Teresa 54

This will take a few min. Last summer my cousin Angie brought my sister a tredal machine that was in her attic for 75 years and never used or moved. I always bragged that my Greatgrandmother sewed, grandmother and mother now me and my daughter. To my surprise - my dad tells me my great grandmother never sewed, and neither did my grandmother on my dads side. My dad proceeds to tell me that the machine belonged to my great grandfather. He was a shoemaker when he came to this country from Italy and used this machine to sew the fancy free motion work on the boots and the spats. He made a few dozen pairs a year and sold them to the wealthy railroad owners on Lexington Ave, NYC. They offered it to me, I jumped at the chance at having the machine. I was so excited! I live in PA now, so I planned a trip to Brooklyn, NY to my sista's house and was so excited. The first look was not good, all the wood was in awful condition, when I lifted the top off to find the machine, it was rusted terribly. I have cleaned everything, oiled the machine, but it it still bad looking due to 75 years of water dripping on it in an old attic. any suggestions?

debbieumphress

YOu have a wonderful story to remind you where the sewing machine came from. How special you have it now. Thanks for sharing with us.

sueisallaboutquilts

Teresa, what a great story!! My grandparents all came from Italy but nobody sewed except my one Grandmother. All my
Grands went to NY also but upstate, not the City.
Check with Billy- lostn51- he knows everything about old treadles and other machines.

Granna of 5

What a treasure, talk about finding your roots you sure did. It is so special to have some piece of your heritage if you never get it to sew.

amma

(((HUGS))) I hope that you can find a way to restore this family heirloom :D:D:D

Cyn

I hope you can make it presentable!

quiltsRfun

What a shame it was water damaged. Still, it's priceless to you because of the history.

trupeach1

I hope you can fix it. My grandfather came from Italy and he was a tailor. I don't know if he worked in a sweat shop of a clothing store. I never asked when I was young. By the time I was old enough to want answers to questions everyone was dead.

jamsbuying

Be sure and look around this site - have a look at

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-43881-1.htm

quiltlonger

It may end up a big paper weight but can still tell the stories to all that see it, I picked one up after a auction that no one wanted was still there 2 weeks later and was waiting for the dump man I cleaned and scrubbed for days got out the paint and redid it myself never had belt or anything but it looks great and i'm happy Hope you are to you know it's history