Why is everyone buying the old sewing machines?
03-07-2011, 08:34 PM
#93
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 1,150
I'm doing my best not to "collect" ANYTHING else (I make ceramic dolls, collect Charles Blackshear statues, African masks & carvings, heart-shaped rocks from the seashore, and make quilts! ENOUGH ALREADY!) HOWEVER, I wish I still had my grandmother's singer...just to feel her presence and recall making a seer sucker suit, making button holes, etc. She taught me to sew on a Singer and because she taught Home Economics I had to rip out an entire seam if the seam veered even the least bit! NOW you tell me the Singers were the easiest to sew perfect straight seams!!! Where were you when I needed you?!
Has anyone bought old machines at Goodwill or other thrift stores? Any luck?
Has anyone bought old machines at Goodwill or other thrift stores? Any luck?
03-07-2011, 08:48 PM
#94
Super Member
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 7,741
Originally Posted by olebat
The reasons I'm collecting them is that the cases are fairly uniform in size and shape. Therefore, they are easy to shelve and store until time to set up a class. I load a trailer with bins of fabric, patterns, mats, cutters, scissors, thread, etc., and and assorted size and weight machines. I take my show on the road to teach 4-H kids how to sew.
When you need to lift 20 - 30 sewing machines, some of those units get pretty heavy. The kids unload and reload the trailer at the class site - but I load at the start, and unload when I get back home. I'm not young, or healthy, so it's a chore for me. Even the healthy kids have trouble with the heavy machines.
Having all the same style machine will also make it easier to teach a large class. The Featherweights are durable, and pretty much kid proof. I would like to have a total of 30 of them. (I have a long way to go.) As I get a featherweight, I can donate one of the older flea-market odd balls to one of the kids who really has promise in sewing.
When you need to lift 20 - 30 sewing machines, some of those units get pretty heavy. The kids unload and reload the trailer at the class site - but I load at the start, and unload when I get back home. I'm not young, or healthy, so it's a chore for me. Even the healthy kids have trouble with the heavy machines.
Having all the same style machine will also make it easier to teach a large class. The Featherweights are durable, and pretty much kid proof. I would like to have a total of 30 of them. (I have a long way to go.) As I get a featherweight, I can donate one of the older flea-market odd balls to one of the kids who really has promise in sewing.
03-07-2011, 08:52 PM
#95
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Calif (San Joaquin Valley)
Posts: 3,482
I don't buy old sewing machines....they are just all I have ever had :D Got my 1947 Featherweight when I was 12, sewed on it & my Mom's 1956 Singer 403 all thru jr & sr high school. Left home, took my Featherweight with me. Fast forward 30 years later...inherited Mom's 403 when she died in 2007. I have never had the desire or $$ for one of the new fancy ones. And as long as my 1947 & 1956 models keep working don't see the need to replace them.
03-07-2011, 09:02 PM
#96
Power Poster
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 26,171
Originally Posted by isewhappy
First, I mean NO offense to anyone. I'm just curious as to what the draw is to the old sewing machines. I think they are being called "featherweights."
While I love antiques and find them beautiful I don't understand what people are using them for. Many are missing parts and I've never seen one that I considered easily portable...
What am I missing?
(Again, I'm not trying to offend anyone - I'm just clueless.)
While I love antiques and find them beautiful I don't understand what people are using them for. Many are missing parts and I've never seen one that I considered easily portable...
What am I missing?
(Again, I'm not trying to offend anyone - I'm just clueless.)
My "modern" machine is a Bernina Record 830, about 40 years old. My other machines are older Singers, made to last several lifetimes. The one in my avatar is a treadle and is 103 years old and still sews like a dream. I love to treadle on it. It says, "tickety, tickety, tickety..." I feel connected to a time when things were built with quality, not planned obsolescence.
I don't want a Featherweight (Singer 221)-- too wimpy. I did buy one for my daughter, tho. Only the 221 is called "Featherweight".
You really should try sewing on the older machines and you'll see why people love them. That's the only way to get that 'clue' you are looking for. ;)
03-07-2011, 09:19 PM
#97
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 1,326
Loaded question.
I have the newest Janome, and one that's 3 yrs old.
But my girls are:
1904 Singer 27 treadle
1942 Black Singer 221 Featherweight.
1950's Elna supramatic "the grasshopper"
And a 1970's era White "Jeans Machine".
Which one takes on anything?
The Featherweight. And the Elna, but it's built like a tank.
The Featherweight hummms when she sews. No whining, no shaking the table, no hesitation, and she's cute.
Did I mention she's cute?
She really is cute.
Bah, who am I kidding, it's an addiction. :)
I have the newest Janome, and one that's 3 yrs old.
But my girls are:
1904 Singer 27 treadle
1942 Black Singer 221 Featherweight.
1950's Elna supramatic "the grasshopper"
And a 1970's era White "Jeans Machine".
Which one takes on anything?
The Featherweight. And the Elna, but it's built like a tank.
The Featherweight hummms when she sews. No whining, no shaking the table, no hesitation, and she's cute.
Did I mention she's cute?
She really is cute.
Bah, who am I kidding, it's an addiction. :)
03-07-2011, 09:44 PM
#98
Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 8
Now that is a foolish question! Why do guys buy tools they never use or don't even know how to use them? Myself, I have five sewing machines and can't possibly use but one at a time.
I have my mother's old, old Singer but I have managed to keep it in working order. Got one out of an old attic - it works. So its just a collecting thing. By the way, I do not have a featherweight. B
I have my mother's old, old Singer but I have managed to keep it in working order. Got one out of an old attic - it works. So its just a collecting thing. By the way, I do not have a featherweight. B
03-07-2011, 10:08 PM
#99
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 1,325
OH MY! I just found out tonite, that there is a old treadle of my great granny's sitting in my grand dads barn! Lol told my mom, have no fear, I will come and get it.roflol.
Wow, I can't imagine how old that must be. And I can't wait to see it. My mom didn't seem to know anything about it, except whose machine it was. And where I can find it at.lol
Wow, I can't imagine how old that must be. And I can't wait to see it. My mom didn't seem to know anything about it, except whose machine it was. And where I can find it at.lol
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