Necchi Lydia 544 (1956) (straight stitch conversion)

Got the Lydia several years ago and with a broken cam-stack and cam-stack gear I just put it in the back

Lydia has the honor of being part of the MoMA collection; a true exercise in Functional Design.

The failings however were in the new materials that plague many machines in the early plastics replacement days.

So it has the standard cracked cam-stack and cam-stack gear, after talking to a fellow SM enthusiast who used hers for straight stitch only I decided to make mine into a straight stitch too.

The entire cam mechanism is a module that loads from the hand wheel end of the machine so it is not too difficult to remove the broken parts.

Another problem was the bar across the top of the bobbin case was bent up and so the case would not engage but would spin with the hook.

A third problem was also plastics related, the spring tension on the take-up spring is controlled by a set screw in this plastic part which broke out.

The fix was to drill thru the center pin and tap the hole all the way thru. With a screw on the back side the spring is held fast.

Has the original pedal

The removable flat-bed

Case and Manual