Oh! Cathy!! I haven't seen "my Grandmother's" sewing machine since I was a kid! It was exactly that Singer model 301 in exactly that color scheme...wow, memories!

I have my mother's old machine, a Featherweight 221. I made a table runner for myself and some pic's of my Mom that I gave my 3 brothers for Christmas 2 years ago. She was also an avid knitter so I used some of her knitting needles to use as the hangers.

Ruth,

That is such a wonderful gift and clever idea! I love the fabrics that you picked and the knitting needle is very original. And your table runner is gorgeous!
Thanks for posting this!

Great post. I enjoy seeing pictures of people that are doing the actual quilting on the vintage machines too. I am just starting to dabble into using the vintage machines for piecing Singer FW both black and white, singer 401, Singer 301 two tone, Bernina 830 (mechanical) and I am trying to work with the singer 15-91 for the actual quilting. My husband paper pieces on the Singer 301 Mocah. I have a Singer Red Eye treadle head and a Singer 201 that is right now set up in the treadle cabinet. My goal this summer is to make a simple quilt on a treadle. I am still learning to cordinate so the tread still breaks frequently.

Anna,
Those quilt tops are handsome! Both are nicely done, and I really love the brown one with the stars-nice pattern. I love seeing everyone's work that they have done using vintage machines! I'm always surprised at how beautifully these elderly machines stitch! Please post photos of your husbands paper-piecing when all is finished!

Love your I Spy. I really like it. :-D

How about showing 5 or 6 of them? I would love to see them. :-D

Thank you Purplefiend for the link for the crumbs blocks. That is a great idea. I have so many little pieces that I don't want to throw away. Most of them are brights, like yours.

*jealous*

Ok here's my quilts.

Cherrybsixty,

OMG! That ancient quilt is beautiful -even with stains!
Thanks for posting this quilt! I just love the story that goes with this quilt. I bet you are happy to have rescued it.
Seeing those vintage fabrics reminds me of some of the quilts that my grandmother made and used on her bed. There was one log cabin quilt that I would just marvel at the construction and hand quilting.

I love the quilt that you pieced with the 401A! Looks like you have taken excellent care of your 401; she looks very happy.

Again, thanks for posting! :)

I too would love to see one!

Monica,here is a pic of one that my Mom pieced with the 401A and she hand quilted.

Thank you for your kind remarks. The brown stars are from a Bonnie Hunt pattern that is free on line. I need to elaborate on DH's paper piecing. The idea came from a tutorial here on the board. He sews scrap strips onto adding machine paper that way making "new" fabric. So purple scraps with purple scraps etc. He does not plan to use the strips himself but he told me he wants me to make something out of the strips.

Not a quilt, but I made this shirt for William on a 1946 Singer 15-91. :)

OMG! That's beautiful! My grandmother loved to do cross stitching on her quilts, and she would make pillow cases.
That is a very pretty quilt!

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That can be very helpful! You could always use them as filler strip on the back of the quilt. I sometimes use the scraps this way.

Charlee,

That is an interesting motif on his shirt. You did an excellent job. I haven't made a button down shirt in years. I have made jeans and dresses, but not on any of my vintage machines, those were done before I got my first vintage machine last summer. I did help my daughter out with a project this past winter and made numerous pants using my Singer 201K in treadle.

Charlee, I would love to see one of your quilts too!

He loves the Alexander Henry Pinup Girl fabrics, and has shirts that I've made using several of them. I bought him this fabric for Christmas, I've just gotten around to finishing the shirt this last week. I have two more of the Pinup fabrics that I need to get made for him...

Using the buttonholer was the most fun, I think!! ;) The next shirt will most likely come off of the White Number 8 VS that I just bought!

I'll have to look and see if I have any pics of quilts done on the old machines...I don't think I've finished one yet! Maybe I should do that next! LOL

I still haven't played with any of the buttonholers that I have. I have seen tutorials on how to use them and the end product looks gorgeous. Those buttonholers make very nice buttonholes (from photos I have seen), much better than any modern machine that I have used. I have to complete two quilts before I can play with all the attachments that I have with my vintage ladies. My Davis NVF has some attachments that look interesting, but it is the Singer attachments that I really want to use.

Quilts, clothes, pillowcases, table runners, potholders all done on vintage machines. My list keeps growing!

When my Mom crossed-over, we found over 60 pairs of her hand embroideried pillow slips. I shared some with her BF's and shared some with my late sister and I still have maybe twenty to twenty-five pairs.

I found this pillowcase in my mom's things, I remember her embroidering it back in the 70's. I made it into a doll for my niece, since it was the only one of this pair that I found. Stitched it on my 1956 Featherweight.

All these quilts are just lovely and your machines too.

That is a clever way to pass the pillowcase on to other members in the family by making it into a doll. It could be given as a first birthday gift, a special heirloom. I do hope you signed and dated somewhere on the doll; plus, that you added information as to the fact that the pillowcase was made by your mother and that you made it into the doll.

I like that quilt as your new avatar! Very pretty!

:) I did mark the doll's back, "Embroidered by, Sewn by, and For"....
I missed her call when she picked it up, but she was crying..it was so sweet!

I made the quilt top in my avatar on my Singer, manufactured in 1919. I wanted to get used to treadling. My DGD age 10 is making a disappearing 9 patch on the treadle. I will post that when she gets done. The next picture is a mug rug made on my SERATA hand crank. I am using it to piece a mystery quilt that I am working on too. My DGD age 3 likes turning the hand crank and doing her sewing on it. She wants to turn it for me when I sew with it when she is here.

Charlee, what a wonderful idea to use those embroidered pillowcases!

Starting out like you did by just making a strip quilt and then just running straight stitch quilting is the easiest way to get use to treadling and quilting. I like the quilt that you made, very pretty. I think it is wonderful that your children are also taking an interest in using the treadles! Your Serata looks to be in excellent condition, beautiful machine. Please post photos of your daughter's finished disappearing nine patch quilt.

thanks! That is a great idea. I think I need to make a strip quilt or atleast sew strips recut and sew more strips to practice on my treadle.

Thanks! They're fun to make, and wonderful for "spreading out" things that have heirloom potential...the niece I made it for didn't have anything that her grandmother had stitched...it was important to me to make sure she did, but I didn't have much to share.

I LOVE everything on here! You guys have done a great job! Charlee, love the shirt and the doll! Cherry, those ancient quilts are priceless! Everyone has done a great job!

So here is the quilt I made in 2 weeks for my grandson's 3rd birthday - today! We were in the fabric store and he saw this Dinosaur Train fabric and went crazy! His favorite show on TV is Dinosaur Train! I had to do a row quilt, didn't have a lot of time to get this done, but I think it turned out very cute! I made the back with motorcycles - he loves motorcycles too!

This entire quilt - front and back - was pieced using either my 1939 Singer 15-88 treadle or my 1913 Eldredge Two Spools treadle! I used the 15-88 when I needed to back tack! I used "Betty," my Davis Vertical Feed Treadle from 1886 to put on the binding! The only electric machine to touch this quilt was my 1976 Pfaff 1222e, which was used last to finish the decorative stitch on the binding!

Nancy

Nancy, That's so cute! I like that you were able to use so many vintage machines to make this quilt, and one of the machines is one hundred twenty-five years old! Way cool!
What decorative stitch did you use on your binding? I like finishing mine off that way, just an added special touch.

Thank you Monica! I have been putting the bindings on using monofilament thread and the - what I call - walking zig zag. It is the zig zag stitch that stitches 3 stitches zigs then 3 stitches and zags. I alter the stitch so it becomes a half moon and is basically a hidden stitch. Very fast and invisible way to attach bindings that I learned at a quilt store class after I had to spend countless hours hand sewing bindings.

Nancy

That sounds very helpful!

Here is a quilt my DGD age 11 made on one of my machines the 319. Also used her own machine that was made in the late 50's or early 60's. DGD is going to enter it in the WV State Fair this year, she did all the sewing and I did the cutting.

That is so cute! I can't wait until my niece gets old enough for me to try to get her quilting. :D

This is a baby quilt I made for her out of the scraps from her mother's and father's old jeans. Her dad likes to draw freehand designs and there was a pair where he had drawn in ink pen on his jeans. Makes it extra special for her. It does have a thin batting and flannel backing, nice and heavy and durable. It was made entirely on my 15-91 with no problems. Love that machine!

I love the baby blanket you made for your niece. The way you quilted it is very clever. The drawing will be priceless to her when she is older, I am sure. :-D

I like this jean quilt! Clever using the parents' jeans. Singer 15-91 are wonderful machines to quilt with.

Plain Spoken quilt pieced with Eldredge Two Spools and quilted with Singer 201K; both treadle machines.