By Mike Anderson — Every now and then, a collector gets lucky and finds that once-in-a-lifetime item. We all scour the planet for the things we love—the rare, the unusual, the pristine. The story of this 1860 Williams & Orvis treadle sewing machine is, however, not one of a lucky find, it's one of the hunt. I've been buying and selling antiques for years now, but my focus on antique sewing machines—and antiques of a mechanical nature—began about 10 years ago. As most who collect do, I started attending...

Antique Sewing Machine Collector Harry Berzack on Singers and Manhattans

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — I work for a sewing machine distribution company that was started by my late father. We mainly distribute industrial sewing machines. At a very early age, I became interested in sewing machines in a general sense, and I started collecting old machines mainly to see the technology and how it had developed. Then I immigrated to the States—I’m originally from South Africa—and my new life caused about a 20-year hiatus in which I did very little with sewing machines, although the passion never...

Angry Chicken's Amy Karol on Sewing, Vintage Slips, and Her Apron Obsession

By Maribeth Keane — I think I started collecting vintage aprons seriously probably in 1991, my first year of college. I was an absolute junkie for vintage clothing, which was pretty much all I’d worn for a long, long, long time. I was finding aprons everywhere and just started collecting them. I can specifically remember buying a full vintage apron in L.A. at some sort of vintage craft shop. At the time it was $5, and I was like, oh, my God, that was so much money for this. I was so poor, and it was back when...