James from Connecticut
08-16-2015, 02:42 PM
#23
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: West Central Texas
Posts: 2,586
Welcome from West central Texas. I'm sure you've found the vintage machine section by now -- lots of good information there and YES, we love to actually use our machines. You'll fit in just fine.
08-18-2015, 07:47 PM
#27
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Chula Vista CA
Posts: 7,403
Welcome from Southern California! I agree with you that it is more fun to use the antiques than to just look at them. My grandmother gave me one of her treadle machines (it had belonged to my great aunt Mae) and I couldn't wait to get it home and use it. (It was in Kansas and I brought it home to CA.) She had old items repaired because what good is something if it doesn't work. Antiques are fun and some are better made than items today, so why not use them? I would also like to have the Singer treadle that belonged to my Great Grandmother, she was a seamstress and used it for her work. But it didn't have the book with it, the Damascus did so I brought the Damascus home. My aunt has it now, not sure what will happen to it.
08-18-2015, 10:50 PM
#28
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 673
Antiques are fun and some are better made than items today, so why not use them? I would also like to have the Singer treadle that belonged to my Great Grandmother, she was a seamstress and used it for her work. But it didn't have the book with it, the Damascus did so I brought the Damascus home. My aunt has it now, not sure what will happen to it.
The newest machine I have is a Viking 6570 (or is it a 6750?), from the early 70s. My feeling is that the overwhelming majority of home sewing today is for artistic, rather than practical, purposes. (With the exception of alterations.) Today, it's often more expensive to make something than it is to buy ready-made. Part of that artistic experience is the machine that is sitting in front of you AND the sound it makes. Maybe it's just nostalgia, but I find the sound of mechanical machine - especially a treadle - soothing; it makes sense. I don't mean to offend anyone and I know they have some good features, but the hollow, grinding sound of today's plastic electronic machines is something that I avoid as unpleasant. I can get most mechanical sewing machines running properly (it's usually a thread jam) but electronics are rocket surgery for me. As far as conveniences, I don't mind moving the handwheel for up/down, threading a needle or winding a bobbin; it's meditative. I don't even mind using a machine with no reverse - there are plenty of ways to lock stitches without it.
Thanks for your warm welcome.
Last edited by Manalto; 08-18-2015 at 10:56 PM.
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