Kenmore 1760 compared to 1931 Sewing Machine

September 20, 2025

Kenmore 1760 compared to 1931 Sewing Machine

Kenmore 1760 and 1931 are so similar, they are practically identical, both are freearms, same stitches built in, and both rrquire the metal #20 reverse cam, to sew the built in stretch stitches, but the 1760's cam #20 often has a green and white sticker, the 1931's #20 cam is dark brown, almost black.

Kenmore 1931 center homing needle C cams freearm

1931 is center homing needle, If I remember right, 1760 is, also. This makes them easier to find QUILTER SNAP ON PRESSER FEET, for those who want to quilt on a good vintage Kenmore, but want modern snap on 1/4" edge guide quilting feet. You must buy a Super High Shank to Low Shank adapter, and low shank snap on ankle adapter.

The 1760 apparently came with a full gray and white vinyl book of 30 C cams, 1931 only came with 10 C cams. So apparently, 1760 would be more valuable, if it has all original accessories. However, we can collect all the C cams, so that isn't necessarily the same, today.

1931 with buttonholer gearplate installed,ready to put fabric and buttonholer in place

1931 buttonholers and freearm gearplate required for buttonholers to work. Both of these buttonholers work on 1931. Notice metal arm on the underside of gearplate, it must go under the freearm bobbin area, to activate the gear on the buttonholer.

1931, I taped the straight stitch needleplate to machine bed, to avoid losing it, before I found the accessories for this model. Notice the stitch modifier lever above the dials. Turned to red dot, it sews the red forward only stitches. Turned to the white ! Is what makes the stretch stitches, which sew 2 stitches forward, one stitch back, repeatedly. The top of the ! Is what makes the stretch stitches longer, pointed to the bottom of ! Makes stretch reverse stitches shorter.

Kenmore 1931 needleplate has a quick change insert, you open bobbin door, and push needleplate insert up, to change between straight stitch plate and zigzag plate

Kenmore 1931 stitch selector dial inside stitch width ring
Lower dial is stitch length, here it is set for satin stitch width 3.5

1931 sewing a satin overedge stitch with overlock presser foot
Black flat spring holds satin stitches flat, even on the edge of fabric

1931 with cam 20 installed. It must be removed, to use C cams.

Underside of 1931 cam 20

1931 reverse stitch metal cam 20, required to be installed
In order to sew built in stretch stitch designs. (I highlighted the 20 and put 1931 on it, to midentify it more easily.) The 1760 cam 20 has a green and white sticker on it.

1931 freearm bed extension parts

I must give SearsPartsDirect dot com credit, here, they own the copyright on all of these parts diagrams, which I will now share, to help compare these 2 great Kenmore models.