Sears sold their Kenmore brand sewing machines through their catalogs, stores, and advertising, high quality, versatile sewing machines, for low prices.
Kenmore 90 with vintage stitch samples sewn using the instructions and photos in the manual
The Kenmore model 90 is one of Kenmore's wonderful, heavy duty all metal (except light bulbs, belts, electrical insulation, etc., of course) sewing machines, with 30 stitch cams, which can be used for decorative stitches.
Features-
Zigzag capable - built in cam
30 Decorative stitch cams are brick red Kenmore A cams, with modern decorative stitches
Multiple Needle positions
Convertible sliding needleplate (forward to straight stitch, back to zigzag) built in!
Twin needle capable
Blind hem stitch
Flat metal buttonholer with metal cams
Low shank presser feet
Excellent illustrated instruction manual
To print the manual for free & get lots of support from other VSM (Vintage Sewing Machine owners, join the Facebook group for Vintage Kenmore and White Sewing Machines. In the FILES, there is a files search box, type in Kenmore 158.90x and hit enter, it will pull up a link to the manual that you can download and print out. There are many kenmore sewing machine support groups online, some where youbcan download and print out manuals, free.
Convertible needleplate slides forward for straight stitch, back for zigzag
Convertible needleplate slid back for zigzag stitches
Convertible sliding needleplate forward for straight stitch, must use center needle position
Convertible sliding needleplate in forward straight stitch center needle position
Feed dogs down, note feed dog mechanism has plunger pulled out of tube, so left end of tube pivots up, allowing feed dogs to drop.
Feed dogs up, plunger pushed in to left
Kenmore 90 with vintage stitch samples featured in the various illustrations in the manual
Kenmore 90 buttonholer, and 30 cams, with stitch samples sewn by previous owner, using manual
Kenmore 90 stitch cams (2 layers of 15 cams) buttonholer with geared plate, and cams, vintage stitch samples sewn by a previous owner, and a ruffler
Kenmore Sew by Color accessories came in a separate organizer box, with brightly colored ruffler, quilting guide, binder, edgestitcher, and hemmers in 4 sizes to attach to an adapter foot.
My mom loves the Sew by Color organizer box, with instruction cards, and brightly colored attachments, so I let her have this set.
Kenmore 90 has the zigzag cam built in, so it sews both straight and zigzag stitches as well as coming with an additional 30 stitch cams, 10 of which are Automatic Reverse (AR) stitches, which sew 2 stitches forward, 2 stitches back. The left dial is the stitch expander for the zigzag stitches, the right top dial is the stitch width dial, and the indicator to the right of it, which looks like a vintage car odometer, and when you push in the stitch width dial, and turn it, it will move the indicator in front of the numbers.
Top of Kenmore 90 removed to reveal oiling points. Everywhere there is a hole with an orange or red dot around it, or near it, those are oiling ports.
To view entire Kenmore model 90 top oiling diagram, use slide bar
Kenmore model 90 top oiling diagram smaller size to view on cell phone
Kenmore model 90 won't stop zigzagging, even when set to 0 stitch width-
The zigzag mechanism ALWAYS moves in this model, so if there is ANY dried oil, anywhere in the zigzag and stitch width mechanism, it will stick just enough, to allow it to keep zigzagging a tiny bit, even on straight stitch setting.
Use a paintbrush or Qtips dipped in rubbing alcohol (don't get this on paint anywhere), and clean all of the old oil, anything brown or yellow, completely off the curved zigzag actuator slide, and all pivot points to it. It took me a couple of tries, to get this completely done correctly, without disassembling anything other than removing the top lid of the machine. OIL with TRI FLOW, or sewing machine oil, after removing the old oil. Your little square block that slides, has to be able to scoot all of the way to the pivot point of the slide, or it won't stop zigzagging.
I made a YouTube video to attempt to explain and illustrate this- it is the video a few paragraphs above here.
DATING YOUR MODEL 90 - the metal nomenclature plate just under the bed of the machine, on the front underside, has the model number, which indicates the manufacturing plant, 158. then the actual model number 90, and then the run, or version of this model, is indicated by the last number, if it is a 0, it was in the first run of this model, if it has a 1, it was in the 2nd run of this model, etc...The last number often indicates other minor variations, in color, bobbin winder, or slight decor or accessory variations. The serial number comes next, and then punched into the same area, are 3 sideways numbers, on my 90, it is 633, which indicates it was manufactured in March of 1963.
This 158.902 was manufactured in March of 1963
The underside of my 158.902 Notice the sticker on the motor DO NOT OVER OIL, yes, the motor needs oiled, but too much oil will cause it to smoke, and could cause a fire. Only oil at the 2 tiny oil ports, one at each end of the motor. Notice the other orange or red painted holes, those are all oiling ports for other parts of the machine, to help you remember where to oil.
