Vintage sewing machines

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Mel

Mel

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I have several vintage machines. I use all of them but I think this one is my favorite. New Home Model B Highwinder from 1923.
 

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I'm supposed to be getting my great Grandma's treadle sewing machine in a few weeks. The one I currently have...it's a small world thing...a friend of mine in ALABAMA found it and sent me the link, but as we got to know her we found out she knew my grandmother...it was meant to be!

I have three more machines and a serger.
 
@Mel someone after my own heart 💕 I have several oldies too including my great-grandmother's treadle. I use them and they all have names. "I'm sewing with Mrs. Kirksey today, or with Gracie." At one point, I think I had about 17 which was too many. I say they followed me home. When I would find them for $5 at a yard sale, I would get them clean them up, adjust etc. and sell them to 4Hers to learn on. Those oldies are sooo good for beginners. I also donated a couple here and there. Fun times!
Your old treadle is "returning home" 😊
 
Yes she is. I also name mine. The one shown is Addie Jean...Jean for Jeanie, the lady who knew my grandmother and sold the machine to us, and Addie for my maternal grandmother. The one I'm getting will be named Ruby, after my great grandma. My other machines are Sybil (for my aunt), Pete the serger (for my uncle), and Pink Lady Ann (for the lady who gifted her to me, thereby giving me my first vintage machine), and an unnamed White Rotary 127 that I'm restoring (she'll tell me her name when she gets going lol).
 
My sister has my Mom old Singer, it is supposed to come and live with me, because she also got her husbands grandmothers machine, both are pretty much the same, with the drawer in the table. I also have a singer industrial, it looks the same only about 3 times the size.
 
Maybe it doesn't look as much the same as my memory thought, but here it is,
It is electric and has one speed, ridicules fast
 

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We (the Wife) have an assortment (4 or 5) of the old treadle type, 1 of the old box portable Singers, 3 surgers, 4 "regular" sewing machines, and 1 that I am allowed to use...... The surgers are a Baby Lock, a Singer, and a Juki industrial, she keeps them all threaded with different colored thread. The other day she said that she needs a new Work Horse type sewing machine, I responded by asking which one of her machines she was going to get rid of? Silence, she didn't even use the gun analogy.....
 
I was just given an old Husqvarna embroidery machine - my friend bought it 20 years ago, used it a couple of times and didn't really like it, so it's been sitting on a shelf for 19 1/2 years. She knew I wanted an embroidery machine, so she told me if I could figure it out, I could have it. 10 minutes with the manual and it's running like a charm! It uses the old 3 1/2" disks to load the embroidery, so I had to buy a disk reader/writer for my computer so I could translate modern embroidery patterns to the older Husqvarna programs and then put them on the disks. It's a wonderful machine and I am so grateful to have it!
 
DrPrepper said:
I was just given an old Husqvarna embroidery machine - my friend bought it 20 years ago, used it a couple of times and didn't really like it, so it's been sitting on a shelf for 19 1/2 years. She knew I wanted an embroidery machine, so she told me if I could figure it out, I could have it. 10 minutes with the manual and it's running like a charm! It uses the old 3 1/2" disks to load the embroidery, so I had to buy a disk reader/writer for my computer so I could translate modern embroidery patterns to the older Husqvarna programs and then put them on the disks. It's a wonderful machine and I am so grateful to have it!
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My wife liked her Husqvarna machine but with all the buttons and the complexity it just overwhelmed her, plus she did a LOT of sewing and she would get half way through a dress and it would go down, it was breaking about every 4 months and it would be gone for over a month and she gave up. It has been repaired and is fully functional but the last time it went down it was gone for 3 months and I bought her a Juki industrial machine.

FYI the Juki went down early into COVID and we had to ship it to Florida to get it repaired, it was gone for 9 weeks. When they told us how long it would take I bought her a cheapo (~$200) Singer Heavy Duty workhorse to finish the project she was working on. I am now allowed to us that machine.

30 years ago my wife had one of the all metal White machines with a dial stitch selector and she gave it to our daughter, she still tells me that she wished she still had that machine....
 
UrbanHunter said:
My wife liked her Husqvarna machine but with all the buttons and the complexity it just overwhelmed her, plus she did a LOT of sewing and she would get half way through a dress and it would go down, it was breaking about every 4 months and it would be gone for over a month and she gave up. It has been repaired and is fully functional but the last time it went down it was gone for 3 months and I bought her a Juki industrial machine.

FYI the Juki went down early into COVID and we had to ship it to Florida to get it repaired, it was gone for 9 weeks. When they told us how long it would take I bought her a cheapo (~$200) Singer Heavy Duty workhorse to finish the project she was working on. I am now allowed to us that machine.

30 years ago my wife had one of the all metal White machines with a dial stitch selector and she gave it to our daughter, she still tells me that she wished she still had that machine....
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The first thing I did was to take the Husqvarna in to be serviced. After 19 years of no use, I was concerned that parts might have frozen or something, but the service guy said it is in perfect condition. My other machine is a Brother, and it is also a good, sturdy machine. (I also have a singer treadle machine, but even though it works fine, I don't use it much.)
 
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Here is another one of my vintage machines. This one is my first vintage machine, a 1957 Atlas S Series, by Brother. I named this one Pink Lady Ann. I haven't sewn with her in a while but I can just about guarantee you whatever causes her to NOT sew, I can have it fixed in no time. She's generally easy to fix. The gears are all metal.
 
I also have vintage sewing machines.
I still have the "toy" sewing machines that I learned to sew on in the 60's".
Those 2 will be passed down to my grand daughters Estelle age 4 and Reign age 1.
Estelle is learning to use her Singer machine now.
And when she is older she will graduate to another one of my sewing machines, Brother.
Hopefully by her teenage years she will be using one of my computerized Brothers.
I have my Great grand mother's treadle machine that I still use on occasion.
Her name is Betsey.
I have 2 Brother computerized machines.
1 Brother basic machine.
1 Brother Serger.
1 Tomy Toy sewing machine for Reign.
1 Singer Toy sewing machine for Estelle.
1 Brother Sewing/Quilting machine .
 
Tirediron said:
Maybe it doesn't look as much the same as my memory thought, but here it is,
It is electric and has one speed, ridicules fast
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And will sew right through your finger if you let it!
MoBookworm1957 said:
I also have vintage sewing machines.
I still have the "toy" sewing machines that I learned to sew on in the 60's".
Those 2 will be passed down to my grand daughters Estelle age 4 and Reign age 1.
Estelle is learning to use her Singer machine now.
And when she is older she will graduate to another one of my sewing machines, Brother.
Hopefully by her teenage years she will be using one of my computerized Brothers.
I have my Great grand mother's treadle machine that I still use on occasion.
Her name is Betsey.
I have 2 Brother computerized machines.
1 Brother basic machine.
1 Brother Serger.
1 Tomy Toy sewing machine for Reign.
1 Singer Toy sewing machine for Estelle.
1 Brother Sewing/Quilting machine .
Click to expand...
That is awesome that Estelle gets to use Granny's sewing machine :heart: And Reign is one already? Wow!
 
LadyLocust said:
And will sew right through your finger if you let it!

That is awesome that Estelle gets to use Granny's sewing machine :heart: And Reign is one already? Wow!
Click to expand...
Yes Miss Reign is one.
And she has started a growth spurt.
Walking, running, jabbering non stop.
Working on Potty training with her own mini toilet that actually flushes, has place for books.
 
I have a Singer 99K hand crank, a 1960s Singer fashion cam, a 1950s Kenmore fashion cam type machine, 2 modern machines, 2 sergers and a "crafting" machine. It is a chain stitch but I got it more as a display piece than a working machine.

Before Roo was born I had over 20 vintage machines. I sold most of them off. The 60s Singer is the first machine I bought myself and the Kenmore was a trash day find with K when we were first married. I thought it was just the cabinet but when we loaded it in the car I saw it had the machine.

I also got my mom's treadle base just before Juju was born. I figure the Singer 99K can work with the base. It is a Brunswick base but everything but the machine is there!
 
The really old hand cranked machines were used for civil war veterans or others who lost their legs.
I also have seen photos of third world countries where the hand cranks were being used.
just imagine what a simple sturdy sewing machine, a big box of thread and a ample supply of needles would be worth in a community when cheap china and asia clothes stopped being imported. A big bag of jacket length zippers would be handy here in cold country.
 
When I first retired I got an older (1970s ?) Kenmore from the thrift store.. I used it for craft stuff.. When it needed attention I took it to the repairman with a note saying how I used it and didn't want to put a lot of $ into it.. He fixed and cleaned it, and sent back a note saying it is a good machine and will likely out live me.. I would have to get it out, turn it over to see who made it for Kenmore as I wrote it on the bottom..

I have made a lot of wind flags for the local sports club rifle range, and tote bags out of feed, dog food bags with nice pictures on them...
 
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