higher prices. 

2.  Zippers. The original 1970's Dittos pants zippers were in an aluminum or silver color rather than brass.  Of course you could use brass or even polyester.  This is up to you.  Find zippers on clothing in thrift shops, eBay, online stores, Hobby Lobby and fabric stores such as JoAnn's.  If you buy the zipper in a longer length than what you need, then they will be easier to sew in as you can zip them up to the top and have the hanging off of the top of the pants before the waistband is attached.  Then once the zipper is sewn in, unzip it down and then just cut the top extra off.

3.  Snaps/Poppers:  Copper or Brass heavy snaps were used as the top button.  You could also use a button of your choice or a jeans non-sew button.  There are many colors to choose from.  I got mine from eBay. I have to buy many things online as we live in an isolated area and we don't even have a Walmart in this town!

4.  Waistband interfacing.  It's a good practice to use interfacing in your waistband; however, I don't think, although I might be mistaken in this, that the original Dittos had waistband interfacing.

Please write and tell me what you think.

Thank you for reading and Happy Sewing!
Kathy

DIY HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN DITTOS PANTS

Hi there!  Today I'll talk about how you might go about sewing your own Dittos Pants.  The first step is to decide what type of Dittos Pants you want to make.  Most people are interested in making the saddleback version, but there are other types of Dittos Pants and Jeans.  See my previous post on this subject of April 3, 2017 here.

Okay if you would like to make the Saddleback Dittos Pants you will need cotton stretch twill fabric in a pastel or even a regular color.  You could also use denim either lightweight or the normal heavy weight. Stretch denim would work better.  Other fabrics they used to use were corduroy and a light weight crinkle gauze.  Note that if you use black or some of the darker colors other people may not be able to see the saddleback seaming which is the whole point of the Dittos pants don't you think?  I call them Dittos pants because only a few of them were actual jeans and most were pants.

This pattern, as I mentioned before, is the closest pattern I've ever seen to the Dittos style:  The 1970's McCall's 5182 "Carefree Patterns".  Hint to search for this pattern just search for McCalls 5182 no apostrophe.  The pattern number has been reused several times so look for the picture shown.

Patterns from the 1970's were much smaller in size.  You may have to grade up the pattern to fit.  It is best to go by your hip measurement plus 2 inches or so for ease.  On this pattern you will need to do several changes which I have outlined on my earlier post.

1.  Take out the point in the saddleback shape at the back.
2.  Put the seams going down the legs to the back not the sides as the envelope and pattern show.
3.  You may decide whether or not to include front pockets on your pants or not; however, the original Dittos saddleback pants had no pockets whatsoever.
4.  It may be necessary for you to raise the waistline.
5.  You will need to add belt loops to the waist band.
6.  Saddleback Dittos had more of a flare type of hem rather than an actual large bell bottom.  I once talked to someone that was selling her Dittos pants and she said that the bottom hem was a total circumference of 23 inches.
7.  All Dittos had the normal jeans zipper fly front.  The color of the zipper was the aluminum or silver color jeans zipper rather than the old brass or bright brass color.  You may choose to use the color zipper you like or even a matching color polyester zipper.
8.  The original top button was a snap, (British term:  Popper), rather than a jeans button.  You could use a jeans button with button hole or sew on a button if you like.
9.  What if you can't find the McCall's 5182?  Then you'll need to draft your own pattern from a jeans pattern.  In that case you would not do the yoke at the back of most jeans, not have any pleats and not add any pockets unless you wanted to add pockets in the front.  Cut the back of the pants pattern in half in a way that will form the saddleback seam. This is not to scale or anything- just a quick drawing- and I couldn't show the seam going down the back of the leg like it should.

Suppose you want to make the more simple version of Dittos - Bareback Dittos?

You need to do all the changes listed above, but not make the saddleback at all, just have the seam going up the rear.

How would you make those Side Saddle jeans I mentioned in the earlier post?  Ahh this gets much much more complicated, but still do able.  If you can't find Simplicity 7093 then you could modify a trouser style jeans pattern and place the saddle on the sides rather than the back.  Somewhat like shown above.  It's hard to show the seams on the front and back of the legs however.  I'm having trouble remembering where the front pockets were located and how they were sewn in.  They may have been more like the regular jean pockets with no coin pocket.  These jeans are the trouser style so they have about 3 pleats near the front.  You need to incorporate this into the pattern or draft your own.  Of course since they will be your pants you can do away with the pleats as well.  Rather than flares these were skinny jeans or stove pipe jeans that were fitted around the ankle with ankle zippers.

If you would like to make the high rise Dittos which may look better for larger women's sizes you can follow the McCall's 5182 pattern only have the saddleback go closer to the waistband and then have the seams on the side of the legs as shown in that pattern.  In this case you would keep the point in the center back of the saddleback design.  See above.

Chevron and double chevron.  These type of Dittos are a favorite for the Frankie B's company only they add pockets to theirs.  As you can see, in the original versions there are no pockets and for the single Chevron there is "no" waistband and two snaps or buttons.  These would be somewhat similar to bareback Dittos only with the Chevron seams added.

I'll address one more style of jeans here simply because I saw these worn on an episode of Charlie's Angels from the 1970's.  These would be the Y back pocket jeans.  This pair might actually be from Frankie B's collection - I'm not sure.  Make a Chevron and use a slighter darker wash of denim in about the yoke area or closer to the waistband of a normal pair of jeans and then using that same slighter darker wash of denim, make the Y shapes for the back pockets and belt loops.  You can see the back pockets are rounded on the bottom part.  The leather patch is not necessary.  I believe the front pockets were patch pockets with a rounded or tulip shaped bottom to them.  On the right side in the illustration above on the top is the waistband and underneath it the Chevron shape.  On the left side at the top is the back pocket and below that is the Y shape.  Sometimes it's easier if you break down shapes and other items into individual parts.

I hope this post will be helpful to you and make you see that you can sew various patterns of jeans by re-arranging seam lines and other design characteristics.

Thank you for reading and Happy Sewing!

Kathy