My Antique Sewing Machine Collecting Begins!

You know, for years I have created beautiful things with a menagerie of marvelous modern machines. It never once occured to me that I might enjoy the sensation of sewing on a non-computerized, non-electric sewing machine. I guess I thought that was outdated.

Now don't get me wrong. I like antiqes as many people do. I basically have your standard American Eclectic house full of both modern ( in my case Ikea and soft contemporary) furniture with some antiques thrown in. For instance, I have the most wonderful dining room, created from a c.1930's walnut sideboard and a dining room table which with empire feet that dates to the turn of the century, when my great gradfather bought it. It's tiger oak, cut to reveal the grain, which I understand is a practice that is no longer allowed as it wastes too much wood. It's a real family heirloom! These things, and a small collection of vintage Halloween items have been my only real antiques, until now.

So how did I get hooked on antique treadle sewing machines, you ask? Well, believe it or not, I always thought they were beautiful when cleaned up, but could not see a reason to buy one. Then one day, I was cruising Craigs List,when I happened upon a lovely picture of a fully restored Singer Treadle. Yes, I drooled, but $350 was not in my spending budget. So I trolled the list some more and started seeing some really messy, dirty, and rusty machines. So many people still wanted WAY too much money for them. I was going to give up, when I decided to put a wanted ad on the list. I simply asked for a nice looking and mostly clean treadle machine that worked well and had all of the parts. I listed my interest in paying no more than $75. I figured no one would be interested in selling me one for that low a price. Low and behold! Several people emailed me with pictures and from them, I chose the Singer 27 shown in pictures to the right of this blog! When it got here, it still needed rust removal, so I got online, sighned up for some yahoo groups, got cleaning advice, and away I went! It did not take long to finish cleaning the Singer. I even attempted to sew on it and found it very pleasant.

The next thing you know, I was chomping at the bit to buy another one. I could see my husband was not thrilled with the idea. But he has always been an accomodating man, and did not discourage me. I found a total disaster on line for $10 and went to pick it up. When I arrived at the house of the seller, I found that it was not as bad as it looked, but certainly would take much more effort than the Singer. Plus, I could not identify the maker. Not long after aquiring the machine and beginning the restoration, I found out that it was a White manufactured machine that was distributed by A.G Mason to various department stores throughout the US in the early 1900's. In my case, it was sold to a store called Bowman Co., hence the name on the front of the machine. I was lucky to have identified this machine as it was missing a presser foot, and without properly identifying the make and model, there would be no replacing it. Luckily, one of the wonderful ladies who had identified the machine, had the presser foot! Problem solved.

Well everyone, that is the story of my beginnings. While I am on vacation, I plan to do a little searcing for other delapitated machines to restore. I think this may take my sewing in a whole new direction. Next on my list: Learn to sew on the Singer 27 treadle, and make something fun with it!! Stay tuned!