Posted 3 years ago
Watchsearc…
(88 items)
I bought this machine for about $25 many years ago but only recently got around to improving it’s looks.
The cabinet’s original finish was practically nonexistent but in good structural shape with an intact machine inside. I sanded and painted the cabinet, added a new belt, cleaned and oiled the “works” , lined the drawers with pretty paper, changed the original round knobs to prettier bird-shaped cast iron knobs (stored the originals inside the cabinet), and ordered a key for the lockable drawers.
The wood of the cabinet was nothing special so I didn’t feel bad about painting it.
I was able to easily look up the date of manufacture by the serial number—it will soon be 120 years old, having been made in 1902.
The art work on the metal plates and the ‘Pharaoh’ decals make it a thing of beauty in my eyes.
The most impressive thing, though, is that the machine still works! It sews beautiful stitches, fills bobbins smoothly, pedals easily…..and is just plain fun to use!
I wanted to do something constructive with it so for my very first project, I whipped up this baby bib and burp cloth for my newborn Great Grandson,!!
I had to sew the buttonhole by hand since these old machines don’t do zigzag, but otherwise, it’s all sewn by foot-power!
Hope you enjoy!
Comments welcome and appreciated!
Um, Watchsearcher?
Should I torture you with all the links for your Singer? Nah, it sounds like you know exactly what you have. };-)
Love those little bird drawer pulls. <3
John Deere themed accessories. What a lucky Great-Grandson. :-)
Oh, and BTW, in doing all of that work, you are a now a bonafide vintage sewing machine expert (unlike me, a mere Internet surfer).
Thanks, Keramikos! You guessed it….I looked up my own serial number, ordered items I needed online, installed the belt, filled a bobbin, etc, etc….I actually remembered quite a lot from being around my own grandmother when she was sewing on her treadle machine…..I was only 4-5 years old when she would let me dust and oil her machine and organize the drawers. If she needed anything, she just had to ask ME! That’s ‘cause I was the one who organized the stuff. :-)
Lol…I’m no expert but I did have the pleasure of showing a 20-something year old young lady how to sew on it a few days ago. She was amazed and loved it!
BTW, you are not just a “mere” internet surfer, you are in the position of “internet surfer extraordinaire” who ferrets out the data no one else can!
Beautiful machine also you are a content creator thus there is a web.
Love what you have done to it and the fact it is still being used is fantastic!
Oh, it's beautiful!! You did an outstanding job on the restore of this machine. The baby bib looks great!!!!
Watchsearcher, Thanks, but probably it's not that I ferret out data no one else can, but that relatively few have my gluttonous appetite for information. };-)
It's great that you gobsmacked a young person by teaching them to use something about a hundred years older than they are. Hopefully, this means continuity. :-)
the metal bases make such lovely tables ....'-)) nice singer,great shape...
Damonways, thank you! I agree with you about the bases making lovely tables.
I have a base that I bought for just $10 at a thrift shop. I’ve been looking for just the right slab of wood or something to make a table of that one.
I want to thank everyone who has taken a look and given the old sewing machine a love!
I hope it will inspire anyone who thinks they are just no good now because they are just so old.
These things were made to last.
Gorgeous paint on the drawers along suggest you know what you were doing, beautiful !~
Eileen, thank you so much for the compliment! As I didn’t hold out much hope for pretty wood grain on my machine’s cabinet; it turned out to be very blah/hum-drum/plain…and very dry. I seemed like paint would do it the most good plus add a little pazazz.
Your cousin’s must look like a brand new model now!
I’m about to make another sewing project on it since it’s so much fun to use. My daughter-in-law wants to learn to use it since it will get passed down to her. A white Roman shade trimmed in primary colors of giant rick-rack to cover a window in the nursery, for when her grand baby (my ggbaby) visits, is the upcoming project. I can’t wait!
Patricia
PhilDMorris, I appreciate your lovely compliment! Sanding all those little decorative channels of the drawers was my biggest challenge of the whole project. I’m pretty happy with them myself! :-)