Consew 104 (new machine!)

I've been wanting a chainstitch embroidery machine for quite a while now, ever since I saw Roy of Roy's Denim using one in this sweet video. I got tired of looking for the perfect one, so when this showed up on eBay last week I bought it.
It's a Consew 104, which I'm pretty sure is an exact copy of the Singer 114e103, which is a newer version of the 114w103, which was born around the turn of the century, I believe, and is itself inspired by the Cornely embroidery machines of France. The w-model was made in the good ol' US of A, while the e-model was made in Japan, like this Consew -- you can tell from a distance by their greenness. Consew still sells 104s (but not Singer), though I've heard the quality isn't the same these days.

It would be nice to have a beautiful old Singer 114w, but this Consew's gonna do the trick. It's in nice enough shape, and I know it sewed before it got here, and it looks like it survived the trip from Michigan to Missouri. Thanks for the great boxing job, Ray, and the tender care, USPS. It's always a drag when you get machines in the mail and their parts are sticking outta the box.

I don't have the table (too much to ship) and, besides, I'm outta space for tables. So I'll be making a cute li'l box for it ... like this.
Stay tuned (it'll be a while).

If you'd like to know more about these machines, there's an excellent yahoo group dedicated to chainstitch embroidery.