Please note: I am an amateur vintage sewing machine collector, I do this for fun – Please do not ask me to help you value your machine or buy/help you sell it. None of my machines or accessories are for sale and I do not give away, lend or sell my manuals, scanned or otherwise for free or for any sort of payment/trade.
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I really need to catch up on introducing all my sewing machine acquisitions from the last little while (read: two years!) and that’s a good blogging goal for 2017. I promise not to bombard you with machine post after machine post, I’ll mix them in with sewing posts.
You can see them all here and while some of them come with a simple story many of them deserve full posts.
Today I’m jumping ahead to show you my most recent purchase: Ami, a handheld battery operated “freearm” sewing machine.
Some of you would have seen the video of her on Instagram already.
I found this little sweetie where I find most of my vintage machines…TradeMe. She was only $15.00 and I’d never seen anything like it. While one potential buyer was busy asking if it would hem jeans I just hit the “buy now” button 😉
You snooze, you lose.
Here it is with my Elna 2130 for scale. It was made in Japan and I have no idea how old it is. At this stage I couldn’t even take a guess…but feel free to suggest away in the comments!
She runs on two ‘C’ sized batteries and with no bobbin she sews a tidy chain stitch. There is an on/off switch on top and the little dial at the front right is the hand wheel (thumb wheel?). After switching it on this helps it get started and speeds up the stitching too.
Top: Top stitch
Bottom: Chain stitch (underside)
The little extension table slides and clips on and after I made my little video I discovered the wind out foot underneath the needle plate that adds more stability.
It came in the original box, for which the seller apologised profusely for the damaged lid, and original instructions. It’s nice to have the box but let’s get real, she isn’t going to be living in there 🙂
But speaking of the box, on the outside it looks like Ami also came in a dark colour scheme.
It sits nicely on the table but according to the name you can operate it while being held in the hand, hence the ergonomic grip shaping under the arm.
I’m not convinced but I still love her. And that’s my little Ami handheld battery operated “freearm” sewing machine.
Have you seen an Ami sewing machine before?
If you’d like to see some more photos check out the overflow page here.
the curious kiwi 
Hi. My wife got one from a guy that was moving away. Seems that he never used it since it was in the box. Looks nice and we are going to try to switch it on. We got even with the manual in hebrew
Gaaaah, I can’t get over how cute she is! What sort of needles/thread does she take?
so cute!
That’s an adorable little machine. I’ve never seen one like it.
This one is new to me! Thanks for showing her off!
That is cute. I’m still trying to imagine hand holding a sewing machine though! I wonder if it will handle a jeans waistband?