All things Sewing Machines!

[Polka Dot]

Hi ladies,

I just had to share my excitement. My mom gave me her old sewing maching as a birthday gift! (Technically on 11/2, but UPS is fast.) It's a Pfaff from the 80s, and it sews circles around my dinky Brother.

Eagerly awaiting my next Fashion Fabrics Club order...

- Polka Dot

 

[Nashoba]

Yeah!!!! I had to buy a new one when my brother croaked on me a couple of years ago. I bought a Janome Memory Craft and I love it. I would like a embroidery machine that interfaces with my computer but i'm a ways away from that....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

 

[BonnieJean]

Good for you, Polka Dot!
I've heard that Pfaff machines are the ultimate.
I guess I'll have to be content with my little old Kenmore for now. (sniff, sniff)

Happy Birthday, too!

 

[Elaina]

Awesome, and Happy Birthday!

I got my main machine when my 99-13 didn't like me and wouldn't sew up to my standards. (I also was starting school at the time) and it took me forever and a day to find my treadle (which I wanted) and my 201 (which I wanted). I use them both in school/home and I know a new machine always kicks the creative process into overdrive.

 

[Grace]

I'm in the market for a new one! I've been sewing on my moms old singer stylist. I learned to sew on this thing!

Any recommendations for a cheap machine to get me by until I can afford a bigger, better one?

 

[Kaela]

Sewing with an antique machine

Hello, Ladies!
I was wondering if there are any other girls out there who insist on sewing with older sewing machines? I enjoy sewing with an old machine, it makes my finished "vintage" pieces feel all that more authentic.
I have a tragically abused 1921 Singer Sewing machine. I absolutely adore it, but as things go, it's been beaten up many times. I took it on a plane, and after angry security and some mishandling (so bad that they cracked good, ol' American steel!) I find myself in the need of some replacement parts. My internet searching has been fruitless. Does anybody keep up their vintage machines?
I wanna hear the gossip about anybody who sews with them!
One of my others is a 1967 robin's egg blue Singer. And that one is nice to sew on since it has zig-zag stitching and reverse! lol, my '21 has no reverse!
Anybody sew with a tredle type?

 

[Story]

Try here
http://www.vintagesingersewing.com/
and read here
http://www.needlebar.com/bb2/
( I only know this since I came across a treadle machine base and had to do some research. Going back to guy-land now..)

 

[Kaela]

Thanks, Mr.!
That forum looks great! I bet I'll find all the info I was looking for there!

 

[Sweet Leilani]

Hi Kaela- I have a vintage machine too, but I haven't used it in so long I forget how to thread it! Mine is a hundred-year old "New Ideal" that was converted from a treadle by adding an electric motor. I have been told, though, that any sewing machine repair shop should be able to service it. After all, it's not nearly as complicated as some of the modern ones, and there are plenty of old machines around for parts!

Here's mine:

 

[Kaela]

What a pretty sewing machine!
I had mine serviced when I first bought it, which cost about $70.
But it was good to have them look it over. If you want to find a manual, I could try and find a link that I had where I found mine. I was so happy to find that manual!
Some of those are tricky to thread, but once you learn, it's easy to remember.
If you showed a pic from the otherside, I bet I could see how it threads?

 

[Amelie]

I just realised I owned an antiqued singer sewing machine! thanks to you!

It's at my aunt's house, since we don't have place to store it. But I have been at her house today, I looked with the serial number, and have found that it is from 1911!

Some parts are missing or broken, I probably did it myself when I was a child, but I am confident it'll be possible to repair it!

It's a really beautiful machine although it as been used A LOT

My aunt is using it as a decorative furniture

And this is the serial number, which permited me to date it... december 20 1911, made in St-Jean, Québec (the number after the G and the 1 is a 6)

 

[Emmababy]

confession

I don't know anything about sewing machines but When i was younger we had this antique sewing machine just like the one at Amelie's Aunts house and i proceeded to paint it over in nail varnish and snap off the handle from twirling it too hard and fast

 

[BettyValentine]

Oh, that's just beautiful! I wish I had one, but I would probably use it as decorative furniture too. I have one from the 50s, but it's just around somewhere. I adore my modern machines. I want to add an embroidery machine to the mix soon.

 

[Amelie]

yeah, modern machines are marvelous, I am lurking on a Pfaff Creative embroidery machine since a year or too now lol


but it's $$$$$ :eusa_doh:

 

[BettyValentine]

yeah, modern machines are marvelous, I am lurking on a Pfaff Creative embroidery machine since a year or too now lol


but it's $$$$$ :eusa_doh:

Yeah. I really want one, but errrgghhh. One of my friends sold her car to buy one.

 

[Amelie]

oh my... a car I hope her car was old lol

 

[Lady Day]

Are you planning on fixing this old machine yourself?
I wouldnt. As far as that goes, that is a problem I would just throw money at, take it to a pro, and have them fix it.

My Singer is about 20 years old, and I dig it bunches, but Ive been playing on one of them new fangled digital machines. http://www.berninausa.com/home.jsp

Its soooooooooo quiet, and does amazing embroidery stitches, but eh. They do a lot of things that being the control freak I am, cant deal with. Like finishing a complete rotation of a stitch even after Ive taken my foot off the petal! :rage:

But, they make the best button holes Ive ever seen!


LD

 

[Amelie]

non no! I am not crazy! I would probably breake it more if I tried to have it fixed myself!

Anyway it's a family thing so it's worth the money I could spend on it, even if in the end I don't really use it and use a 4000$ modern Pfaff instead

*dreaming*


and I wish I had a machine able to do button holes :cry:

 

[Kaela]

I wouldn't want to go around trying to fix this myself, but there are some parts that I was trying to find for it, since I can only assume any sewing machine repair shop would charge for such parts enormously. (The bobbin winder, which once was rubber, is now more like chalk, being that it's almost a century old, and doesn't wind well).
I can see the appeal of those modern machines, especially when I'm hand sewing my button holes still, and sometimes salivating over those embroidery machines. But until I have a small fortune, I won't be bringing one of those home anytime soon! I have a whole mental list of all the things I want to embroider!
I've found attachments for my other singer, but nearly had a stroke trying to understand how to put them on. I kept having thought balloons that ended with my hand being sewn through... so I haven't picked up on it since. \
Sometimes I just wish they'd make new machines out of metal, in a vintage style, because some of that upkeep is trouble some!

 

[mellie]

I'm new here. Its great to get so much input from other sources on all kinds of things... As to the vintage machines... I have sort of a compulsion -- I own about 12 of them (I think). I cannot help myself, they are beautiful and each one has different capabilities!
Since all the machines are old, ranging from the 20's - 60's, they inevitably fall aprt if you actually use them. But I have found that they're pretty reasonable to repair. The parts (any decent sewing machine shop has old parts or can order them) and labor isn't much $ at all. If you have to rewire the electrical componants, then that is a bit more $. Plus, they're pretty simple and I wouldn't be scared of messing around in there a little.
My latest acquisition is an Italian Necchi Bu Mira, I'm thinking it's from 1953, in a dark wooden table/cabinet that I found at the Salvation Army. I was always a Singer girl before this machine but now... I have one new Singer and this old Necchi does just about everyhitng that the new one does, even back in the 50's! It has a special 'Wonder Wheel" attachment that creates elaborate decorative stitches. I LOVE it, and its insanely quiet.