Deborah Cooke: Author

Well, it happened again. Against all expectation – and every resolution – I brought home another old sewing machine.

There’s just something about these old girls that I can’t resist. I had seen this one before, but thought she was too expensive – I don’t, after all, really need another old sewing machine. The vendor’s January sale, though – half price! – tempted me to look closer. And the decals are in such good condition that it’s hard to believe it’s been used much. When the salesperson dug out the package with the cord and the box of attachments, the sale was made – the original manual was there.

Mr. C. must have heard me squee. There’s just something about those old books and their depiction of women that gets the social historian in me every time. It’s the same reason I’ve ended up with a collection of old sewing patterns.

Plus the machine had been serviced already, so that was already addressed. My Featherweight was a good deal, but less of one after I had it serviced. It cost almost as much again to get it running, so there was a lesson learned. The Featherweight had been in a barn for a long time – again, it has perfect decals. Fortunately, the case took most of the damage – it was so mouldy that it was destined for the trash, even before someone decided to break the locks to get it open. I was happy to bring home an old machine that had already been to service.

This is another Singer. It was made in the 20’s and is a smaller size – but not as small as the Featherweight. It’s electric, but that bit has been rewired – according to the manual, it originally was plugged into a light socket and could run on either AC or DC power. Hmm. That would have been interesting to see, but probably not overly safe to use.

If you share my fondness for old machines, here’s an interesting link. This is on the Singer website and it allows you to look up the date of manufacture for any Singer machine – well, some records are lost – and sometimes includes the location of manufacture. You need the serial number from the machine.

At first, I thought the zipper foot was missing from the box of attachments, then checked the manual. There was never a zipper foot included, because the machine was made too early. Women weren’t routinely using zippers in their clothing in the 1920’s – even if they did bob their hair like the fashionable woman modelling use of the machine in the manual. More about zippers HERE on Wiki – their acceptance is really a post-WWII thing.

Okay, time to tell me about your irrational collections. Do you collect old sewing machines? Old sewing patterns? Old knitting patterns? Or something else? Tell me what and tell me why!