Sewing Madness

When the pandemic came, I pulled out my sewing machine, ordered some nice quilting fabric from fabric.com (since consumed and enshittified by Amazon) and made some masks. A few months later I found myself in New Mexico in front of my grandmother's sewing machine (mid-70's Viking) and continued to sew more masks for my Dad and go down the Youtube rabbithole of historical and history-bounding sewing. 

I didn't sew a lot - I decided if I was going to do historical stuff, I was going to do it from the underwear out... and that meant a few shifts and chemises, made of linen and old cotton sheets. I didn't quite get my courage up for stays or corset but to be fair to myself, I needed a creative outlet, but not too creative. Doing the long seams on the sewing machine, and hand-finishing the seams while watching Youtube sewists was a nice, meditative practice. 

I left New Mexico. Mom's 80's era Singer had gone to a church friend of my parents a few years before and so grandma's machine went to another church friend. I came back to the sewing machine and serger I'd bought in college. I took them into the local Sewing and Vacuum place for service... and well, the serger had been a little too close to a flood about 10 years previous, and the cutter had rusted... oops. I decided to splurge on a fancy Babylock with the airthreading, but I kept my handy Viking until recently. 

This summer I hit my stride as a sewist. I finished those tan linen pants and had the fabric for two more, but tripped... made a linen dress instead, and then dipped my toes into knits. Seven dresses and two pairs of knit pants later, I'm finishing the second pair of linen pants - black, this time. I have a full page of things I want to make - I've turned from historical stuff (though it's still on my mind and a shift makes for a very comfy nightgown) to refreshing my wardrobe. 

A few weeks ago, my Viking was slipping it's drivebelt, and when I brought it in for service, I came home with a computerized Brother instead. It has all sorts of fancy stitches, but the two best things are the threader and the top-loading bobbin. I was telling Dad about it, he of course mentioned the two older family machines, and I reassured him that I didn't miss or want them, and if I wanted vintage, I'd go much earlier. I occasionally trawl craigslist for sewing machines, just to see what's out there. 

He's decided to give me a sewing machine for Christmas. A 1901 Singer treadle machine. Which he has picked out from craigslist on a not-great picture, and doesn't even know that much about it. It's ok, he'll send me a check. 

So today I'm going to take friends to the airport, acquiring from them an old tv at pickup, take that tv over to another friend after the dropoff at the light rail, and then go acquire a sewing machine?

Singer the song of my peoples

Welp. 

I am now the proud owner of a brand-old spanking Singer Sphinx treadle sewing machine from 1901. 

It's in fantastic shape - the previous owner never used it, but there's some receipts in the drawers and lots of extra new leather treadle band, and a dozen bobbins. The wood could use a little tlc, but the sewing action is butter-smooth. I have a feeling it hasn't been used much as a sewing machine, but was cared enough to not deteriorate. There's a full accessories case in one of the drawers just chock full of all the original bits and bobs. 

It'll be a small project, to do a full restoration (refinish the wood, take apart the machinery, clean and oil it, put it back together, and repaint the iron base) but in the meantime it's beautiful and functional as is. (I also forsee many Youtube restoration videos in my future.) 

The seller and her twin brother carried it down a flight of stairs to the car, and I managed to luck out on a passing neighbor offering her assistance. I had opened the back of the car to sort of assess how heavy it might be and maybe take a picture, and she offered up her strapping son home from college to carry it to the elevator and into my condo. 

I had painted the low wall between the kitchen and living room yesterday - she's sitting against it opposite the dining table (that is really the home of my modern sewing machine and serger.)