A National Treasure

[Ed Kennell 38,023]

https://susquehannasignal.com/a-little-known-national-treasure-located-in-felton-pa/?fbclid=IwAR0_3_Pwlc3ioJevd7tJe2XkIOjhoSoANjUS9GpbjpcBIkjC1NRUj6sgHt4

 

 

[Skwerl58 702]

Great story! One of my valued treasures is a tredle sewing machine that was my Great Grand Mothers. It has the attachments in the drawers and it still works. 

[formariz 11,987]

A National treasure indeed. My Mom was a professional dressmaker and I remember since I was little always going with her to similar places for supplies and repairs for her machine. Machine and  all her tools are here in my house. It was  a source of great dismay to her in the late 70s when the place she went to in Newark ,NJ closed due to the passing of the owner who worked until he was close to 90. There was no one else around to provide that service. Another little known profession that is destined to extinction. Good to hear about this one.

[formariz 11,987]

I just had to open it now. It’s been years since I have. Still has her little pin pillow on there. So many hours she hovered over it even making all the clothes for my sons. I miss her.

Edited May 17, 2020 by formariz

[Ed Kennell 38,023]

It is good to see there is interest in these old machines.        Here is my Grandmothers Federal Treadle machine.    It also has all the working attachments

This machine works and sounds soo smooth.

 

Here is Mrs Ks  electronic machine and some of the custom draperies she has made for many years.

[8ntruck 6,991]

We've got a couple of treadle Singer machines.  Both in pretty good condition, but needing drive belts.

 

Anybody know of a source for these belts?

 

Thanks

[formariz 11,987]

3 minutes ago, 8ntruck said:

We've got a couple of treadle Singer machines.  Both in pretty good condition, but needing drive belts.

 

Anybody know of a source for these belts?

 

Thanks

https://www.amazon.com/Leather-Belt-Treadle-Sewing-Machines/dp/B01BI04DCG

[formariz 11,987]

21 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Here is my Grandmothers Federal Treadle machine.

Have my Mom's early one like that also. Its a Singer. Later on when I was about 16 she got the one in the photo which has an electric motor which allowed her to work longer since she has serious issues with her legs. One thing she also really loved about this one is the fact that it has a little light that shines on the work while in use. She would be at it until 2AM sometimes. Another issue she had with the old one also was the fact that the bobbins became very hard to get. They look like a shuttle unlike the modern ones.

Tell Mrs.K she does very nice work.

Edited May 17, 2020 by formariz

[tunahead72 2,407]

I can't believe I'm "liking" posts about sewing machines, but I am.

 

I have my mom's old Singer cabinet-style machine, probably from the 1940's.  I've been planning to get it out of storage and clean it up for decades, one of these days I'll actually do that and post some photos here.  But don't hold your breath. 

[cafoose 3,354]

This is identical to the one my grandma had:

 

I picked this up about 15 to 20 years ago at the Salvation Army store for $25:

[EricF 589]

I inherited a Singer 401A decades ago, one of Singer's last designs before plastic started making its way into the machines. It uses drop-in cams to do all kinds of stitch patterns; very precise, and one of the desirable mid-century Singer machines. And while it's electric powered, the motor can be taken out and the machine can be converted to treadle drive. Apparently, all of Singer's classic machines use the same size and shape opening in the cabinets and treadle stands! Amazing piece of simple but intricate mechanical design. I keep it cleaned and lubricated; had it checked by a shop a couple of times and it's always come back as needing nothing. My wife wouldn't dream of parting with it; between the Singer and an equally sophisticated Japanese serger (over-lock) machine, she's been able to do custom dressmaking and any kind of project she's cared to tackle. According to some, the early Singer Zig-Zag machines like this one are known for being some of the few Zig-Zag/multi-stitch machines that can still make a perfectly even and aligned straight stitch, just like the old Singer straight-stitch machines are famous for.

 

Last year we found a classic treadle Singer in an antique shop, still in good condition, that I'm going to clean, oil, and polish up. Beautiful pieces of engineering and worth every minute to preserve.

[wh500special 2,160]

Our primary output here at work consists of military textiles pieced together on fabric welders and sewing machines.  While the domestic US business has all but died for consumer textiles, there is still a pretty solid support network available to sell and service the industrial machines we use.  Most of these aren't really that much larger than the bigger consumer models, although some are monsters.  I think we have a couple of small Singers, but the newer machines are mostly Consew and Juki and some other brand I can't think of right now. 

 

Sewing is like any other fabrication or manufacturing method - it's hard to appreciate the intricacies and complexities until you do it yourself or are faced with problems.  We are lucky that we have a good set of skilled workers with decades of experience.  Our two rural Missouri shops were once clothing and shoe factories until those products were shipped overseas leaving the jobs behind.  We used to have a third factory in T-MO's hometown of Bonne Terre that once was a men's trouser factory.  

 

We are lucky to have these people.  And the mechanics that work on their machines are indispensable.

 

Sadly, sewing work - even on the industrial scale - is the domain of the older worker.  We have a few sewers who are in their 30's but the rest of the crew are mostly creeping up on retirement age.  They are almost all women, but there are some guys doing the work too.  100% of them also sew at home as a hobby which I find amazing.

 

Watching the really experienced sewers work is fascinating.  When surrounded by a couple of handlers to help push the material through the machine (we sew big stuff that is too large for the machine to drag along without help), they can lay down the straightest seams and hems you can imagine at dizzying speeds.  Sometimes the needles are so thick and the material is so heavy, you'll see little wisps of smoke along the stitching path since the heat builds up in the needle...of course at some point the needle loses its temper and dulls as a result.

 

Old timers in every shop like to test and tease the young know-it-all engineers who come through the place and watch the real work happen.  The stitchers' favorite thing to do is hand a new person a dull needle and a sharp needle and ask which is which.  I've been around this for longer than I care to admit and I still can't tell when they've handed me two dull ones, two sharp ones, or one of each.  they're all sharp to me.

 

There is a local company in St. Louis that we use for sourcing machinery and another in Tennesse that creates custom formers and adapters to do specific tasks, but the bulk of the sewing support businesses were all located in NYC and nearby New Jersey.  From there into middle PA must have been the heart of the American textile assembly business and many places still remain.  But it is in no way what it used to be even in my lifetime.  So I'm not surprised to see this guy in PA squeezing more life out of these old machines.

 

We have been lucky to have a couple of old timer sewing machine mechanics who basically came with the buildings when we moved in.  One of them passed away a couple years ago but the other is still going strong and is a master of the art of keeping those high speed little monsters humming smoothly.  The article you linked really made me think of those two guys and how their expertise is a fading legacy.

 

The old cast iron machines certainly were a thing of visual appeal.  And they were built with way more metal than they needed as was the norm in those days when cast iron and steel were the plastic of the day.  It's a shame to see how most of those beautiful machines that were so common have such little monetary value these days.

 

But man can they run!

 

Neat article.  Thanks for posting.

 

Steve

 

PS - didn't anybody else chuckle at the "Navel Research" part?

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2020 by wh500special

[D_Mac 8,593]

I have to chuckle... here I was thinking I am the only dude interested in sewing machines. Here is my basement. The two in the back they call patch machines. Used in the shoe repair business. They can get into places regular machine cant. 2 in front are old Kenmores. I made a few Corona masks with them.

[RandyLittrell 3,877]

I have my own 1958 Singer and love it! I took Home Ec in high school as well as shop and recovered two pair of seats and door panels in high school. I just think of it no different than welding or wood working, just a different material! 

 

Was a member of FHA too. 

 

 

 

Randy

Edited May 23, 2020 by RandyLittrell