#treadle machine

I'm getting a 1910 treadle on Thursday! Get all the machines!

Hell yeah! I’d love to see a picture! I thought this would also be a great time to provide a little family update- I now own nine machines. I’ve got three that are post-1960′s, but they aren’t the interesting ones.

Starting with “newest” to oldest, we’ve got my 401a from 1959. It is apparently one of the last models made with 100% metal components and it is a beast and I love it:

(It does fancy stitches!)

Next there is the baby of the group, a model 99 from 1929:

She is little and adorable and has her own carrying case because at over 20 pounds this was the “portable” model.

Then we have the classic Red Eye model 66 from 1919:

The hand crank is something I added (it came with a motor with... questionable wiring)

Next is the Lotus model 66, from 1909:

I think the lotus design is one of my favorites.

We also have the treadled model 27 from 1904:

This is the first once I bought!

Lastly, the oldest machine in my collection is a Singer ‘Improved Family’ model from 1885:

She’s a bit worn, but still sews like a dream at 136 years old.

Home from Tampa with a lot of quilt pictures to sort through! My quilt didn't win this time, but I got to spend a fun weekend with my best friend, explored lots of interesting places, and successfully avoided a local quilter/stalker who keeps trying to connect with me.

Tumblr lost several of my posts from the show (though in all fairness, the wifi sucked at both the convention Center and my resort), so I'll have to go through and re-write them.

I found an actual still-in-business drive in south of Tampa in Ruskin, and the place where all the locals eat (both places were packed). The surrounding areas of Tampa have some great antique stores, and nearly all of them had at least one beautiful antique sewing machine. This Necchi may be the most beautiful sewing cabinet I've ever seen.

Personally, I already have three antique sewing machines, including a lovely treadle (which belonged to my great grandmother), but I was interested in finding a treadle base for a home project. One of the antique dealers I talked to knew a guy who was actually on my way home, so I made another little side trip.

So I put it back together

Here is when I first pulled it out and you can tell it’s missing some parts and it’s not very polished. It also hasn’t been touched in a long time lol

Above are some of the little details. There’s quite a bit of dust and oil all over the machine

These are those same parts after being cleaned and polished. I had taken them apart and used steel wool to get ride of the oil as well was q-tips and toothpicks to remove the lint. The last step to everything was to polish it.

This is it completely cleaned and polished. Although, I could probably get ride of the rust and make it a bit shinier lol. You can also tell that I found the missing piece in the front(once I lifted the machine I found that it had called underneath).

And I don’t have any pictures of the bottom, but all of the bolts and pieces that get oiled were covered, and I mean covered, in old oil. There was also a ton of lint. After some cleaning I got most of it off!

We also slightly shortened the leather rope that goes on the hand wheel.

Today’s video is a little taste of what I’ve been doing with my free time.