New machine arrival this week. (Feb. 19 2025) My first Necchi was a Lycia 522, 7 months ago. I deliberately chose the 522 because it was a basic straight stitch/zig zag machine. Start simple? I was very impressed & thought to try the sister 524 Automatic with cams & all. Few & far between in UK, but I finally found one on Ebay recently & took the chance. Got it here now & it is impressive: )
In lovely condition cosmetically & mechanically. Came as above with its sturdy case but no cams/accessories. I took a fair chance in other words. The seller knew nothing about its history, but had some decent photos on the listing. I’ve bought 4 Necchis previously & all of them needed some work to make them good. From frozen handwheels/clutches to smoking motors. This one only had a stiffish drop feed to fix & it stitched as you can see above first time I tried. After a good service; ) At 60+ years of age it really impressed me & I love it already. Even the Automatic Unit (Cam drive system) worked first time perfectly. See below: )
This is the Turkish Hemstitch, a good test of its capabilities. Nothing wrong with that first time trying it? I should say that I have a complete set of cams/accessories from my problematic Necchi 535 machine which has a failed, crucial plastic gear & is essentially a spares machine now unfortunately. All the 535s cams/accessories fit this Lycia perfectly: ) I call this serendipity.
Apparently this is the 3rd & last series of this machine (The Lycia II uses different cams) because it has the hole in the stitch adjustment plate to allow you to fit an accessory to provide fine adjustment of the needle position. It bypasses the 3 fixed slots & it can be fixed at any width point. This is according to J. A. on Youtube here.
Below is the attachment pictured on the page in the manual, showing how it fixes & what it does. These instructions show how to vary the Turkish Hemstitch. I find all this fascinating but still learning as I go.
Got some photos today.
Love the white on white with minimal black contrasts: ) Just beautiful to my eye & stitches amazingly well too. How cool for a 60 year old?
I came across this Flyer before the machine arrived & couldn’t resist it for a mere £8.
Sophia Loren, born 20th September 1934, was just under 30 when this photo was taken. Makes you think in 2025? (My mother was born in 1928…)
Reverse of the flyer shows the 522 Lycia lower end machine plus a postage free response card for more info & a hopeful sale of one of them?
Innocent times back in the day?
Back to the machine anon.
March 5 2025.
Decided to take some photos of this machine with its sister this morning: ) Not quite twins, but close.
Both in fine cosmetic & (now) mechanical condition. Learnt a lot in the process & I know that the Necchis of this period were, & still can be, the finest domestic machines. Calling them Classics would not be exaggerating: ) The 522 on the left was my first Necchi, the latest on the right. Just two others in between, a 534 Julia & a Supernova Ultra completing my modest quartet!
Necchi, at the time, for me benefits from best build quality, innovation, style, stitch quality, quietness in use, superb paint finish, stylish & sturdy cases & bases. Downsides/snags? Has a couple after 60 years. Transformers can be problematic, (none of mine are: ) a couple of plastic parts like the thread control spiral & a gear under the Automatic Unit. The thread control spiral is the most common, one of mine has a crack developing, but it is not terminal & is fixable. Having some experience of Berninas & Elnas of the period, they have more plastic parts than Necchi but can still be fine machines. I have heard of no problems with the Necchis plastic gear, but potential owners should be aware of it: ) I should emphasise that my experience only relates to my machines, IE Supernovas/Julias & Lycias & I’m no expert!! My single unfortunate Necchi was a 535 rotary hook machine that had 2 plastic parts, a gear & the plastic spiral were both terminal & the hook drive gear difficult to replace, but that was a later machine & I would not be tempted by another; )