Tuesday, October 4, 2011

It's Twins! Sort Of -- Singer 66 Red Eye Treadle

I am so excited I can barely stand it.  Not only did I get a Kenmore 117-959 just a few days ago, but I found this awesome Singer treadle at an antiques store I'd never been to before.  Now, my area is known for it's antique stores -- it's probably why I've never been able to find vintage sewing machines at thrift shops and garage sales.  The dealers get there early and snap them up.  But I got this one.

The finish on this isn't perfect -- the decals on the machine have seen some wear from being used and the cabinet could definitely be nicer.  That's not such a big deal to me, since it's the sewing part that's important to me; I can fix the cabinet anytime even if I can't restore the decals.

Speaking of the cabinet, someone did try to restore it and match the original stain and didn't do such a great job, BUT it has those wonderful carved panels on the drawers and the sides -- that is in near perfect condition.  I could have wished for some of the old attachments, but alas! that was not to be.  It did come with the key, though, not that I'm worried about sewing notions thieves or anything.  It's just that the idea of locking up my sewing machine makes me want to giggle just a little.

According to the serial number this beauty was manufactured in 1915.  It's such a weird feeling to own a machine that was made nearly a hundred years ago that still does what it was meant to.  And it makes a lovely stitch.  It needs a new belt, a bit of cleaning and oiling, and some of the parts need the rust polished off, but when those dinky little chores are done, I'm going to have the machine I've always wanted.  It's not exactly like my mother's, with which I learned to sew (a really, really, long time ago) -- hers was a later version from the 1940's, I think.  But it's close enough.

Remember me mentioning during the hurricane that I only wished I had a treadle so I could sew when the electricity went out?  Well, now I'm all set :-)

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